How do I find the ants nest?

talulahbeige_2

We have ants in our garden, there is a patio area and then a large gravelled area.
They originally appeared from the cracks in the patio and I seemed to remove them from there by using ant powder (not ideal as I have a cat and it was the only thing i could find)
Yestedray when we were weeding the gravel lots more appeared from underground when roots were pulled out. They don't seem to have a visible ant run that i can follow back to the nest, so how do I find out where it is?

Help - I'm sick of being bitten whilst in the garden!
Any ant advice welcome
Thanks

27col

Even if you could find the nest and deal it, you don't seriously think that there would not be millions more running about in your grass. I should just give up and sit on a chair and not on the ground.

talulahbeige_2

Another case of "Thanks for nothing!"

Atelier

If you feel that you do need to kill the nest then have a look at the various ant killer gels. The gel is gathered by the workers and taken back to the nest where it kills the queen and the whole nest dies.

http://www.partridges.uk.com/catalog/rentokil-ant-killer-gel-p-2401.html

WobblyGoblin

Sit still on the patio and make a sound like a sugar cube. Then, when they carry you back to the nest you can kill the queen...

But seriously, nests can be tricky/impossible to find. Used to have a problem in an old house. When mowing the lawn we would occassionally hit a new entrance meaning a spray of dry mud and then thousands of red ants pouring out. Not nice. We would ant powder any entrances we could find but this only kept them at bay.

The gel idea sounds like your best bet to me.

marleyboy

We had ants in our patio at my previous address, they nested in amongst the sand beneath the paving slabs. Every Summer was a nightmare, when they sprout wings to fly the nest.

Ridding the ants nest is not as easy as it sounds, as you destroy the nest, they simply move house (sometimes into the wall cavity of your house). I find ant powder pretty useless and as above I would recommend the Gel bait, as the ants will take it to the nest and effect the queen.

Being pretty robust, ants can thrive in pretty much any part of your garden, from soil cavities, to tree roots, as with most pests, they will settle nearer to where there is an ample supply of food within their reach. Eradicating them is near impossible, its all down to encouraging them to move house (hopefully not into your house).

27col

talulahbeige wrote: »

Another case of "Thanks for nothing!"

Just making a statement of fact. No need to get shirty.