Ants?

[GipsyQueen]

Ugh, so I got home today and SO told me we had ants - but he had no idea where the heck they are coming from.

So today, I vacuumed and picked up the bean bag chair to vacuum underneath and there were like 20 ants under there. gross. I have 2 plants, but those have never been a problem.

How do I find out where they are coming from - and how do I get rid of them (I would prefer naturally)?? Ugh, living on the 7th floor had it's perks.

[Kilter]

Step one is to put some sugar water, a few drops, where you see the ants. They'll eat it and then head back to the nest, so watch and follow. That'll let you know where they're coming in. Peanut butter might work too if they're not into sugar.

Step two, clean the area with vinegar so there's no ant trails anywhere. They follow scent left by others to/from food, so doing that will prevent them from going to old sources.

Then get some ant bait, it's cheap and pretty safe. You can put it in a plastic container and punch some holes in it for the ants to come and go if you're worried about pets. Put that right near the hole they're coming out of and keep it topped up.

They should be gone from the next within a few days, then you can seal the hole.

Look for any food/living sources for them and remove them too, so they don't come back.

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

Ants hate chalk so they tend not to cross chalk lines. If you have any way to get Diatomaceous Earth, you could put that around and it would dry the little buggers out.

[GipsyQueen]

THANK YOU!

I'm home all day tomorrow, so I'll have time to follow the little buggers. HOPEFULLY this won't turn into a bigger problem.

I lifted up the bean bag chair again just a few minutes ago and there were a bunch under there again... could they have a next in there?

[Fran27]

I used terro here, it worked wonder, I don't know if you can find it in Germany though... they just take it to their hive and it kills them.

[Doberluv]

Check where your plumbing pipes enter andake sure the space around is sealed. They often come in where water is...under sinks and such.sugar will only work on sugar ants. Do u know what kind they are? Hope they aren' t carpenter. You might need an exterminator. I had those in the walls at my old house. You could hear them! Gross!

[GipsyQueen]

Originally Posted by Doberluv

Check where your plumbing pipes enter andake sure the space around is sealed. They often come in where water is...under sinks and such.sugar will only work on sugar ants. Do u know what kind they are? Hope they aren' t carpenter. You might need an exterminator. I had those in the walls at my old house. You could hear them! Gross!

I have no idea... they're tiny. Nothing like the ants in the US. They're only in our living room... so I doubt there's any plumbing there?

[Doberluv]

Oh...not big. That is good. Well, hope a simple method works.

[Lyzelle]

I put cinnamon down where I saw our ant infestation. In their path and around the door. Bye bye ants.

[darkchild16]

We have the same issue gyps but they like my couch. We found out the were somehow coming in the one window high up because they dont get on it now that its not on that wall.