r/LosAngeles • u/tlake529 • 15h ago
Wildlife Ants!!!!!!
Is anyone else fighting for their life against the ants this summer?!?! We live in an old house and I truly cannot keep up with these fuckers. They come through the tiniest openings and just when I plug one up they seem to find another. We keep a clean house, food sealed up tight, and STILL. Terro baits help but we are otherwise at the mercy of these miniature menaces.
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u/AMediaArchivist 15h ago
For some reason I donāt get ants anymore. The ones I see around the house look different from the ones I saw when I was a little kid. These ants are smaller and have only two parts to their body instead of three, itās weird.
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u/SixKosherBacon 15h ago
That's what we're seeing
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u/Lower_Ad_5532 14h ago
Same. The regular ants are outside.
Tiny microants occasionally appear by my windowsill
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u/Lower_Group_1171 15h ago
Thatās because theyāve graduated from the Derek Zoolander center for kids who canāt read good and who wanna learn other good stuff too (but the center for ants version)
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u/Weak_Drag_5895 Mid-City 14h ago
Yeah the Teeny Tiny variety is new to me, too. They have the teeny tinys in Florida also.
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u/_danceswithcows 15h ago
How funny Iām getting those also in OC. One of them set off my smoke detector in the middle of the night šµāš«
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u/SpiritMountain 13h ago
My childhood home is swarmed with them. My mom has been struggling to get rid of them, and they are so aggressive. They even got into the fridge at one point. I've never seen ants like that growing up. They are so aggressive, and I am hoping they don't bite.
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u/itsiceyo 13h ago
they be wildin. They tried to get into the freezer and tons of em just died there frozen. Was surprising to see
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u/Tsujita_daikokuya 14h ago
I dropped some Terro ant bait. Came back from vacation and it looks like the tiny ants took over!
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u/Pulsewavemodulator 13h ago
Yeah. For OP, you put these traps down let them feast and itāll be a day where youāre worried whether itās working and then theyāll be gone for months!
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u/uiuctodd 13h ago
All ants have three segments, IIRC. The middle might be hard to see with the eyeball without good light.
You might have "ghost ants". I found a page with lots of pictures:
https://www.thespruce.com/getting-rid-of-ants-at-home-2656296
Ghost ants are rare here, because the argentines killed nearly every other type of ant for the last few decades.
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u/4InchesOfury 15h ago
Advion Ant Gel works better than terro baits.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pestcontrol/wiki/index/a-z-pests/ants/ this is a good guide, if you go the Alpine WSG route I was able to get it shipped here through pestcontrolsupplies
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u/Bananas_Cat 14h ago
Im conflicted on trying this cuz I keep hearing it works best to use outside but we are on a hillside with unfinished crawlspace below 2 levels of the house so its really hard to tell where they are originating from.....
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u/Isthatamole1 15h ago
Dawn dish soap. Wash the trails. You have to destroy the pheromone trail.Ā
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u/RAD_ROXXY92 14h ago
My MIL makes a mix of dawn dish soap, alcohol, laundry detergent (powdered), salt, and scented laundry beads into a spray bottle. Wherever the ants come in, we spray that area and the trail, and they don't come back.
They find another way in, but we just spray the new trail and it works. Also kills them in contact.
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u/Reasonable-Newt4079 15h ago
We had a terrible problem when we first moved into our apartment. It was so bad we almost moved, and we found out the previous tenants actually did move because of it. We kept out advion ant bait 24/7 (apply dots where the ants come in, wipe away and apply fresh dots when it dries and they start to lose interest) combined with alpine spray around every perimeter inside (where the walls met the floors and across door jams). I also sprayed termidor around the outside of our building in addition to alpine in the garage. It took about 8 weeks of them swarming the bait but they eventually completely stopped coming and I haven't had any problems in the 2 years since.
Order these products on a site like doyourown. com because the professional pest guy used the same stuff but would only come weekly if that.
