Ants

[Guest Guest12727]

Is it just us, or are others suffering ant invasions this summer?

Every day we find ants in one room or another. It started with the hot weather last week. Not too bad, as we are seeing them and spraying before they actually find anything to bring their friends. But yesterday morning they were in the pantry and tonight in the cutlery draw. One way to give the house a spring clean!

[Boxertony]

Soon as we put a drink down, within a minute the drink is covered with ants. We are getting wood lice as we'll, and abundance of ants and cockroaches

[sidestep]

You need to carefully track them back to their hole(s) in the ground then soak the area with ant killer. If you just blat the ones you see it won't fix the problem.

[Steve_H]

Any that get in the house die almost instantly when blasted with fly spray, but to keep them out I bought a 5 litre tub of perimeter bug repellent, sprayed it all round the outside of the house then followed all the trails giving extra squirts at any nests. Need to keep doing it every few months but it works. The problem is when they come exploring from a nieghbouring property and you cant get to the nest.

There are people you can call and pay to treat your whole outside area and that works better. A freind payed $200 and hasn't seen an ant in 12 months

[Guest Guest75]

Love em', very industrious little things. A lot of people could take a lesson from these little fellas.............. :notworthy:

 

 

 

 

Apart from those larger aptly named "Inch Ants" - obviously named when you see these big suckers.:arghh:

[Rachiegarlo]

Keep all food put away, also any source of moisture can attract them. Follow them to where they are coming in the house and pour vinegar over the place and place a coffee bean. Some people swear by this.

[Guest Guest75]

Keep all food put away, also any source of moisture can attract them. Follow them to where they are coming in the house and pour vinegar over the place and place a coffee bean. Some people swear by this.

 

 

I F@#$%^&g do :biglaugh::biglaugh:

 

It's common sense really. Blooming things can find any scrap of food!

[Diane]

They don't even seem to go for food in my house - just moisture. Ants and the bloody moths! Couple of times recently we've bought stuff (just from normal supermarkeets, nowhere dodgy) and it has obviously had moth larvae or eggs in it already. Happened with a packet of walnuts, and some rice, and some pasta. You get an unopened packet out of the cupboard and it already has moths in it!

[Guest Guest75]

Talc is good as a barrier for ants (unless its windy or raining).

 

We are just enjoying the lack of Millipedes since our move . They were in plague proportions at times when we lived in Onkaparinga Hills.

[Guest Guest12727]

Thanks all for your advise. I have had the outside spray for ages but haven't used it. This weekend!

Put some ant rid down, but dog ate it this morning. She is still alive.

Haven't heard of the coffee bean before - might have to give it a try.

I agree Tyke, they are fascinating to watch.

[jo_marnes]

We have ants. We've had people in, used industrial strength gels, sprays etc you name it. Still get them. All the time. I have ant rage.

[Jessica Berry]

We have lived in the same house for nearly 6 years and never had a problem with ants until this summer. Started getting them in the kitchen and laundry. We tried bait stations, ant sand, ant rid and the outdoor spray from Bunnings and we still had them so decided it was time to call in the experts. I contacted Murray Pest Control after a colleague recommended them and the lady at Murray Pest Control gave me a comprehensive description of the process involved over the phone so we booked in. They came out and even go into the roof space and then 2 weeks later they come out and do it again. In the 2 weeks in between we suddenly had ants on the front door (which we didn't have before) but the bloke at Murray said what happens is they look for a different place to go, he then treated the front door on the second visit and we have been ant free ever since.

[flossybeth]

I reckon that one day Australia is just going to fall into itself because of all the ant trails and nests that must be underground.

 

I have resigned myself to putting all our food into plastic tubs and accepting the occasional cockroach as part of being here.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

The ants when we lived in NT were something else!........we got up one morning and our worktop and fridge door was black and moving:elvis:

 

Some scary facts

 

1) all the ants in the world weigh more than all the humans

 

2)ants are older than dinosaurs and have survived at least 1 ice age

 

3) it is thought they would survive nuclear war

 

4) a nest of ants are able to think as one being

 

and ant can carry 50 times its own wait (scary when added to fact 1!)

Edited January 24, 2014 by Claire-n-tel

[Guest Guest75]

The ants when we lived in NT were something else!........we got up one morning and our worktop and fridge door was black and moving

 

Were they after the Honey Biscuits????

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Were they after the Honey Biscuits????

 

Well you would think that eh? but no, cause i DIDN'T HAVE ANY!

[DougM]

Come on guys, remember they were here first and you've invaded their home as well. Suck it up and use the vacuum on them as well. You'll NEVER win and you know it

[adelaidenow]

Come on guys, remember they were here first and you've invaded their home as well. Suck it up and use the vacuum on them as well. You'll NEVER win and you know it

 

 

Doug, not sure if you are trying to be serious, but by just vacuuming won't solve anything, you don't get to the root of the issue.

[DougM]

Doug, not sure if you are trying to be serious, but by just vacuuming won't solve anything, you don't get to the root of the issue.

 

Re the vacuum, just sucking it up lol.

[emmie]

We had to call in a pest control guy 3 weeks ago when we moved to our new house. The ants were everywhere. A few have returned, predominantly in the kitchen, however the bloke is returning next week for a free touch up. He said he was flat out due to numerous ant infestations.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Australia wouldn't be Australia without the swarms of insects.

 

If it's not Ants, Moths, or Flies.... it'll be something else.

[zebedee]

On a related topic, the white ants (termites) worry me a bit - how often should and what sorta action is a good idea? Inspection every year?

[Diane]

Does anyone know if Antrid actually works? We've woken up this morning to yet another invasion - they even managed to get through a clingwrap seal into a salad, and into a sealed cake tin into the cake - I also have them in the bathroom, and in the bedroom, and in the lounge - aaaarrrggghhh - we've fed the little so-and-sos so much antrid but that just means we can't spray them as we're hoping they take it back to their nest... but how long does that take???

[Bubbl]

We used Antrid a couple of days ago - initially it brought them in their thousands but haven't seen one indoors for 24 hours now (touch wood) - we also had the bait stations where we put the Antrid so not sure if it is due to that or a combination of both!

[Rich & Chit]

We found them in both our cars aswell!!!