Little tiny ants

[Aethian]

According to my neighbors these come every spring. I was told by management that "everyone gets them"

She wouldn't believe me that I use to not get them where I lived prior. It's not food out that attracted them, but they are pissing me off when I suddenly wake up slapping at something crawling on me.

So HELP PLEASE Any suggestions on getting rid of these damn things would be helpful. They are driving me up the fricken wall.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I've read that cream of tartar will keep them out. Figure out where they are coming in and put a line of cream of tartar across it.

[Aethian]

Thats just it, I can't find where they are coming in, the couch has them, the bathroom has them, both bedrooms. Thankfully the food has been safe, which I don't fully understand but hey...

I've got a bottle I was going to toss, I'll put that down in the bedroom tonight, maybe I'll get a full nights sleep.

[Green_Fairy]

According to my neighbors these come every spring. I was told by management that "everyone gets them"

just because everyone gets them doesn't mean it's okay...i'd almost say fumigate and send your management the bill...

[draggar]

Borax helps - sprinkle it around the edges / outside walls.

Fumigating usually doens't help with ants - they usually come in from outside.

Lots of traps, too.

[Aethian]

Borax helps - sprinkle it around the edges / outside walls.

Fumigating usually doens't help with ants - they usually come in from outside.

Lots of traps, too.

That wouldn't harm the house pets that are let out to roam would it?

Google said something about Terro, anyone know what that stuff is?

[TheSHAD0W]

They're called "piss-ants", which term I bet you've heard before, and I found it amusing when you mentioned they were "pissing you off".

Wiping vinegar over the trails where they are entering your home will tend to keep them from coming back, but you've said you don't know where they are coming in. Boric acid will kill them; it's relatively non-toxic, but don't put it where your pets can get to. There are ant baits that will help.

One thing about piss-ants - they tend to invade and decimate other ant colonies and eat other insects, so getting rid of them completely may subject you to more annoying pests.

[Meganjo23]

That wouldn't harm the house pets that are let out to roam would it?

When my cats food attracted ants, I just put those little white poison things under the dressers, where the cat couldn't get at them. Seemed to work great, the ants were gone in a few days (they take it with them to the hive, I think, killing them all) and the cat was fine, since they were where she couldn't reach them. I'd suggest that, its easy and cheap. I think you can get those white things at any drugstore, but I cannot think of that they're called... but since they're self contained, not a powder type thing, if you don't have a safe spot for them, maybe you could only put them down when you've got the pets somewhere else?

But I know what you mean, about waking up with ants on you, its not fun. Looking at Bonnies food and thinking, "Why is that moving?", that wasn't fun either. And I felt like a jerk because I wasn't sure how long they had been there. Poor cat.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Looking at Bonnies food

I don't know why but I like that your cat's name is Bonnie.

[Evil Queen]

Well, what do they look like? Are they tiny and black? Chances are they are "Sugar Ants". They don't necessarily go after food stuffs. In Whitwell (You remember, the town that's an hour outside of Chattanooga, where I used to live?) they ate the cardboard between the paint and the drywall. It was weird.

Clean with white vinegar and sprinkle Borax (20-Mule Team is what I use, you can get it in the detergent aisle) where ever you vacuum. Don't worry, your pets will be fine around it. Mine never bothered it (I think, to them, it smelled like soap). Let it sit for a little while (an hour or two works) and vacuum it all up. Plus, your house will smell nicer.

[Ratha]

You can try sprinkling creamy wheat around, too. Ants seem to like it, and when they take it back to the colony to feed the queen, it expands and kills her. Which eventually causes the whole colony to die.

[Gravekeeper]

"Everyone gets them" is a pretty lame excuse from your management. The building needs to be properly sprayed around the foundation.

Use to have sugar ants just swarming into my old place in the spring-summer. Not because they were after anything, but just because it was in the way and they had dug part of their colony under the house along a wall. Kept getting worse till my landlord summoned an exterminator to spray under the house and along the foundation. They never came back.

I get the occasional rogue scout around my front door here, because there's a garden right by my door. But they never venture in far or in force ( or the cats goes for them ). A few more then I would like ventured in last year and I just put liquid ant bait around the garden. That got them.

At my old place where they were established along the foundation, NOTHING would get rid of them. Bait, traps and what not might give you a week but they'd come right back because it was a big established colony. It wasn't until they had it properly done by an exterminator that they never came back. It needs to be done once and done properly to rid the building of them.

Sugar Ants, true to their name, are just after sugary things so unless you're in the habit of washing your floors with Pepsi they aren't coming in for anything. They're just in the house because their colony is along or under one of the walls and your management sucks too much to do anything about it.

[Magpie]

At our apartment they come from, literally, under the floor, so we just try damage control. We get those little enclosed peanut butter traps (the ones that are supposed to ensure that the poison gets taken back to the queen). If there's food on the floor we wipe the spot right afterwards, and we use soapy water to clean up the trails the ants left, so that they can't follow them. I should be ready for this year, so that when spring comes we can get the jump on them... hmmmm.

[Evil Queen]

You can try sprinkling creamy wheat around, too. Ants seem to like it, and when they take it back to the colony to feed the queen, it expands and kills her. Which eventually causes the whole colony to die.

I did that with grits. When I moved in I found a bull ant nest in the side yard. A little sprinkling for two days did a marvelous job of killing the colony.

[Food Lady]

Ants won't usually cross a cinnamon line, either. Worked for me. I don't know if cinnamon is harmful for cats or dogs to ingest.