Guess what I awoke to on my kitchen counter this morning?

[jenna321]

Little ants allover counter near coffee maker! We've lived here at house for almost 4 years never had ants before. Any homemade tips /suggestions to get rid of the little creatures? It would be greatly appreciated.

[nanuk]

Was scared to read thought you were going to say a mouse!!!!!

[Scooter]

It will be messy, but use liquid ant bait drops on your counter. It will attract them at first, but they will drink up the bait and take it back to their nest. In about a week, the bait will have poisoned them all and you should have no more problems.

Make sure no kids or pets can get to the drops though, because they are toxic. They are quite sticky and will have to be wiped off afterwards with a good cleaner.

[jenna321]

I have both kids and pets. in home! I love cute mice(not real) I'd freak if I found a rodent in my home!

[Chantal444k]

Not homemade ... but ant traps work well.

[jenna321]

Shouldn't I try to find the ant hill outside? I have real old oak cabinets in kitchen, Guess I going to Home Depot for bait and a good cleaning today!

[Scooter]

Shouldn't I try to find the ant hill outside? I have real old oak cabinets in kitchen, Guess I going to Home Depot for bait and a good cleaning today!

Odds are you won't find the anthill, it's probably right against your foundation. The drops work by having the ants take the bait to the nest so you don't have to go through the trouble of finding it. Ant traps only take care of the ants that find their way to the trap, but miss all the other ones and the quessn in the nest.

[roxyjazz]

Jenna, I too dislike using toxic stuff especially because I have so many pets. 2 remedies off the top of my head for ants are,,,,,, 1 lids with mollasses they get stuck in it 2 oatmeal,,, they apparently take it back to the ant hill and something happens when it rains, not sure exactly what (my aunt told me this years ago) but oatmeal does expand when it gets wet?? If I can find any other info I'll send it your way. Good luck ANTS BE GONE.

[Duff]

I would be afraid to use toxic stuff also, kids, pets,etc.

[jenna321]

I don't want to waste my Crosby's Molasses! That's pure gold to me. Ha Ha, I'll try your suggestions. I just don't want chemicals in home

[Judstir]

This is a receipe my mother had in her collection: Ant Poison
1/2 cup sugar,
1 Cup boiling water
1 Tablespoon of Borax
Disolve sugar in the boiling water. Add Borax and mix well. Place cooled mixture in low flat contains in the ant infested areas until the ants disappear. If the mixture Crystalizes, just add a bit more water.

Now I personally have never tried this..so don't know for sure if it works...and for another thing I wasn't sure what Borax ever is.

[jenna321]

Thanks Judstir, Borax is sold in the household cleaner & laundry detergent area. I like the sound of this as well.

[Love2save]

I use the liquid ant bait also, I put drops on small pieces of wax paper that way it is not directly on the counter. I also only put it out when I am around so I can keep an eye on it. It works fast and the ants just love this stuff!!

[roseofblack25]

eek! we have an ant problem too we have the poison stuff set up and we havent seen that many aunts around now...before we had a ton of them it was really creepy they were on everything now we see maybe one of two thats it

[RTlady]

Oh Jenna; one mouse could be easy enough to tackle but ants?? Funny how you can live in the house for years and not have the problem. We tried all kinds of remedies to no avail. We finally had to call Pest Control and by following their constant back and forth parade, he found where they lived. It took several sprays unfortunately and we had them come for two seasons. It did work then we sold the house LOL

BTW the ant colony was about 50 yards away from the house!