I have little brown teeny tiny ants in my kitchen. How can i get rid of them?

Question

They are only about 1/8th of an inch big and are too small to get into the ant traps. What can I do?

Answer 1

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 2

sometimes dabbing "oil of peppermint" where you find them, will keep them from coming back.

Answer 3

You might have pharoh ants they are very small. If you spray them they will just split and go different ways and start new nests. Its called budding. The best way to get rid of them is baiting. Try doyourownpestcontrol .com they should have some good ideas on how to get rid of them

Answer 4

Sugar Ants!!!  We used to have the problem in the spring, we finally got rid of them by *gasp* poison.  First clean under EVERYTHING in the kitchen, make sure there is no food source except for the poison.  Then place the poison in areas that are not normally accessible to humans or pets.  (Under the microwave, stove, refridgerator) the ants will find it, ingest it, carry it back to the nest and after about a week the ants will be bye-bye.  They may show up again next year but eventually they will not find a fun home.

Answer 5

I have a problem with them right now. They can and will get into anything and everything including those ant traps. Alternatively, you can feed them corn meal. They eat it. They take it back to their nest and feast on it. They can't digest it and it kills them. Also, corn meal won't harm children or pets.

Answer 6

keep  your sugar and any other foods in the refrigerator, then spray(ant spray) around and under your sink and along your counter tops, next day wash it all down good, and don't put any food out that will be attracting them.  good luck

Answer 7

First:

-These will not work: Mint oil, cinnamon, grits, oats, salt, baking soda, tea tree oil, oranges, burnt banana peels, thyme, bay leaves.

Now that it's out of the way, here's your options:

Spray: For Big Headed Ants (it's what they're called) this can usually work if you're thorough. However, you do stand a chance of poisoning yourself, family or pets if you don't follow the label, and sometimes even if you do. For all other ants, don't even try it. There's a good chance you'll chase the ants to another part of the house or even cause the colony to split and make more colonies.

Bait: "The ants take it back and it wipes out the colony and the queen."  If this were a cure-all, nobody would spray. However, there are some serious problems with this claim. For instance, Odorous House Ants, among other species, have many, many queens. Also, their food preferences are so diverse, the chance of them eating enough of your bait to wipe-out all the queens AND the workers is very slim. ALSO, if the Odorous House Ants are stressed, such as by losing about 10% of their workers, they'll pack-up and move... maybe even splitting into a bunch of smaller colonies. For some ants this will work, but for some it won't.

Boric Acid: Most people over-apply this or put it in a moist location. Once it gets moist it turns into crystals and is nearly impossible for ants to be poisoned by it. Go ahead and try mixing it with sugar... you'll need to get the mixture between 5% and 8% and it will need to be Disodium-octoborate-tetrahydrate. Anything else won't work. Also - since ants perform trophallaxis, they can regenerate their intestinal flora that the boric acid will destroy.

Call an exterminator: You could find some bozo who doesn't know the first thing about killing ants and waste your money, time and patience. However, you may find someone, like me, who can get rid of them the first time every time. I can also prevent them from coming back.

If you're in Yavapai County, AZ, msg me and I'll cure your ant problem.

Answer 8

Buy an anteater.