I have a problem with ants, but it is just stragglers here and there. They are in my kitchen and bathrooms, on the counter and walls, but it is only 2-3 maybe a few more. I have had no luck getting rid of them because I have no idea where they are coming in. Does anyone have any suggestions it is really getting annoying. I have to be careful with what I use because I have 2 children under the age of 2. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I am so desperate I will try anything!!!!
Thank you everyone for your suggestions, however none of them worked for us. So I called my landlord and they are sending out a pest control company to come treat our condo. Hopefully that will be the end of our little intruders!!
Wow i have the same problem at home and all i can do that works is clean with bleach everything before i go to bed i wipe the counters and my restrooms and i havent seen anything in a while just before you go to bed wipe down and spray ant spray and i know your probly worried about your babies but do it before you go to bed and when theyre in their beds that way you know itll be safe
I've heard if you sprinkle cornmeal outside your house that ants will eat it but can't digest it, so they will die. I have never tried this but my sister swears it works, although it does take a couple of days to get rid of them this way. It is completely non toxic so you don't have to worry about any chemicals around the little ones. You're supposed to sprinkle around the perimeter of your home and then also look for any hills and put a bunch on any mounds you may see. May be worth a shot for you to see if it works. We had a pest control come and spray outside our home when we first moved in and it worked wonders on our ant problem. We actually haven't had a problem since. For us they were coming in for the dog food, so we had to make sure we didn't leave any dog food out and exposed. Good luck.
I swear by peppermint soap and water. Just mix real peppermint extract (not artificial flavoring) with dish soap and water and use it to clean all the surfaces of your kitchen and bathroom. You can also buy an all natural pepermint liquid soap (like Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap) but it works just as well to put peppermint in with the soap you already have.
a few things we do:
-spray bottle with dilute dishwashing liquid - spray the ants and wipe the area down so it erases their trail.
-check for cracks that they might be coming in from and caulk them
-outside, we use a product called "Terro" - it's borax in a corn syrupy solution so it's bad for the ants but not as dangerous to other living things as other pesticides. They bring the stuff back to their colony so it gets back to the source. You can get it at places like OSH.
-I've also heard they don't like cinnamon, baby powder, lavender, or bay leaves - haven't tried these things and it probably depends on the type of ant, but they're worth a try and are fairly kid-safe.
personally, I'd avoid doing any spraying, b/c it's hard to tell whether there's any residue left behind that could end up on something that your kids gum on. I'd stick with things like the little ant traps where the poison is contained and can be placed in kid-inaccessible areas
We had a major problem with ants about a year ago ... they were all over the bathroom and our shower looked like it was from a horror movie there were so many ants. We had our pest control come out twice with no luck and finally got fed up and just used one of the fumigator cans you buy at any drug or grocery store. That did it! It wasn't easy with kids to stay out of rooms for hours, but it was worth it in the end. We just did a thorough job of wiping things down afterward to ensure the kids didn't touch any residue.
I've also heard Terro is the best thing out there, but it's not safe for use around kids, so we didn't try it.