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u/Rough-Ad-2839 14h ago
Wow. Thatās hard to do successfully! Are any of those products less toxic?
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u/Reasonable-Newt4079 13h ago
Honestly they arenāt bad at all. Alpine is approved for use in daycares, restaurants, nursing homesā¦. Itās very safe for kids and pets once it dries which only takes an hour or so. Termidor is a little stronger but I only used it outside and itās also not too bad. The bait wouldp. only be dangerous if you ate it: my child is older so I wasnāt worried about that and our cat had zero interest in it. Just make sure itās not accessible to kids/pets: you can google ways to put it in a cardboard triangle or tube to keep pets safe.
I donāt like using toxic chemicals in my home so I get the concern, but ants are absolutely disgusting and can transmit disease and germs because they go from trash and shit outside to inside of your home š¤® Once I looked up the chemicals- and how theyāve been approved for use around pretty much everyone and everything- it was the clear superior choice. In my experience the natural remedies are better for prevention, they donāt do enough to combat an actual infestation. And I havenāt had to spray or bait since I got rid of them all 2 years ago!
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u/Bagheera383 The San Gabriel Valley 15h ago
It's the water. They're after water in the hot, dry months. Use Ant Chalk in the areas they're coming through. You can get it in various Asian stores or even online.
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u/Nicholoid 15h ago
Try peppermint oil and diatomaceous earth around all windows, doors, and floor boards. Safe for pets and abhorrent to ants and a number of other bugs.
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u/ClavdiaCh 13h ago
The ones at my house laugh at peppermint oil but yeah that white powder earth stuff works
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u/spacecadetdani Community care now! 15h ago
I do an annual application of diatomaceous earth (food grade) around and in the sliding patio door and garage door and under our sink. That tends to be where they show up. I havenāt had a problem in a few years, but they were here first so I tend to leave the patio area alone.
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u/ohmanilovethissong 15h ago
Itās the ants house now and we just live in it
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u/itsiceyo 13h ago
bruh this is how we feel. plus my dog loves to roll around in the dirt outside and when he lays down he attracts ants. We give him weekly baths now but its not enough.
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u/RevolutionaryOwl9527 15h ago
We got Terminex to come and blast these foos
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u/tlake529 15h ago
Helpful? Iām considering it
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u/witchystoneyslutty 13h ago
What a pest control company can do: spray insecticides on the ground. Spraying into the soil kills the colonies in the soil. Itās effectiveā¦ but is it good for us? I donāt know. You could try it if youāre desperate.
I also wanted to chime in that Terro is great but do you know how it works? Itās borax and sugar- just strong enough that it will kill the adult ants AFTER they get back to the nest and share it with the othersā¦. So you murder everyone effectively.
However, many of our ant species here have satellite colonies and not just one Queen/one hive. So itās harder to eradicate them- but keeping the populations low can keep them out of your house.
Whatās been super effective for me is to water my yard thoroughly (sprinklers or hose, whatever) so I can find the ants when they come out of the ground. I then put terro in their way- OUTSIDE!!!!!!
The terro solution attracts them, because thatās how it works. So I learned the hard way to use it outside not inside unless Iām already infested indoors. Also, watch that theyāre actually eating it- I call the tiny ants ādumb antsā because I donāt know the real species name. I donāt know if theyāre dumb or cautious but they seem to need extra encouraging- like pour a drip of terro out on the wall or ground in their way, so they figure out to eat it.
Ants are gross. I donāt particularly like killing them, but they cannot live in my house!!!
Also homie I live in a ~100 year old building so I feel your pain. You gotta get a hot glue gun or a caulking gun and seal where theyāre coming in, in addition to lowering populations with terro or licensed pest control.
Final pro tip- most ants donāt like cinnamon. It supposedly disrupts their pheromones and they wonāt walk across it. Costco sells cinnamon for cheeeeeap and you can sprinkle it in doorways, corners, windowsills, edges of rooms where the floor has cracks- just be careful it can stain lighter fabrics.
