Re: OT - Ants

[Guest guest]

At 10:28 AM 5/18/2002 -0700, you wrote:

>Well, maybe only slightly off topic because primitive and non

>industrialized peoples didn't use Raid.

>What can you do to naturally repel ants? It used to be easy; just keep

>the kitchen very clean and no food to attract them. But do to the draught

>they come in the house looking for water. I mean if you leave a glass of

>plain water sitting on the counter for a few minutes it has ants in it when

>you come back to it. It makes soaking grains hard because everything has to

>be sealed air tight.

Boric acid is said to work (they sell it as an ant killer). They eat it and

die, but it's not terribly toxic to people (it's used in eye wash).

There is a similar substance for slugs: it kills them, alright, but it

takes days and it doesn't kill your pets. It has iron in it, which is toxic

to slugs (and to people and pets if you eat a lot of it, but in small

amounts it's just part of your vitamines).

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Trillium Custom Software Inc.

heidis@...

[Guest guest]

At 10:54 AM 5/18/02 -0700, you wrote:

>At 10:28 AM 5/18/2002 -0700, you wrote:

>>Well, maybe only slightly off topic because primitive and non

>>industrialized peoples didn't use Raid.

>>What can you do to naturally repel ants?  It used to be easy;  just keep

>>the kitchen very clean and no food to attract them. But do to the draught

>>they come in the house looking for water. I mean if you leave a glass of

>>plain water sitting on the counter for a few minutes it has ants in it when

>>you come back to it. It makes soaking grains hard because everything has to

>>be sealed air tight.

Heidi wrote:

>Boric acid is said to work (they sell it as an ant killer). They eat it and

>die, but it's not terribly toxic to people (it's used in eye wash).

>

>There is a similar substance for slugs: it kills them, alright, but it

>takes days and it doesn't kill your pets. It has iron in it, which is toxic

>to slugs (and to people and pets if you eat a lot of it, but in small

>amounts it's just part of your vitamines).

Think I remember using cayenne pepper along counter edge for ants and it

worked. For slugs I tried table salt as suggested somewhere last year. Brutal

death as it cuts through their mucus covering and turns them to an ooze pile.

Wanita

[Guest guest]

At 02:45 PM 5/18/2002 -0400, you wrote:

>Think I remember using cayenne pepper along counter edge for ants and it

>worked. For slugs I tried table salt as suggested somewhere last year. Brutal

>death as it cuts through their mucus covering and turns them to an ooze pile.

>Wanita

Yeah but salt lasts about 2 hours out here before the rain washes it away!

Wouldn't the salt be bad for the plants when it dissolves into the soil?

Some people around here do pans of beer. Which works, but I like the iron

idea because the slugs crawl away and bury themselves and I'm not having to

empty out dishes of dead slugs (yecch).

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Trillium Custom Software Inc.

heidis@...

[Guest guest]

At 01:46 PM 5/18/2002 -0700, you wrote:

>At 02:45 PM 5/18/2002 -0400, you wrote:

> >Think I remember using cayenne pepper along counter edge for ants and it

> >worked. For slugs I tried table salt as suggested somewhere last year.

> Brutal

> >death as it cuts through their mucus covering and turns them to an ooze

> pile.

> >Wanita

>

>Yeah but salt lasts about 2 hours out here before the rain washes it away!

>Wouldn't the salt be bad for the plants when it dissolves into the soil?

>Some people around here do pans of beer. Which works, but I like the iron

>idea because the slugs crawl away and bury themselves and I'm not having to

>empty out dishes of dead slugs (yecch).

I don't have slugs or snails - I have ants. The boric acid and the cayenne

pepper don't work. The ants are walking over the cayenne pepper right now

as if it weren't there.

[Guest guest]

>

> I don't have slugs or snails - I have ants. The boric acid and the

cayenne

> pepper don't work. The ants are walking over the cayenne pepper

right now

> as if it weren't there.

Have you tried putting the boric acid in a syrup/sugar solution? This

will attract them and kill them. If you can track them to the area

they are coming in, you can try placing the boric acid solution

there. I don't know what you can use to detract them, but boric acid

will surely kill them.

