How to kill and get rid of ants without harming indoor pets.?

Question

we have been invaded by black ants in our home every day we clean spray them and they are back in a different location the next day. we have 2 dogs and don't want to use anything that may be harmful to them. we are going crazy please anyone got any advice. we have been trying the peppermint oil seems to help but not get rid of them completely. we don't have a lot of money to hire a exterminator so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Ants can enter your home through the tiniest of cracks seeking sweet and greasy substances in your kitchen or storage areas. When they find a food source, ants leave a long-lasting invisible chemical trail for the colony to follow. Ant colonies can number as many as 1/2 million individual ants, and are relatively free of enemies.

Use Terro. Terro is essentially borax mixed with sugar water. You can buy a small bottle for about five bucks at your local hardware store or supermarket. When your home is invaded by ants, you take a business card and sprinkle it with drops of Terro. You place the business card near whatever it is the ants are devouring, and then you wait. It may take a day. It may take two. And during that time, the ants will swarm all over the area (keep adding more Terro!), but gradually they’ll carry this sticky sweet poison back to their nest, and the entire colony will perish like some freakish doomsday cult. It’s delightful.

Answer 2

stamp on em

Answer 3

Spread corn meal around the area that the ants are coming in. They will carry it to their nests . They can't digest it so it will kill them off.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

If you and your indoor pets can leave the house for 4 hours the use a bug bomb. That is what we had to do and I tried everything first.  Once we bombed the problem was over.

Answer 5

I am fighting ants too, the tiny sugar and the large black ones.  I have indoor cats and a dog and don't want to use chemicals.  Below is a link to the green website, Care2, and a couple of 'recipes'.  I have made these ant hotels, but I haven't had as good results as with the next recipe.

The 'recipe' that works best for me is 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of borax.  Stir to mix.  Then I put a little bit of the powder on paper/foam plates and slide under my range and refrigerator.  I also put a little in foam bowls or old jars and put under the sink cabinet.  I have the baby-proof latches, so curious kitties cannot get inside, since this is where I keep cleaning products.  The good thing about this recipe is that the sugar attracts the ants and they walk through it and carry it with the borax back to the nest.  I make this in batches and keep in a clearly labeled jar.  I made some for my sis-in-law last summer and she said it worked better than anything else she's used, too.

My biggest problem is the ants going to the pets' dishes.  I did the bowl floating in the pie pan, but it is so messy.  I found this product online and ordered two.  They are wonderful!  And it is safe to use anywhere in your home.  It is called the Antser and the link is below if you want to read more about it.  

Purrs to you and your pets.

Answer 6

They are attracted to something.  Follow the ant trails and see where they go.  keep food well sealed as ants can smell that stuff from quite a distance.   After you kill the ants, spray the ant trail with disinfectant cleaner and scrub thoroughly to remove the scent the ants leave behind to mark the trail.   Do the ants have wings?  You may have carpenter ants which means you have have a moisture problem with rotten wood in the house.  They love rotten wood and will do anything to get to it.

Ant baits hidden in cabinets help, but they aren't very effective.  Find the source and the ants objective!

Answer 7

Use a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. The ants will come for the sugar and take the cinnamon too.  Ants cannot digest cinnamon and when they take it back to their queen she will explode after a while and the colony will die out without her.  Cucumber peels also have the same effect as the cinnamon.  Either one is safe to use indoors or around animals.  Hope this helps!

Answer 8

Mix borax with honey, and put this on scraps of cardboard (a torn up cereal or other food box is good for this). Put these baits where the ants will find them, near or on their paths through the house, but put them under furniture, in cabinets, etc. where your pets won't try to eat them. Within a couple of days the ants should be gone. We do this each spring to keep the ants out, and it works great.

Answer 9

Better are spray available in stores. But if not working then may be this link is useful  which i found out for u

http://www.epestsupply.com/ants.htm#Litt...

Answer 10

We've had success using Raid and Combat ant traps (they don't capture them, the eliminate them). Every Spring/Summer we seem to get a different variety, and the traps seem to work well on all of them--usually within a few days. The cats ignore them, but even if they did decide to bat them around, there is nothing to spill out. We've even been able to place them near their food bowls (which is where one invasion started). The traps last for about 3 months and then you can throw them out. Good luck.