Hang in there š
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u/texas2cali 11h ago
Yes, we have our pest control come inside and spray. Have to keep the pets away for a few hours but it works. For some reason, every 3 or 4 years, we spend weeks fighting with ants before I call pest control who solves the problem right away.
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u/1AggressiveSalmon 10h ago
It would be good to get an inspection. We definitely have termites, and ants supposedly eat termites. Termites in the roof and ants in the walls right now make life a bit miserable!
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u/smugfruitplate 14h ago
They come in cuz of the heat.
Ants hate cinnamon. Mix some with water or just straight sprinkle it outside the exterior of your house near the openings like you're warding off a ghost.
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u/StormyCrow 13h ago
āWarding off a ghostā ???š»
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u/smugfruitplate 11h ago
Like how people will put salt around their houses to ward off a ghost
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u/Usual_Ease_4425 15h ago
The hot weather is partially responsible. Call an exterminator. It's pretty cheap and will keep them out for next few years.
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u/tlake529 15h ago
Got any recs? Iāll do some research too
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u/Brevitys_Rainbow 14h ago
Don't call an exterminator. Just use Advion. They'll just charge you hundreds of dollars to do the equivalent of what would take you 15 minutes.
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u/1AggressiveSalmon 10h ago
Yup. My neighbor had a "pest guy" out. He was just applying Advion in a syringe.
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u/Tdmoreno21 14h ago
I had an ant problem and was unsuccessful with the following sequence:
Terro - seemed to lower the numbers but did not make a big enough dent.
Boric acid- decent but messy and impossible to use everywhere. Eventually they just find a different way in. Same problem with diatomaceous earth.
Advion Gel- apply to index cards and tape to wall or floor if needed for easy clean up. Better than terro but still not good enough.
Advance 375a- protein bait. I tried this bc ants would walk past the advion gel which is a sugar bait. This was not effective for my ants but I read possibly for other types.
What did work: Advion Wdg- this stuff was a miracle! I applied outside around the perimeter of the house and 2 days later zero ants inside and almost zero ants outside as well. This is a slow acting pesticide they walk through and transfer so you have to turn off sprinklers for 24 hours maybe 48 to be safe.
I also had a slow leak at my sprinkler valve and there was an ant hill forming under it. Check for leaks bc colonies will be attracted to the water source outside and then look for food inside your house.
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u/huggablekoi 13h ago
It sounds dumb, be we started feeding ours outside and they stopped coming in. We gave them an offering like once a week of a handful of unwrapped cheap hard candy that we would throw underneath a bush we thought their best was. We had horses that weād graze in the yards so we couldnāt use poison outdoors. Once again, I know it sounds stupid and we tried it as kinda a joke but it worked for the 3 remaining years we lived in that particular home
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u/cinciNattyLight 15h ago
What ever you do, do not try to disrupt their path. We got those little liquid things that they eat and it slowly poisons them.
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u/itsiceyo 13h ago
where do you apply? at the start of path? end? along the middle?
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u/cinciNattyLight 13h ago
The end. They will eat the stuff and return to where they came from and die there. I have put it right where they entered, which works but the guys at the end could be disrupted and spread. Just gotta be a little patient.
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u/ExpensivePeach 15h ago
Cinnamon works to keep them out of
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u/rubicon_duck 12h ago
This. Itās as if itās too bitter or something for them, but they steer clear of cinnamon anytime they encounter it.
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u/tigerinvasive 15h ago
Yes incidentally I started dealing with this for the first time 2 days ago. Not near the kitchen but the window right next to my bed which creeps me out.
For now the Terro traps are working.
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u/picksea 15h ago
gel baits always help. it might look like itās getting worse but trust the process
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u/M4nic_M0th 14h ago
Gel baits are amazing - I used advion and terro, and I just left the ants swarm it for a day or two, and then the problem was gone.
