An Ant Question???

[Fiesta Mama]

Ants are everywhere on this Island.
When I bought my house the back yard was dirt and we have since concreted and walled it in. I thought this would alleviate the problem with those little sugar ants in the house. Nope, those ants eat concrete.
Anyway we went to the fumigator on the carreterra near sosua in that Plaza where the Computer center is. He and his wife were only too familiar with the problem (they are Canadians) . The next day they came to our home and the sprayed around the house, (Inside and out), then we had to remove all from the cupboards and the house was turned completely upside down.
They were injecting a fluid into all the little cracks and into the wall and light plate holes.
I was quite skeptical as I used to have the house fogged and it did little.
Well it has been about 4 or 5 weeks since we had it done and I can tell you that I am VERY impressed ! The ant population , although not 100% gone is down probably 90% . He was quite honest and said that we would have to do this 2 times (2 Months and then once every about 6 months to maintain it.
I mean really, I don't see ants at all like before. The guys were quite thorough albeit a bit rouch on the window blinds because they didnt know how to open them but I can tell you that this works. All for a cost of 2000 Pesos per visit They were here for about 4 hours. Money well spent as the ants are in complete retreat (at least for the moment)

For the past two summers at our home in Canada, we have had an ant hill problem. The hill was getting bigger and bigger and no commercial ?environmentally friendly? products were working. Our local gardener suggested we use gas or diesel. I am embarrassed to say in my desperation to rid ourselves of these pests, I tried both? to no avail.

Finally, a family friend who is an avid gardener told us that for years he has been using used coffee grounds with great results (they have to be used? not just grounds). Thereafter, every morning I sprinkled our used coffee grounds on the entire infected area. To my great surprise after having tried countless other supposed solutions, they were gone ? nowhere to be seen, within a week. Throughout the summer and fall, I continued with the coffee ground ritual and we seem to have rid ourselves of our ant problem.

That being said, I know this will not help those with ants in the house as I?m sure you don?t want coffee grounds scattered around the floor, but you may want to try this in your gardens or about your lawn. I know that Dominican ants are different than Canadian ants, but it?s worth a try and is completely pet, people and environmentally friendly!

 

[hicksy]

Ground Cinnamon works good as well.......There is quite a bit of information on the internet about this. Enviromentally friendly and won't interfere with your pets health.

 

[TOOBER_SDQ]

Here is a solution that I learned in Louisiana. It works if you know where two colonies' nest holes are. Take a shovel, scoop out a decent amount from the top of each nest, and dump it onto the other's nest. They will wipe each other out. No toxins/ chemicals, just warfare.

 

[sunseeker31]

Here's an effective remedy that is cheap and non-toxic for animals and children, to erradicate those litttle pests...
Mix equal amounts of icing sugar (not regular sugar) and baking soda, then place little piles (in jar lids or other) in discrete areas of your home. Ants cannot digest baking soda, so when they consume it, or bring it back to the nets for others to consume, they actually bloat up and there stomachs/digestive systems explode! It really works!

 

[tish]

..

We used petrol. They were all killed within seconds and never returned again.

Our house stunk of petrol for a few days.

Not sure if it's pet friendly though.

 

[gamana]

you need to use a sweetener with aspartame, not just any icing sugar. Equal or Nutrasweet work best. It will seem as if the ants are not interested but will die within a couple days.
If the infestation is important, you need to mechanically remove each nest and drop them in large buckets with the Aspartame in it mixed with water and baby powder on the inside walls of the bucket.