To MrJonMan or anyone else that has suggestions, I need your help.

We have recently had ants getting into our kitchen and need to figure out a solution to get rid of them for good. From what I have found through a brief search online, I believe they may be Pharaoh ants...rather clear bodies, attracted to food, pesky little things. (I thought they may be sugar ants, but they are not black.)

I have cleaned all of our countertops and have eliminated food sources in the open. They were coming from the outside of the house through a window, moving across the floor and around to our spice cabinet. I sprayed the window and floor areas with bleach to remove the *scout trails* and the bastages moved their trail to the ceiling!!

Two nights ago they were coming through the top of the window, along the length of the kitchen ceiling to the opposite wall, and down to the cabinets. Sprays kill them and keep them away for a day or two, but they keep moving their trails. I threw away any open foods in our pantry (chips, candy, etc.) but they keep searching. I spread some powdered ant killer outside the house around the perimeter of our kitchen area. However, I think the recent rains have lessened the effect.

Any suggestions on what we can do to get rid of these ants?? I am worried that our pantry will be completely overrun if we are not able to control them while we are gone for the holidays.

TIA!

Have you tried something like Demon? I think its a residual insecticide. I have used it around the house for roaches and ants. You would have to spray an area that the ants HAVE to cross. I dont know if that will do the trick.

Try putting bay leaves out in strategic locations...ants seem to hate it. Safe, natural, and for me it seems to work much better than professionally placed bait. My kitchen ants used to laugh at my store bought bait and the pro stuff seemed to only work for a week or two.

[This message has been edited by SJEAg (edited 11/12/2008 1:08p).]

Google Talstar.

Thank me later.

Demon & Talstar are both good products,Demon has been around forever and insects are actually starting to form a resistance to it.

Really for Pharoah ants, the 2 best liquid chemicals are Termidor (outside only) and Phantom (in & out), however, good luck with legally getting your hands on it without a license. Those are sprayed to kill off any ants thats are simply traveling, then you also need to use baits, although it's hard ot say which bait, bc every job is different, I treated for them at my house & they went straight for the bait, 2 weeks later the same bait @ my parents didn't do crap.

They live in colonies in the wall and will travel throughout the house using the plumbling & electrical lines so don't be surprised if the suddenly show up on the other end of the house in a bathroom. The bait is used so they will take it back to the nest and feed it to the others, slowly killing them off.

It's a seperate service with almost all companies and they are a pain, our TexAgs discounted price is $99.50 + tax (reg. $165 + tax), guaranteed tog et rid of them regardless of the number of trips and once they are gone, we warranty it for 90 days. I can pretty much promise we will be back more than once, bc they always seem to show back up.

as far as over the counter things you can try, don't waste your money on cans of ant sprays or ant traps because chances are it won't work, i'm not very well informed on the natural or home made solutions but either try what others have said here or start searching google.

Good luck to you and feel free to ask any other questions you may have....

Thanks for all of the replies! I had heard about the bay leaves myself and will actually give that a try. However, I don't think that would actually kill/get rid of the existing ants that are elsewhere.

Jon - So the $100 service you offer covers the whole house for 90 days? And you will return to reapply if needed? Is it safe for an indoor cat? I know that these ants can appear in other areas as they found an empty pack of running gel I accidentally left with my running clothes in the bedroom once. Ugh.

Edit - Does the treatment actually kill the ants, or does it just keep them hidden? For example, do they continue to hide in the walls and other hidden areas, as if there were a barrier keeping them from entering the house...or do they actually leave altogether?



[This message has been edited by Sassafras42 (edited 11/12/2008 3:14p).]

Yes, the treatment will cover your entire house for the ants, but only the ants, not roaches, spiders, silverfish, ect. For $125 + tax we will cover everything previously mentioned, Ants for 90 days once their gone and everything else for 60 days. As far as the cat, as long as she isn't walking behind us licking up the things we put down then it should be a problem, however, we always suggest putting her somewhere while we there and for awhile after we come, such as a bedroom or closet or even in a carrier. Also, we always say it's best to talk to your Vet (obviously we are not one) but we have never had a problem in almost 30yrs of business.

The treatment is intended to kill the ants, at first they will disappear, but they will return, so thats when you give us a ring and we will come back out, it's a slow process but they will eventually all die off, really depends on how long they have been there and how large of a colony they have hiding in the walls. The Termidor around the outside will act as a barrier to other ants wanting to come in, and they will either recognize it is there and go elsewhere or they will attempt to cross it and die. The Phantom on the insidehelp aid the baits in killing any ants that come in contact with it.

Basically the sprays are there to kill the ants you see on a daily basis, and the baits are used to help knock out the entire colony.

I'm in the midst of trying to prepare the things for tomorrow so, this post is slightly rushed and I'm not going to proof read it, so hopefully it makes sense and I didn't accidently explain something backwards (already caught myself explaining a bait as if it were a spray).

Let me know if you have any other questions...

Thanks again, Jon. Let me talk to my husband about it. Fortunately we don't have a problem with any other bugs (knock on wood!).

I am off to the Katy TexAgs happy hour myself, so I'll check here again tomorrow.