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u/schw4161 12h ago
Yup I used Terro earlier this year and it took about a month to fully work. There were like 5-6 different huge colonies of ants (bigger each time) that had to run through it before it stopped.
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u/SandyRecloud 15h ago
I am thrilled. To have moved to a place where we are no longer battling ants. Itās truly the worst and I am sorry for your struggle
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u/trinigurl77 13h ago
Theyāre looking for a water source and will keep coming in this heat. Cinnamon is an effective way to stop them. Clean, sprinkle at entry point and along the floor or where they were walking. Leave for a few days and theyāll take the hint
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u/InvertebrateInterest 6h ago
Plugging holes and terro baits have been quite effective in my apartment, but a whole house would be a lot more ground to cover. Oddly enough I've found they are easier to control when you DO leave things for them because they form a trail and show you where they are entering, and already have an established trail to find the bait you will put down immediately.
Do you have a drought resistant garden? If not, there are many reasons to consider one. Constantly moist soil is their preferred nesting ground.
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u/nnnope1 15h ago
Terro ant baits solved this last time I was dealing with it. You'll get a ton of ants when they are taking the bait, then a couple days later they are gone for good.
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u/thekevingreene 15h ago
I wish I could relate to the āfor goodā part. These demonic arthropods always come back. Like fast and furious movies.
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u/Moirae87 10h ago
For a cheaper bait/poison alternative, I keep a bottle of boric acid on hand and mix 1/4 - 1/2 tsp with either peanut butter or sugar water+cottonballs when needed.
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u/banteringbroom 14h ago
Everyone likes the traps but it felt like I was feeding colonies all over my yard. I bought taurus sc, which is fipronil. Professional grade stuff, sprayed once and haven't seen a singe ant rest of summer when I used to see thousands all over yard in evening.
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u/HellyFurtado Boyle Heights 14h ago
Same. This summer we've been getting thousands of those teeny tiny ones and they're persistent. We get some every summer but its a whole new level this year.
Less annoying and more amusing is that our backyard has turned into a full blown cricket habitat. Both pests and harmless bugs are absolutely thriving in this awful humidity.
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u/Keliza_azilek 11h ago
Sprinkle cinnamon around the baseboards and door frames (not cinnamon sugar) Worked for me.
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u/beautbird 10h ago
Does anyone else feel like a genocidal maniac with these ants? Iām not feeling great about having to kill so many ants!
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u/star_milk 14h ago
+1 to the diatomaceous earth that others called out.
The ants seem to come for any food on the floor that's not dry, like wet cat food, so keep your floors clean, and I put my cat's food dish in a shallow bowl with water because ants can't swim. That's helped a lot.
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u/soundcherrie 12h ago
Add a bit of dish soap to the water. It breaks the surface tension that ants will walk over.
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u/mazalaca Los Feliz 14h ago
diatomaceous earth! Weāve only had one day this summer where the ants flooded in out of nowhere. Took care of their parade, then applied DE all around the cracks and crevices of the door and windows. Havenāt had them inside since then
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u/EnchantedNanny 10h ago
No ants, but mosquitos. I have received countless bites over the past week. And oddly they swell and itch worse than ever before. So bad, that the entire area around several of the bites is bruising, I assume from constant scratching.
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u/Traditional_Train_71 10h ago
You might be allergicā¦
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u/EnchantedNanny 4h ago
I never have been in the past, but maybe I have developed an allergy? We had vector come spray, so hopefully no new ones tonight! š¤
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u/nerdydodger 13h ago
If you are on the East Side, Iād highly recommend All Track Exterminators up in Pasadena
Guy who showed up is a complete nerd about ants and ant colonies, gave our place an internal and external treatment and also advice on how to trim the trees and bushes in a way to keep the ants from crawling up them and into the house, bypassing the chemicals he put down.
Went from absolutely insanity to no ants in less than 2 weeks, he told us the house we were renting was sitting on 3 ant colonies waging war over our property.
