The ant situation in our house is starting to get really really bad. I used to see them here and there once in a while. Now they are pretty much in every single room, especially in the kitchen. Every time I look down at a counter I see at least one of them or lots of them. In the kitchen there are tons of them behind the appliances and around the cupboards etc.

I don't know what to do because I am absolutely against killing. I don't know if there really are any other options besides for living with a bunch of ants or killing them. My husband just laughs at me because he could care less about them. It doesn't bother him at all that they are there or how many of them there are. It doesn't bother him if he accidentally kills any of them either because of them being in the way. I hate that they are there and always in the way. His attitude is that they are not bothering him and are harmless, which is true, but it bothers me how much I don't want to kill them and how much I have to always look and go out of my way NOT TO. I love ants, when they are outside. I just don't want to worry about where I step in my house or about them crawling on me, or putting some food down in the kitchen and them getting on it or anything. It is just annoying. Just last night when I discovered how many of them were in the back of the counter I lifted up one of the appliances and one got stuck under it's feet and got injured. There was nothing I could do but watch the poor guy die. I didn't mean to kill it. I hate having to deal with this.

They are too small and fragile to move, and anything like that that doesn't kill them right away, but breaks up their patterns or moves them outside will just eventually kill them anyways, because they can't survive without their colony. I just want to know I guess if there is anything I am not thinking of of how to move their home, or how others feel about this.

I used to be really mean and sweep them up in my old house and even put an ant bait out. I feel so guilty about that now, and feel much more conscious about them. They are beautiful creatures, just in the wrong spot.

I use baby powder to keep them away from areas I don't want them in (like my house! LOL).

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

David,

Does the baby powder work? Where/how much do you put it?

Nik,I confess I use Grant's Ant Stakes. The ants are gone within a week of putting the stakes down.

Seems to work on the fire ants that like to storm the perimeter! Just a light dusting around the edges and entryways....let sit for about a week before vacuuming up.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

We have had ants in our house for years...little black ones you would see them here and there all summer long but nothing too crazy. We thought they were getting in through cracks and under the doors until we found their huge colony in the wall beneath the living room window. Literally tens of thousands of them living between the drywall and the outer bricks. I don't have a suggestion for getting rid of them without killing them. But chances are if you have a few of them around they have a huge nest somewhere.

Is there any way to find out the entry points where they are entering the house? In the past, I put food outside the house for them and then plugged up the entry points. I also politely explained to them that they were welcome to the food outside, but not the stuff inside, and I asked them to please leave. ;-)

Good luck!

Love,

Gypsy

ants dislike mint of anykind ... make a watered down solution of mint essential oil and water and sprits around cracks , counters etc. wherever you see them

take away their food sources ... they need food and water to survive so you might have to get really militant about keeping things like crumbs cleaned up ..

see if you cant find their entry points and mint it or seal it up

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Thanks. I wonder what type of food they eat, these ones. They could easily get into the cupboards and ravish the food in them. Get in the sugar and agave etc. but they don't. I haven't seen them in the food, just on the counters. Maybe they eat bugs.

It is a 3 story house, and they are on every floor and room, so finding the entrances will be difficult. I'm sure if they want back in they will find another way. I will look though and try the mint thing. I heard about baby powder and ground cinnamon or cayenne before, but don't really want to leave powder trails everywhere or stain anything.

Wow! If they are all through the house have you thought about looking up the meaning of ants? They are probably giving you a message!

I just looked it up and the keynote is: Industriousness, Order, and Discipline

"If the ant has shown up, examine your own industriousness. Are you disciplining yourself enough to accomplish the tasks at hand? Are you or those around you looking for the quick and easy way? Are you neglecting important activities? Are you laying a good foundation? Are you adding new structures to your life with each passing year in some fashion--education, jobs, hobbies, etc.? Are you being patient with your efforts? Are you being patient with yourself? With others? Are you making things greater and more difficult than they need be? Are you missing an opportunity to initiate new creations and endeavors?

Ant can teach you how to harness yoru own power to design and recreate your life and its circumstances form the ground up. Ant can show you how best towork with others for the good of everyone. Ant teaches us that regardless of circumstances, if the effort is true, the rewards will follow--in the most beneficial time and manner. And is the promise of success through effort."

There is more information, but that's the bulk of it. I quoted from "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews.

omg i was just watching a home improvement show on TV and they were tearing up the old tile floor and found THREE ant nests under the tiles between the tiles and the plywood hehe

ok so are they big fat ants or tiny little ants .. black or red?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2007 11:51PM by nik.