Ants, Ants Everywhere!

I also have ants infestation at our staircase. And, they come out every night. We pour hot water on them, and they get lost for awhile. They still persist to come back the next night, though. I'm going to try suggestions from other lotters on this discussion, too and see how it works.

during summer there are many ants in our houses because that's the time that they need to save food in their houses so that if the rain or cold time come they have enough food in their houses.that is why summer always have many ants everywhere in the house.

ANTS..they are a blessed lot created by God. The social life of ants and their willingness to work in groups for maintaining unity among fellow ants is one worthy of copying by the so called intelligent lot viz the humans The ants have an active sense of living together in peace and helpfulness in mutual faith. They are ingenious in getting over all sorts of difficulties. There really are a lot for us to learn and copy down from the ants.

There are many suggestions I came accross here in mylot on how to kill or rid ants. One of them is the use of cinnamon powder. Another is the artificial sweetener. According to one mylotter, artificial sweetener are made intended for killing ants (I don't know if it is true). Now another one is black pepper. There are really lot of ideas that can be picked-up here. I also watched in TV that coffee can be also used as natural insecticide for ants. I haven't tried it though.

Some places in my country have similar problems. I never heard of that remedy tho. Soap water worked for my grandparents. From what you are telling us I think pepper deserves a chance in the war against ants

I came home from my four months sabbatical in Ecuador three weeks ago and I noticed about 8 to 12 ants dancing in two of my cupboards. Last year I saw about four trekking across my living room floor attempting to cross the great abyss to my kitchen, I stepped on them. I spray ever year to be sure no bugs inside. The ants this year were instantly killed, they did not even try to run, I guess they thought they could take me. Two days later I see 4 - 8 more in my cupboard across the kitchen, they too perished under my hand. First time I have seen so many carpenter ants in my house. Now last fall, I remember before I left, we had heavy rains and I did bring some lumber in from the garage to do some work inside? Maybe that did it. Taking no chances here. First of all, I sprayed my basement, especially near the joists, and I spray every few days. Today, I saw one trying to leave and I killed it. Well, they are becoming fewer but to be sure those little buggers (no pun intended) don't multiply I am bombing my attic tomorrow concentrating near the perimeter. Cleaning my cupboards today, and spraying underneath them. I haven't seen any signs of nesting so far, but not taking any chances here. It is me against the ants.

I also use vinegar at the window sills to keep the ants away. Obviously, it is also good to clean out the pantry and wipe down all flat surfaces, esp. in the kitchen, of spare crumbs if they find another way in and find a feast rather than the black pepper around some of the areas.

Thanks for the advice, I'm gonna try it next time instead of the basic repellent. In our resort house, in my room, unfortunately I don't know why and from where (me and my parents tried to see where they come from, and we couldn't find it... I thought I may have brought it in in my beach bag, but even if I killed some, there were some new even if I didn't move out and we cleaned the beach bag)... but it may worth a try. I mean the repellent worked quite well, but there were still some of these little guys left...