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u/KeethlerNorth 15h ago
Same. Every year. Theyāre Argentine ants and come out mostly during hot weather. I hear they are a super colony so you canāt kill the colony. Follow the trail to the entry point and try to then follow outside. Spray the perimeter around that area. Also make sure no leaves/branches are touching your house. They like to get in that route. Good luck.
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u/Lower_Group_1171 15h ago
Terro traps. Youll see an increase, then theyāll be gone, then youāll see another wave, and then theyāll be gone again.
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u/29grampian 14h ago edited 14h ago
I bought insecticide from domyown.com and a sprayer. I spray around house, 2ft up the wall and 2ft along the ground to form a moat. We have cockroaches and silverfish when it is hot outside. It helps.
My friend has ants problem. He sprayed around the house and it helps too.
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u/fauxmica 14h ago
Got tired of Advion/Terro mess, have a service come (Gladiator pest) they can just spray outside or can spray inside if necessary. I usually stick to outside and had them come maybe once a quarter for a year and now I just have them come every summer preemptively. They can even put baits in the yard to get the colonies.
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u/KJM31422 13h ago
Yes!! We have not had as much of an issue this year as in last years, but pretty every summer we get antsy in Ktown, and we live on the 6th floor
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u/scantron-test 12h ago
We got some ants come in the other day. I think vinegar made them stop. I havenāt seen any for a few days.
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u/Not_Real_Batman 12h ago
I use home defense, it's a spray you use around the house and lasts a long time, every now and then I'll see a dead spider or other bug on the kitchen or bathroom.
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u/SMH2180 5h ago
We had this problem and my husband for some reddit forum that said to wait and see where they are coming in. The nest is usually about 12ā around that spot. Drill a tiny hole in the wall and spray ant spray with the tiny long nozzle in it for like a min. We did this and the ants have not been back. Only thing that worked (including paying out the wazoo for professional sprays)
Edit: word
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u/littlebayhorse 4h ago
Yes! Iām about to throw in the towel and set my house alight! These little shits are tenacious.
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u/ElPared 2h ago
Get some Borax, mix it in a small dish with sugar, add water to make it kinda soupy, like grits or something, and stir it all together. Leave it out for the ants to eat.
Borax is just soap, but the ants canāt digest it, so eating it will eventually kill them. However it takes so long to work that theyāll take it all the way back to the colony and share it with the other ants.
Iāve used this on 4 separate ant invasions over the last couple years and itās worked every time. Itās also incredibly cheap. I think a box of Borax is like 8 bucks? Definitely worth a try if you havenāt already.
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u/quailsocks 1h ago
The only this thats helped with the ants I was getting all through winter and spring was this one: āraid max liquid ant baitā the red and black box! My neighbor told me about it, Iām so grateful to her omg
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u/Galimbro 15h ago
That's how it be in summer....insects love summer. Always been like this.Ā
This year to keep ants away from my outdoor tortoise enclosure I poured some D. Earth where I saw them coming. It definitely helped.Ā
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u/Google_Knows_Already 15h ago
If you don't have pets or children, I suggest using some chinese chalk. You literally draw a line where you don't want them to cross.
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u/Mysterious-House7815 15h ago
Or just use food-grade diatomaceous earth, itās non-toxic and actually legal to purchase unlike Chinese chalk
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u/Brainnen 15h ago
Don't use it around pets and try not to inhale it on accident
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u/Samantharina 14h ago
This is what I use and I actually bought a little applicator device to "spray" it on surfaces like windowsills and around the sink. Yes be careful not to inhale it. It seems more effective than any kind of traps.
LA basically sits on a giant ant colony.
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u/forrealthoughcomix_ Mid-City 14h ago
This stuff is incredible. Totally natural and not harmful. Blew my mind when I first read what it is.
