Ants!! How do I kill em?

Woke up this morning to find a small army of ants making their way from the front door, along the hall to the kitchen bin. There were approximately 50 of them. The bin hadn't been emptied for a couple of days, so I emptied that and then stamped on the little blighters.

When we were out in the garden last weekend, we noticed a lot of ants around in the soil as well.

Has anyone got any ideas or techniques for getting rid of ants?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ta

You can get power stuff from B&Q and places that you just sprinkle / squirt on the ant paths (doorways etc) and when they walk through it they breath it in through their little abdomen holes and die shortly afterwards.

As for outside, kettle of boiling water works pretty well (it will kill grass as well though - I had brown patchs of lawn for 6 months). After the boiling water I would go for more ant powder. It's harmful to aquatic organisms though so be careful if you have fish!

I'm so glad that Pete from BB isn't watching, I think he'd be mortified!

I think he would suggest you make a bed for them immediately, and then take them out for dinner! Bless him! How sweet!

I found the powder stuff quite effective when I had an infestation on one of the patio's last year.

Stagey x

We had ants a couple of months ago,we got gap under back door which the landlord refuses to do anything ABOUT!

We got some Ant Powder from Wilkinsons and that has worked a treat...make sure you sprinkle it around any holes/crevices in the house where they may be getting in,salt also works ok.

Also hot soapy water outside on any paving slabs,gaps or wherever they may be comiing from.This drowns them and they slowly die...

I love ya Pete from Big Bro...please forgive me....

pull all their legs off with tweezers and then deep fry them in batter...uuuum tasty!

Washing up powder. Find the ant trail and deposit a scattering of bio or non bio. For some reason, they are attracted to it. They then carry the granules back to their ant nest where it eventually kills them. They injest it, cannot expel the air created, which then wrecks their inards.

As mentioned before, boiling water is also good, but works best if you tip it onto the ant nest (if you can find it). Repeat over a couple of days. Luckily you will kill the queen and the nest will be "no longer".

A combination works well, so try all of the above and a little spray on known ant trails (ant trails are the ant equivalent of the M1 running through an organised line between nest and foodsource). Once you have obliterated a few, the message will be passed on to the other ants that danger is imminant and the blighters will stay home for a while. Watch out though, as soon enough - scouts are sent back out to investigate the ground and possible new routes to your cherished plants/food etc.

If you can cut out their foodsource, all the better! I have a Honeysucle in my back garden which took on an aphid infestation. I killed the aphids. However, this then prompted ants to come along and eat/carry the dead aphids back to the ant nest where the sweet Honeysuckle juice would be sucked from the aphids for food - providing nourishment and to feed the ant eggs. So I chopped back the aphid corpse ridden Honeysuckle, did all of the above - AND IT WORKED - no more ant M1, no more ants! I have no idea where their nest is, but they have learnt not to mess with me, so I guess they are away disturbing a neighbour instead.

They are easy to control though, as long as you nip it in the bud once they first appear.

areosol + lighter

Nippon is good, the liquid stuff rather than the powder.

Joel

Most 'indoor ants' come in along pheromone trails laid by their pathfinding bretheren who've already identified a food place. Clean up, wipe the surfaces down, and make sure there are no loose crumbs and such around.

Then scrub the trail areas - both inside and outside the house, and if appropriate block the hole through which the little blighters come.

Most methods of slaughter will work but you have to keep repeating it unless you destroy the trails and remove stuff that scout ants could find and report back as 'good' on.

they breath it in through their little abdomen holes and die shortly afterwards.

Some powder acts like tiny sharp razors. They are attracted to the powder. The powder coats their bodies and gets inbetween the joins on their vertebrae. Nuff said.