How can you tell if you have regular ants or carpenter ants? - Yahoo! Answers

Here is some more info. I am now completely grossed out by this conversation. The ants must die.

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Just started a few days ago having the same problem with ants. They got into the garbage, dog food, everything! I didn't want to go out and buy some harsh chemical that may be unsafe for the family so I tried spraying the areas with Lysol and it worked! After 2 days of spraying, the buggers are gone!

Put corn meal around the foundation of the house. It works great. That was the only way we got rid of our HUGE black carpenter ants.

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Sue

I have been fight ants for about one week and they are driving me crazy. They are tiny little black ants. They are just on one small section of the kitchen counter. I have the Combact ant traps on the counters and have been constantly spraying with straight vinegar every chance I get. All the food is bagged up in ziplocks and in the cupboards. I am looking for more homemade repellents and ant killers since it is for the kitchen.

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Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.
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hey

i am kind to ALL bugs except roaches and flies LOL. that means ants, spiders, silverfish, beetles, moths, etc...i am realllly patient with!

i have been living in my home for 5.5 years now, and NEVER had a roach or fly problem (thank God--UGH) but i have a HUGE ant problem in the warm months! that's because they built my home on ant houses (go figure!).

this is what i do--and it works WONDERS. because i don't like to kill ants (they don't really park and live in your home for free like flies and roaches, they are more or less little workers--just trying to gather crumbs off the floors and furniture...and they are neat little buggers)...i usually sweep them out the door when they are especially determined.

BUT this works for me WONDERFULLY--TRY IT!

i buy a can of regular bug spray (but a good brand--hot shot or combat), and i spray the perimeters of the kitchen and living room (where my ants come in at) at the baseboards. i go ALL around the rooms in a complete circle, staying as close to the floor as possible. then i spray around the perimeter of the house as well, avoiding any ant homes that i see. i do this about twice too.

give it a few hours to work. the ants HATE crossing the barriers of bug spray, and they stay out the house! so far it has been working for me for about 3 years!

you have to reapply the spray once every 2 weeks inside the house and maybe once a week outside the house--more if it rains!

just try it--it really works! and it is a cheaper alternative to expensive bug sprays and exterminators. and best of all...it's ant friendly!

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Raid makes a good ant spray - spray where you see them coming from - not your counters (i use vinegar on the counters). Raid also has great ant traps. Little black squares with a hole on each side. They go in, take the bait back to the mother ant and eventually they are all gone. We just had some, used the spray & traps and so far, so good. (dont jinx me now!)

I agree, Terro is good stuff. I buy mine from a farm/hardware store. I'm not sure if Walmart carries it.

My part time job is managing apartments, and when they get ants, it's not good.... I've given my tenants the spray can of Terro ant killer and they say it's great. They've asked for it again this year. I also spread some Terro "dust" around the perimeter of the building. Sometimes I use something like "Ortho Max" around the outside.

Did you use regular corn meal or fine corn meal? I just put some outside, but mine is the fine - the blue and yellow container, the name brand one I cant think of. Anyway, then I started thinking, was that the right kind? Am I actually FEEDING these darn things instead of killing them?

So we've had ants the last week or so. Today DD(12) was outside and watching a line of ants - going one way, then the other way. She thought it was really cool and told me about it. Im like WHERE?! SHOW ME!! This is IMPORTANT! She's like, whoa mom chill out. So I go over there, and watch the worker ants, then watch them go up the foundation. I had a few Terro traps left and put those out there where they were congregating. I sprayed a bunch with ant spray. We had a little Duraspan left, DH poured that on them. Then I got out the cornmeal and put out all along their trail. Think that will do it?! Darn flippin' ants! Is my house gonna fall down?!!?

I guess I jinxed myself didnt I? Darn it.

UGH, we are fighting the big black carpenter ants now too. We've done the Terro liquid and powder and neither worked. I'm going to try the boric acid/mint jelly and corn meal next. They totally give me the heebie-jeebies and I don't know what to do to get rid of those things! ICK ICK ICK!

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