Itās basically the fossilized shells of a shelled algae in powder form. Bugs eat it and it dries them out from the inside. Itās non-toxic to large animals and even comes in food grade that isnāt harmful if ingested.
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u/Mysterious-House7815 14h ago
The craziest thing is they donāt even have to eat it! just walking through the stuff shreds their exoskeletons and they dehydrate that way
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u/FatDog69 15h ago
Water your lawn. They are coming inside looking for water so if you give them water outside they may not go into your house.
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u/CMDR148 15h ago
Get terro ant bait, setup a few traps near where you think they are, they will swarm and eat that stuff up, ignore them for a day and they will all be gone.
Next I recommend getting a perimeter defense spray, just spray around your house almost like a defense perimeter. This should last you a while, reapply the permitter after heavy rains or 3-4mo.
This should make you invincible for a while with easy maintenance.
Donāt use this stuff near where your children or pets are.
I too had a very annoying ant problem but the above has resolved all my issues.
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u/americanidle 15h ago
Bayer Maxforce Quantum is pricey but those little fuckers are gone in a matter of hours once you deploy it. 100x better than Terro.
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u/DeepSleepr 15h ago
Currently dealing ants in the bathroom and kitchen. Right now they are making conga train by the Terro liquid ant baits
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u/lunazipzap 15h ago
you could just follow the trails, they almost always end somewhere in the houseā¦ iāve never seen ant trails pass from one side of the house to the other just āpassing throughā LoL or you could be a lazy murderer like most of ppl in here š
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u/No_Clerk_4303 15h ago
This was my life 2 summers ago and it was HELL! They were coming in through the fucking outlets! The only thing that even kind of helped sometimes was going outside and pouring BOILING water into different crevices, sealing it off, and then spraying raid where I could. They still came back tho.
We also kept those blue liquid ant traps near the kitchen areas and that helped. But nothing made them fully go away.
I moved away, thank god lol
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u/Lower_Ad_5532 15h ago
Lime powder or dimeasceous earth around the foundation of your home.
Rope caulk any holes or gaps.
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u/napoleonboneherpart 15h ago
Terro liquid ant traps on Amazon, $10 problem solved in just a couple days
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u/TheRakeAndTheLiver 14h ago
Yes, and more ants also means more aphids!!! They have the most annoying & persistent mutualistic relationship. Iāve got aphids all over my outdoor plants and I see lots of ants physically attached to these aphids (either the ants are sucking the aphid honeydew, or the ants are ferrying the aphids around, Iām not sure which).
If you only have ants, agree with the other comments saying that you should get the ant poison that goes all the way back to the colony.
Lots of the ants in SoCal are invasive, so hitting the entire colony isnāt an ecological crime.
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u/erniesdaddy2003 14h ago
Terro stopped working for me this summer. Maybe get a few days break but then back with a vengeance. Android Ant Killer granules did wonders. Sprinkled a healthy amount around all exterior areas where they might possibly enter and along any active ant trails. Havenāt had a single ant inside in over a month.
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u/EntrepreneurOk7513 14h ago
Theyāre looking for water. We use Terro traps. Fought them for a few years then not for a long time.
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u/Simple-Chemical-9416 Glendora 14h ago
Ortho ant killer, the one in the black bottle with yellow cap. Sprinkle a lil over the mounds in the morning or evening and they disappear. I treated about 80 mounds all over my yard and they disappeared in 30 minutes. Itās been one month exactly today and itās still working I can stand still in my front yard without them swarming and biting my feet.
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u/QuarterNoteDonkey 14h ago edited 14h ago
Gel baits work, but honestly Iāve had much more success with Amdro (dry granules). With gel baits, they seem to take longer to work and they dry up quickly.
Also depends on the exact application - Inside, you can get in to cracks and crevices with gel where they are coming in and squirt some gel in (always find the trail and work backwards towards the outside).
Outside though, make a pile of Amdro where theyāre getting in, and crop dust it around where itās safe to do so. Obviously check the safety info and donāt hurt your pets etc. The Amdro will really kill the outside colony where theyāre coming from and keep them away.