Gianine

[Guest guest]

At 12:36 PM 5/19/2002 +0000, you wrote:

>Have you tried putting the boric acid in a syrup/sugar solution? This

>will attract them and kill them. If you can track them to the area

>they are coming in, you can try placing the boric acid solution

>there. I don't know what you can use to detract them, but boric acid

>will surely kill them.

>Gianine

And if that mix doesn't work, try the commercial mix. It doesn't kill them

right away either: they take it back to their nest and feed it to the

larvae and eventually the whole nest dies. Slow, but effective.

In the meantime, if you want to protect some food on the counter, get a

jelly roll pan and fill it with about 3/8 inch of water, and put your cake

or whatever in the middle of the 'lake' (on top of a cake cooler or

something to keep it dry, if you want). I guarantee they will NOT cross the

water. I used to keep ant colonies and this was how I kept them " in " -- I

put the ant colony on stilts in the middle of a shallow " lake " . And, if

there is a bit of detergent in the water, they will drown quickly if they

do happen to fall in.

Restaurant supply stores, BTW, sell these big aluminum " cookie sheets " for

about 7-10 dollars, and I have a bunch of them, some way to big for the

oven. We use them for everything, esp. craft projects, gak, glue guns etc.

They are extremely thick, but since they are aluminum they don't weigh much.

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Trillium Custom Software Inc.

heidis@...

[Guest guest]

Good old CINNAMON STICKS always work for me.

~Flo

>

> Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> kitchen?

[Guest guest]

Good old CINNAMON STICKS always work for me.

~Flo

>

> Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> kitchen?

[Guest guest]

Diatomaeous Earth ... do a line of it around the foundation of the home ...

put more in the home where they seem to be coming in. Non toxic and it

will kill them.

Jaxi

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 1:44 AM, DianeW <diane.witte@...> wrote:

> Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> kitchen? I've had them for a few years now. I've tried spraying

> peppermint essential oil mixed with water, which I read somewhere to

> use. That only kills the ones that I actually spray with it. The next

> ones seem to be able to just walk over it, once it's dried. I kill

> those that I see when I'm in the kitchen. I'm just not in the kitchen

> all the time, and they're getting more and more abundant each year. Does

> anyone have any non-toxic remedies for this? It's already starting for

> this year, and I don't know how much longer I can stand it. I have 6

> cats and a dog and I prefer not to use poisons in my house. HELP ME,

> PLEASE! Anyone!

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

>

[Guest guest]

Try diatomaceous earth, food grade. I started using this last year in my yard

and garden and it worked well. I sprinkled it on a massive pile of ants and

they were gone in just a few minutes. As long as it's food grade (I ordered

mine online from earthworks, I think), it should not harm your pet...many use it

for deworming or clearing parasites in livestock or pets (or humans).

>

> Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> kitchen? I've had them for a few years now. I've tried spraying

> peppermint essential oil mixed with water, which I read somewhere to

> use. That only kills the ones that I actually spray with it. The next

> ones seem to be able to just walk over it, once it's dried. I kill

> those that I see when I'm in the kitchen. I'm just not in the kitchen

> all the time, and they're getting more and more abundant each year. Does

> anyone have any non-toxic remedies for this? It's already starting for

> this year, and I don't know how much longer I can stand it. I have 6

> cats and a dog and I prefer not to use poisons in my house. HELP ME,

> PLEASE! Anyone!

>

[Guest guest]

There is a spray available in almost any grocery store made from orange oil that

works like a charm. It just basically has orange oil and water (as far as I can

recall) and it is awesome. They will go away and won't come back for several

weeks. I am guessing you could make it yourself but have not experimented. It

seems to keep other critters away too.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Re: OT - Ants

Good old CINNAMON STICKS always work for me.

~Flo

>

> Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> kitchen?

[Guest guest]

If the ants are black and BIG they are probably carpenter ants. I had a

nest of them in a closet door. I took the door off, saw their holes at

the bottom, and poured some borax in. I left the door on its side for a few

days before I hung it again. That nest is gone.

E.

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 1:44 AM, DianeW <diane.witte@...> wrote:

> **

>

>

> Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> kitchen? I've had them for a few years now. I've tried spraying

> peppermint essential oil mixed with water, which I read somewhere to

> use. That only kills the ones that I actually spray with it. The next

> ones seem to be able to just walk over it, once it's dried. I kill

> those that I see when I'm in the kitchen. I'm just not in the kitchen

> all the time, and they're getting more and more abundant each year. Does

> anyone have any non-toxic remedies for this? It's already starting for

> this year, and I don't know how much longer I can stand it. I have 6

> cats and a dog and I prefer not to use poisons in my house. HELP ME,

> PLEASE! Anyone!

