How do you keep ants out? These are the little tiny ones that you can barely see.

Question

I am having a lot of problems with these tiny red colored ants being attracted to our cat's food. It seems like no matter which type of food I put out for him, within a half of day, the ants come in from somewhere and they have a trail leading right to it. I have sprayed along the walls, moved his dish, switched from hard food for him to can food, and they still come. I clean his dish and area up everyday and this doesn't seem to help. This is causing big problems. The cat has been getting sick off and on for awhile, not all the time, but on occasion, and I'm thinking it's because the ants are getting in his dish and he's ingesting them with the food. Does anyone out there know what I can do to keep these ants out? Again, they are very tiny, and they seem to be attracted to greasy food products.

Answer 1

I assume that they are coming into your house?  I've had ant trouble before and just sprayed where I thought they were entering the house and that did the trick.

Answer 2

Beer - place beer away from the house in a bowl - they will go there instead

Answer 3

I checked out two different books on tiny red ants specifically, and

one had mentioned placing bay leaves around area, Another book

mentioned green sage for red ants all around area. If you see where

the ant hills are, pour boiling water onto hill.

There was also a mention of soaking about 2-3 lemons in water

for a few hours, then putting the mixture into a spray bottle and

clean the whole area with this spray beforehand.

There was also a suggestion of soaking small pieces of

sponges in a sugar sweetened water, then squeeze out and

place these sponges in areas where they frequent, and then

collect these sponges periodically, plunging them into hot water.

I had trouble with ants a few years back when feeding both my

dogs and cats, and someone had suggested placing the feeding

dish into a larger dish like a plate that has water surrounding

feeding dish, as the ants would have to cross the water to get

to the feeding dish! Sounds pretty good! Worth a try!

Bottom line, good luck! Hope some of these suggestions help!

Answer 4

Sit his bowl in a wider dish of water so that it forms a moat. They can't swim.