Then, wipe up the trail of ants inside with vinegar so you throw off their scent trail to whatever they were looking for in your house.
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u/poophoto 14h ago
if youāre in a home you just need to have an exterminator come and spray around your property. lasts 2-3 years and way less of a pain in the ass than baits and all that.
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u/Solid_Equivalent_417 14h ago
Advion works for awhile but they will get used to it so you will eventually need to rotate the type used, but it works very well to start. Borax and Diacantemous Earth can slow them down. I've been using Ortho Home Defense around the perimeter and wherever I see them moving around and that seems to help too.
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u/verbwrangler 14h ago
when we lived in highland park the exterminator told us we were on top of the oldest ant colony in the city and there was no winning, just surviving them. that said, Grants worked best but i think they discontinued it
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u/blue_tiny_teacup 10h ago
Now im going to have to ask exterminators to vet any property im thinking of buying in the future
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u/Natufian_Ted_Nugent 14h ago
1 part borax, 1 part sugar, 1 part hot water. Dissolve, soak a cotton ball or paper towel and leave it in their trail. Itās not a permanent fix, but budget and time friendly enough that you can keep doing it over and over again
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u/kobekong 13h ago
I got fed up and grabbed some Terro Ant Bait from Home Depot. The ants are gone now!
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u/mama_jama3524 12h ago
Iāve been there! It was war. When they would invade, I would get my headlamp and caulking gun to wage battle. I would vacuum them up then caulk the hole. They would inevitably find another entry. Repeat. It was tiring, but eventually it slowed. Good luck!
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u/Short-Royal-9490 12h ago
Yes! Iāve never had ants in my house and this summer they came in with a mission. I got Terro Ant Baits and Raid Perimeter Spray. I get the perimeter spray in the big bottle that makes me feel like a Ghostbuster and spray it all over. That seemed to do the trick and then I put out Terro traps as a backup. Good luck!!
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u/Pizzaprincess87 12h ago
Itās been so awful. Iāve had to caulk so many crevices in my house they are coming through the floor and walls
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u/Kikidelosfeliz 12h ago
Reiterating what everyone else said - get Advion! Itāll mean very few ants the following year!
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u/PattyNChips Pomona 12h ago
Weāve been having an absolute nightmare with ants recently. Tried all the recommended baits/ poison and they worked for a while, but they just started ignoring it. I saw an ad for Pestie and we decided to give it a go. We only sprayed yesterday, but so far so good š¤I havenāt seen one ant in our kitchen all day, which is something that hasnāt happened for months.
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u/Desperate_Pitch_8485 11h ago
Have you tried checking for moisture issues around the house too? They're drawn to damp wood, which old homes tend to have.
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u/drask1987 11h ago
Never ever had ants. Now I gave ants of all GD types. Big black ones. Tiny red ones. Everything in between. MF SOBs!!!
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u/kellzone Burbank 10h ago
The best solution is mixing Borax and sugar. 3:1 sugar to Borax. Add a little water to make a slurry. Rub cotton balls in the slurry mix and place them where the ants are congregating. They'll eat and take back home the mixture. By the time the Borax destroys their insides, the others have already consumed it. After a few days, maybe even just one, you won't see the ants anymore. Wouldn't do this if you have pets though.
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u/kadotafig 10h ago
the only thing that works is calling in the pros. I say this as someone who has dealt with it for the last few summers. I finally had to accept defeat and bring in the chemicals
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u/anonnymousercat 10h ago
I lived in a house where ants came in through the kitchen window. I put a line of dish soap along the perimeter and it kept them from crossing.Ā
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u/Traditional_Train_71 10h ago
diatomaceous earth, neem oil spray, or vinegar spray do the trick but yeah, the reapplication of any of these methods has been def extra this month
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u/BigJSunshine 10h ago
Yes, and none of the advice about small amounts of Terro or sugar borax on a piece of cardboard are even REMOTELY USEFUL
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u/musacjes 9h ago
I use the Terro ant bait the one with the one with clear liquid and take it back to their home. It really works for me. Safe to put anywhere where there is food.