>

>

>

--

* J. Elias*

The Professor Coach

http://pronunciationcoach.com/

http://pronunciationcoach.wordpress.com/

[Guest guest]

Have you tried asking them nicely to leave? Not kidding!

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the various ideas. , the first year, that's the only

thing I did was to ask them nicely to leave. No kidding.

The following year, I put diatomaceous earth along the counter top by

the window where they seemed to be coming in. I can see now that there

are more areas I need to put it. I will try again, this time putting it

outside along the foundation, as well - something I didn't think of

before. For some reason, I was under the impression that the nest was in

the walls. I guess I figured they'd make their nests as near their food

source as possible, so I thought they moved into the walls.

I suspect that chalk and crushed eggshells work the same way as

diatomaceous earth, but I might pick up some chalk anyway and try it -

less messy than DE. I like the cinnamon stick idea. I'll pick up a few

of them to put in the window sill (along with the DE).

About a week ago, I picked up some kitchen cleaner (Seventh Generation)

that has citrus oil in it, so I'll use that to wipe down the counter

tops every day, something I've not done before. (I usually just use

water and dishrag.)

So, I guess I'm armed; I just need to use my ammunition properly for the

best results. Thank-you, all.

Now, if someone can tell me how to get hubby to wipe off the counters

every time he uses the kitchen . . . . (Yelling doesn't work. lol)

[Guest guest]

If you figure out the hubby wiping down the counters thing....please share. ;-)

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 24, 2012, at 2:19 PM, " DianeW " <diane.witte@...> wrote:

> Thanks for the various ideas. , the first year, that's the only

> thing I did was to ask them nicely to leave. No kidding.

> The following year, I put diatomaceous earth along the counter top by

> the window where they seemed to be coming in. I can see now that there

> are more areas I need to put it. I will try again, this time putting it

> outside along the foundation, as well - something I didn't think of

> before. For some reason, I was under the impression that the nest was in

> the walls. I guess I figured they'd make their nests as near their food

> source as possible, so I thought they moved into the walls.

> I suspect that chalk and crushed eggshells work the same way as

> diatomaceous earth, but I might pick up some chalk anyway and try it -

> less messy than DE. I like the cinnamon stick idea. I'll pick up a few

> of them to put in the window sill (along with the DE).

> About a week ago, I picked up some kitchen cleaner (Seventh Generation)

> that has citrus oil in it, so I'll use that to wipe down the counter

> tops every day, something I've not done before. (I usually just use

> water and dishrag.)

> So, I guess I'm armed; I just need to use my ammunition properly for the

> best results. Thank-you, all.

> Now, if someone can tell me how to get hubby to wipe off the counters

> every time he uses the kitchen . . . . (Yelling doesn't work. lol)

>

>

[Guest guest]

And, if you decide to try cinnamon sticks, and don't want to pay high prices for

the organic product, I was just at Midtown Global Market and one of the shops in

there had large containers of spices and the cinnamon was only $5 for about 50

or maybe even 100 sticks.

Judy Bonhiver

> >

> > Does anybody have any solutions for getting rid of ants that are in my

> > kitchen?

>

[Guest guest]

A friend had an independent coffee house years ago and the place

developed a problem with ants. For some reason they loved the

espresso maker and were constantly swarming around it. My friend

wouldn't use chemicals. Frustrated, one night as she was cleaning up,

she said she had a " conversation " with the ants, saying something

like, " Look, you guys have a purpose on the earth, but you cannot stay

in here. You have to move on and find some other place to inhabit. "

The next morning when she came in to work, yup, they were gone. Never

returned. True story. I have tried this technique unsuccessfully

with grain moths. However, I squished some first, which may have put

me on their bad side...I think it's worth a try. Insects are

amazingly organized and smart.

Rebekah

On Mar 24, 2012, at 8:43 AM, ryan2645 wrote:

> Have you tried asking them nicely to leave? Not kidding!

>

>

>