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Ants!!!!

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  • VJsmum
    VJsmum Posts: 6,999 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    In my lounge - not my pants. My lounge is the only room not to have an outside wall - so why have I got ants???

    And any idea how to get rid? I have sprinkled ant powder around the edge that they seem to be coming in from and bits on the carpet where there were a few going for a walk.
    I wanna be in the room where it happens
  • madrhino
    madrhino Posts: 246 Forumite
    I always put a barrier of shake n vac down at my kitchen door to stop the ants coming in from outside. As it's in my kitchen I didn't really want to use ant powder and they don't like to cross the shake n vac.
    It works for me. Better than any of those ant bait things did anyway.
  • gibson123
    gibson123 Posts: 1,733 Forumite
    Put down some flour or talc and follow the trail back to the nest. Once you find the nest pour several kettles of boiling water over it and then put an ant trap (not powder) at the entrance.
  • booter
    booter Posts: 1,691 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Years ago, my mum used to apply Oil of Spike Lavender (an essential oil) to us kids as an insecticide (she said prevent gnat/mossie bites, but also I suspect to try and calm us down a little:))
    Some years later, whilst on holiday in Spain, we were overrun with ants -which I found out when I woke up in bed covered with the little blighters :eek:. Once I'd stripped the bedding, I "finger painted" all around the bed with the Spike Lavender - (an essential part of my holiday packing) - and they wouldn't cross it at all! So the following day, I sprayed everywhere with a solution of Spike Lavender - problem solved. Apparently Citronella also works well as an insecticide - and both smell good!
  • gibson123
    gibson123 Posts: 1,733 Forumite
    That reminds me, I use lemon cologne on my terrace of my aprtment in Turkey to get rid of the ants there, they do not like lemon either.
  • GreyQueen
    GreyQueen Posts: 13,008 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    :) Mum had ants in her lounge and I traced them (just watched for a wee while) to a small hole in the hearth. About 5 mm across. I put a dab of Polyfilla into it and that was that.

    Ants lay down pheromone trails for each other to follow, so you need to trace the trail back to the entrance point and disrupt that. They probably have a nest somewhere near or even under your house and have wandered in looking for some grub.

    Colony insects have the oldest civilisations on the planet and there's a whole alien city going on nearby in your ants' nest. Fascinating critters. HTH.
    Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
    John Ruskin
    Veni, vidi, eradici
    (I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
  • VJsmum
    VJsmum Posts: 6,999 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    gibson123 wrote: »
    Put down some flour or talc and follow the trail back to the nest. Once you find the nest pour several kettles of boiling water over it and then put an ant trap (not powder) at the entrance.

    Can't do the kettle as it is a carpetted lounge. But have put down some ant powder - thanks!
    GreyQueen wrote: »

    Colony insects have the oldest civilisations on the planet and there's a whole alien city going on nearby in your ants' nest. Fascinating critters. HTH.

    Hmm Thanks for that! ;)

    There don't seem to be any more this morning. Usually they only appear in the conservatory - and it usually has to be alot warmer than this. Never had them in the lounge before.

    Loathe and detest the things, no matter how fascinating! ;)
    I wanna be in the room where it happens
  • hermum
    hermum Posts: 7,123 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    The best ant killer I've found is Nipon.
  • Pink.
    Pink. Posts: 17,650 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hi VJsmum,

    I've added your thread to our main one on ants where you'll find lots more advice.

    Pink
  • thanks just tried the peppermint idea
    "what lies behind us & what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" Ralph Waldo Emerson
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