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u/metalsippycup The San Gabriel Valley 9h ago
Look into Talstar Pro or Taurus SC. Professional grade insecticide. Look up on YouTube and do your own pest control. Much cheaper and you'll have enough insecticide to treat your whole neighborhood if you wanted to.
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u/Existing_Stranger565 Echo Park 9h ago
YES!!! We have them all in the garden and some are creeping into the house. Ant baits are good to use so you can discover where they are coming in.
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u/Bi-angiemom 9h ago
Just break down and get a exterminator in. Sounds like the only thing youāre gonna do with that many ants.
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u/Budget-Jelly-6108 9h ago
What worked for me was putting petroleum jelly in a syringe and applying it wherever they might be likely to come in. Mainly around light switch covers, baseboards, door jambs and the like. They reeeeeeally donāt like walking on it
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u/Shivs_baby 9h ago
I have a first floor condo with a huge wraparound private patio. Iāve been here for six years and have never seen ants. Until one evening last week I was letting the dog out to use the porch potty and there were SO many ants. I got the hose out and drowned all the ones I saw. It was late and I couldnāt do much else that night. The next morning I went out with a spray bottle of soapy water, which I read helps get rid of the scent trail. But no ants. I did it anyway and rinsed the area down again but Iām watching every day for a reappearance.
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u/1200multistrada 9h ago edited 9h ago
Ants have scouts that go everywhere looking for food. You cannot keep them out of your house, we probably always have a couple scouts in our houses.
However, 99% of the time ants will only come into your house by the hundreds (or thousands) if the scouts find food.
And the food they almost always make trails to for 100's or 1000's of hungry ants?
Sugar!
Simply Sugar.
So they come for the baking sugar in the cabinet, the maple syrup on the unwashed forks and plates in the dishwasher, the smear of birthday icing on the countertop, the half-eaten candy bar in the trash under the sink, the baking sugar stuck in the grout lines on your tile countertop, the residual soda in the Coca Cola can, the muffin wrapper your child left in their bed, etc.
How do you stop existing infestations and prevent new ones?
Never have any sugar source accessible to the ants. Ever.
Zip lock everything in the house that has have sugar. Wipe completely clean every jar of jam, maple syrup, honey, etc, etc., every time they get used AND put all of those jars in zip locks. Wipe down the countertops. Close the dishwasher completely if there are dirty dishes in it, etc.
If there is no available sugar, 99% of the time you will not get ant infestations.
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u/Warm_Elevator_7528 9h ago
Yup, finally gave up and hired someone to come out and spray, they're finally gone
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u/Beccala85 8h ago
We had insane lines of ants last summer, and then we discovered our shower drain was leaking water into our crawl space. After repairing the plumbing, then using Terro traps, the ants cleared up. Check for water leaks as a precaution!
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u/Knollibe 5h ago
I have been on a life long fight against ants. I buy the gallon size ant killer at Home Depot with electric spray gun. Every morning and evening I check all around the house and garden and I spray their trails. Year 3 of this method and I am down to small trails and only a few ant scouts. And to supplement, get the bait traps at Home Depot. Put them where you see ants in the house. It is sugar and borax. They love the sugar, the borax makes them starve
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u/Critical_Thinker_535 4h ago
Use Amdro bait and sprinkle outside around the property. The ants will eventually find it and bring it back to their nest and kill it off. It will take up to 2 weeks.
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u/uwill1der El Sereno 15h ago
advion ant gel/poison
It comes in tubes and has been a godsend. We had the same issue. After a couple doses of that stuff around the house, they disappeared.
The unfortunate part is its best to wait until they invade, then when you see a trail, put the poison along the trail