[Familyofmonkeys]

We have finally found out that ants raiding our house are coming from underneath somewhere. What do ants nest look like....what should we be looking out for? Tried putting some poison outside along path they are walking along, but they are still raiding our house :no

[jubjub]

put talcum powder down, then you can follow the tracks.

I think you can get bomb things for ant nests. The other thing we got told to do was pour petrol on it, but that may not be best if its under the house, also a kettle full of boiling water on it works well too!

Not sure what a nest looks like, but I think its a little like a termite mound? Or ours was inside a breeze block.

[Croft]

We've found boiling water to be a good solution if you have direct access to the nest, or at least the holes that lead to it. They seem to make use of exisitng cracks etc, though one we found under a slab had a series of oval holes to access the underground network.

I've had mixed results with Ant Powder - they're meant to carry it back to the nest on their legs and poison the rest of the ants. In large quantities I've found it can work. Maybe you can get more powerful versions from a pest controller (in the same way that flee products for pets in the supermarket are far inferior to those you can get in vets).

The best stuff we found was from a DIY store, a foam spray with a nozzle which you sprayed into the nest holes and the foam expanded.

[marky]

We have finally found out that ants raiding our house are coming from underneath somewhere. What do ants nest look like....what should we be looking out for? Tried putting some poison outside along path they are walking along, but they are still raiding our house :no

sprinke bicarb of soda on their trails, make sure all food is locked away and all is clean

[Helsandfamily]

I've found that the best thing is if you pinpoint exactly where they are coming in and put ant powder just there. This does seem to work but you have to make sure that this is the point of entry otherwise it won't clear them.

Hels

[Myrkk]

I have a picture of an ants nest somewhere but I can't find it. We had huge ant problems in this house in the UK. Garden was full and they then made their way into the false wall in the bathroom and swarmed while I was in the shower......shudder, still makes me cringe thinking about it:exit

Normally the nests are made in soil and it's just lots of little tunnels, bit like gerbils on a smaller scale but more prolific in breeding. You'll know when you have the centre of the nest 'cause it will be full of little white eggs and grubs which the ants will rush around frantically picking up and running deeper into the nest to hide away from harm. This is the bit to squish, pour boiling water on etc etc.

Don't know what's available in NZ but you can get little cans of poison which you pierce a couple of holes in and the ants walk in get covered in poision and take it back to the next which they then transfer to the other ants killing the whole nest including queen.

HTHs

[dilanium]

not sure about ants in NZ, but the ants in the US will avoid cinnamon, so if you sprinkle it down the path that they're getting into the house they will stop going that way (though there might be other ways into the house, and they'll redirect that way).

I've had luck mixing baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) with peanut butter (a lot of the ants in our area are after proteins), you just put it in a little dish and leave it out for the ants to eat. After they ingest it the bicarbonate reacts with the acid in their digestive tract and since they can't burb, they die. You can also try this with mixing a very surgary jelly with baking soda, in case the ants are looking for sugars.

The ants nests here look like little mounds of dirt with a hole in the top, and then they go fairly deep into the ground. This will be different depending on what type of ants you have.

Regardless, seal up all your food, clean up all crumbs as fast as possible, and good luck.

[dilanium]

Okay- so now we have an ants nest somewhere underneath our rental. Is this something our landlord should sort out for us?

[Familyofmonkeys]

Okay- so now we have an ants nest somewhere underneath our rental. Is this something our landlord should sort out for us?

You can only ask! As you can read above, we had major ant problems in one of our old rentals and the landlady had no interest in fixing it....just told us to seal up all food. Seems like such a common problem, people here don't think it's a big deal....but coming from UK where these problems are rare...it's rather shocking.

[Tia Maria]

Personally we never found treating the nest effective in NZ, (although it did work in the UK), so we just use the Robocan.

In the summer we can tell when its run out as a trail appears on the kitchen floor heading towards some little delight the kids have dropped under the table.

Cheers

Tia

[dilanium]

what's robocan?

[Jo Jo]

It's an automatically dispensing insecticide: http://innovair.net/

We got one last year when we had a load of ants in the house, and it worked a treat. I didn't want to use ant bait or anything like that because of the cats.

[dilanium]

but they're in our kitchen- so wouldn't it get insecticide all over our food?

[Tia Maria]

We have our Robocan in our kitchen on top of one of the wall cabinets, it sprays out a fine mist which affects insects but nothing bigger, (our fish are fine).

There is a 'green' type but obviously its up to the individual to decide how appropriate it is for them as a general concept.

We also had our house sprayed when we first moved in, along with a bomb in the roof - you get ants nests in the wall cavities in villas so this is one of the easiest ways to get rid of them. We were advised to be out for the morning and put a tea towel over the fish tank. It worked for that season but we've found the Robocan a better long term solution. (Although try to buy the cans when they are on special in New World as they are expensive).

Most people we know, either spray once a year or use a Robocan, but I'm not sure whether its just a bigger problem in villas.

Cheers

Tia

[James 1077]

Our Robocan is great - you can always tell when it has run out and you'll get insects around. We've got ours up high on the wall in the dining room (and another in the hallway but don't often use that one) and it works a treat.

The insecticide it uses doesn't kill (or harm) anything with a central nervous system - so only really gets rid of insects.

http://innovair.net/

[Familyofmonkeys]

You do need to be careful is you have asthma or allergies though as Robocans use pyrethins which can cause wheezing for more sensitive people. Still it is a much better option than a lot of the older insecticide sprays which contain organophosphates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrin

[Flutterby]

we have an ants nest somewhere in/around our flat here in the UK, and since we are not on ground level i'm wondering if it is somewhere in the roof.

[mgbridges]

OK so I'm fairly certain there must be an ants nest under the house but its in a pretty inaccessible place. Basically I'm getting loads of tiny black ants coming up inbetween floor and skirting edge in one room that ajoins the kitchen. The Robocan is doing a great job and they aren't getting far but the smell from decaying dead ants is awful!

I don't want to have to keep pulling all the furniture out to hoover them up so is there anything I can do to stop them coming into the house? Has anyone ever had their house 'treated' either inside or outside to stop the little critters coming in and if so how much does it cost?

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese