Help! Ants, Ants, Ants, Everywhere!

[LoveMyBeak]

I have got ants everywhere!, and I have tried everything I could to get rid of them, mainly they are coming in after the bird food, that the birds throw around although I clean everyday, but they seam to be getting worse. I use a bug spray called bug stop, but even then very little and I always plan to put my birds outside during those times, I am still very nervous using the stuff around them period.

Can anybody help me out here? is there anything I can use around the birds that can at least repel the ants?????....................LMB

[vle1170]

There are 2 things I know of that I have heard that will help. Well 3 things, there is Bengal ant spray you can get at anywhere like wal-mart or such places, it works really well.
Also go to your local home store like Lowes or Home Depot and get lime powder. You put it all around the outside edge of your house outside. It will look funny, but it does help and not only with ants but other critters too.
Also if you know where their hills are, pour used coffee grounds on the hill, for some reason it kills ants and it wont hurt any of the animals around like squirrels or birds etc.
I have also heard that vinager helps as well.

hope some of these help you and good luck cuz we get swarmed with them here as well.

[vle1170]

Oh yeah and I forgot... cucumber peel, put the peels where they are coming into the house, they dont like cucumber and it should make them go away.

[LoveMyBeak]

Heh Heh I see you live in Georgia too, I live in the middle of 14 acres here in Comer GA, and there are ant hills every where.......................LMB

[vle1170]

Yep, Georgia born and raised and getting sick of the humid hot air too lol
I have been getting those itty bitty tiny ants, the ones no bigger than the end of a pen point, luckily I was able to get rid of them and so far the other ants arent as bad as they were last year.
i would go outside last summer and in my driveway would be 4-5 trails of ants going somewhere, you couldnt step anywhere without getting ants on you, its ridiculous.

[LadyK]

I had that prob when we were feeding wet cat food to the kitties. I put a Bounce drier sheet under the cat food bowl and the ants stopped coming.

[LoveMyBeak]

Ya I have ant homes all over the place. Someone told me one way to get rid of the ant homes is to take a shovel and shovel half of one ant home and transfer it to another and take half of that ant home and transfer it to the first one and then watch the fun begin(ants hate each other) I don't know if it works but at this point i will try anything...........LMB

[catschair]

In my old house, I had ants coming through (not of Southern proportions, but enough to bother me). The local pest control company had a spray that was pyrethrin based (chrysanthemum-related product) and I carefully read all the tox tests. They sprayed outside my house every couple of months and the ants never came in to visit the birds, cats or I again.

[Freedomoflight]

I have an exterminator come every quarter to my house, but this summer I am still battling ants. 2 things I use that work: if you know where they are coming in, sprinkle cinnamon across their entryway. For whatever reason, they do not cross the cinnamon. Then (what a friend told me) if you know where their hill is, you can mix borax and sugar together get it a little wet so it sticks together. They'll be attracted to the sugar, take it to their home, then ingest the borax and die.

[vle1170]

Yeah besides cinnamon you can use cream of tarter, talcum powder, powder detergents cuz for some reason they dont like crossing that powdery stuff.
Another thing is 1/3 cup of molasses, six tablespoons of active dry yeast, and six tablespoons of granulated sugar. Stir the ingredients until they are smooth and well blended, and place soda bottle caps filled with this mixture in areas where ants frequent.