I am having a big problem with ants in my house. What is the best thing to get rid of ants?

Question

I cannot afford an exterminator. I need the best thing that I can try myself. And this is in every room in the house, they are everywhere. thanks

Answer 1

extermanation or bug spray

Answer 2

I'd sure bet the ants are those little, tiny ants that my Mother called Sugar Ants.  When you see 'em, spray 'em with Raid or something like that.

If they are really BIG, black ants...they are Carpenter ants & are probably eating some wood in your house.  The thing is, I have heard that when you have carpenter ants, you also have termites, so check that out!

If the ants are medium sized and sparse, then they probably just wandered in.  Set them free!

That's all I know about ants!

Answer 3

Cornmeal they cant digest it so they will die of eating it

Answer 4

Use a mix of cinnamon and sugar. The ants will pick up the sugar, along with the cinnamon, and take it back to their queen. Ants can’t digest cinnamon and once the queen dies from not being able to digest the cinnamon the colony will die without her.

Answer 5

Sugar ants = Odorous House ants or Argentine Ants or even Pavement Ants.

If you have carpenter ants, you don't necessarily have termites.

Carpenter ants do not eat wood. Instead, they dig it out so they can have a nice place to live.

Since you're posting here, it's likely you've tried everything you can think of. Now's the time to call an exterminator -- someone who's experienced at this and does it for a living.

If you call an exterminator to do the work, be sure to ask them some questions before you let them come over.

1. Can you cure my ant problem?

2. How many treatments should it take?

3. Will the product you spray have a foul odor?

4. How safe is it for children and pets?

5. Will I have to leave the house while you treat, and if so, for how long?

6. What kind of guarantee do you offer?

7. How long is this likely to prevent ants inside my home?

8. What is your price?

Write these questions down and make notes of different company's responses.  Then choose the company you put the most trust in.

If you're in Yavapai County, AZ - msg me and I'm sure you'll choose my service.

One more thing: cinnamon, bay leaves, dryer sheets, chalk, baby powder, mint, boiling water and other urban legends will not cure your ant problem. It may make the ants move, bud, and form new colonies in fact! Science will win over druidism every time.

Answer 6

Here's the trick.  Do you know those fabric softener sheets that you use in the dryer?  Bugs and mice cannot stand the smell of them.  If you put them under your food in your cabinets, they will not go near your food.  If they can't get to your food they have no interest in your house.  You will still get some scouts in the house, but not many.

Replace the dryer sheets once a year.

It works!  I live in the desert and I get huge colonies of ants around my home.  They never come in the house.

Don't bother spraying those obnoxious smelly chemicals in your house.

I learned this from someone that lived in a motor home!

[edit - What a hoot!  I see you have a solicitation here from a business, saying that the only way to get rid of your ants is by hiring a pest control professional.  Well, of course he's going to say that.  And after you clearly said you cannot afford that solution.  

Those little bugs are crawling all over my land.  I kill maybe 2 to 5 ants a week in my house.  They never come in the house in any numbers.  The dryer sheets and sugar/cinnamon solutions work.  My Dad used to sprinkle rock salt around the house.  That worked, too.

Incidentally, that post by Competition Pest Control is a violation of Y!A community guidelines:  "Yahoo! Answers is a place to gain knowledge, not customers".  But I'm not going to report the post, because I think it helps illustrate a point.  We don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to fix these kinds of things.  There are frequently simple, low cost remedies that are pretty effective.]

Answer 7

buy some ant bait made by raid.their little containers of poisoned food for ants.place them on the ant trails.they collect the food and take it back to the nest killing all,even the queen.