Pet- Safe ways to get rid of ants ?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Do any of you have suggestions on how to safely (for pets like cats and dogs and also safe for people) get rid of an infestation of small black or red ants and other creepie crawlies? I heard laying down Boric acid works but that is toxic if the pet's get near it. The manufactured ant traps have a warning that says do not allow pets near it. Has anyone here ever had that issue before?

On a sortof off the wall note: I once heard of a person who had an infestation of them and got it into their mind they would "lure all the bugs away from their house", so what do they do? Took a container of SUGAR and made a sugar trail leading from their place to the outside. Guess what happened.........the very opposite: It brought all the bugs from the area TO their house!

[noseoil]

Boric acid is about as toxic to mammals as common table salt. Mix boric acid powder with powdered sugar & leave it where the ants are feeding & pets won't get to it. It works on roaches & any other things which crawl through it & then eat the powder. Basically, it wipes out the gut & destroys the ability of the insect to digest foods. To kill ants & termites, the colony must be destroyed, not the individual.

[OldHoosier62]

Diatomaceous earth combined with Boric acid has worked several times for me....cheap and very effective.

[kiwisailor]

Do you mix the Dia. Earth and boric acid wet or dry?
Do use a bait? (jam etc).
I have read that the Dia. Earth is silica, therefore if used dry around the ant trails, it will act as a mechanism to basically cut them up as it works on the joints..
I know there are different types of ants, some like sweet things and others respond to protein baits. They are just not interested in lolly water baits at all.
Have mixed boric acid with tuna oil. Seems to work. Then just stops attracting them.

Having good results with the protein type Ants with a product: Advion Ant gel.

A.A. attracts them but it needs to be reapplied about 7 days after they have stopped taking the bait.

I presume this is because a new batch are hatching out..?

[The Deacon]

Or, you could just call a professional exterminator. They have formulas they use at day care centers, veterinary hospitals, pet shops, and other places where 2 and 4 legged critters crawl around.

[3rdGenRigger]

Or, you could just call a professional exterminator. They have formulas they use at day care centers, veterinary hospitals, pet shops, and other places where 2 and 4 legged critters crawl around.

I'd go this route...or find an anteater for a pet. Whichever is more convenient.

[OldHoosier62]

Do you mix the Dia. Earth and boric acid wet or dry?
Do use a bait? (jam etc).
I have read that the Dia. Earth is silica, therefore if used dry around the ant trails, it will act as a mechanism to basically cut them up as it works on the joints..
I know there are different types of ants, some like sweet things and others respond to protein baits. They are just not interested in lolly water baits at all.
Have mixed boric acid with tuna oil. Seems to work. Then just stops attracting them.

Having good results with the protein type Ants with a product: Advion Ant gel.

A.A. attracts them but it needs to be reapplied about 7 days after they have stopped taking the bait.

I presume this is because a new batch are hatching out..?

I just mix some light brown sugar into the boric acid, slightly damp and gives off the molasses odor to draw them...then the DE and Boric do the rest.

[Dr. Snubnose]

What has worked for me and it's totally safe and inexpensive is to put a line of liquid dish soap on the ground about 1/2 foot from the place the ants are coming in on the outside... The ants will not cross the line of soap...simple...Doc:)

[demoncase]

What's non-toxic, non-persistent in the environment and instant at getting rid of ants?

FIRE! And lots of it

[SpyderEdgeForever]

This may sound odd but here is another related question: If you just leave the ants be, say they are harmless little black ants, not red fire ants or anything, because you don't want to risk using any chemicals or toxic stuff to pets, and consider them "temporary natural indoor guests" is there anything wrong with it, health wise? I mean, they are not cockroaches, which are known disease carriers. Thoughts?

[Mic1]

I would use the spray around the outside of the house on the foundation. I do this 2 times a year it drys almost instantly my dog never even sniffs it. I also use the small black ant traps but if your dog will chew them then skip it or put them in areas dog sucre from the dog. Like behind a toe jam kick or in the basement ceiling near the problem are the ants will find it.

[Stuart Ackerman]

Take a piece of blackboard chalk, and draw a line across their normal path...
See what happens?
They stop and move along the line, not touching it, and try and find a path around it...

Sure it does need replacing often, but it is safe...

[kiwisailor]

Hey Stuart,
what do you write with the chalk "Ants not welcome here" or what?

[Stuart Ackerman]

Nah...just plain old blackboard chalk...any colour.... :)
It appears that they do not want to walk on the powder, somehow?

It worked in RSA and here in NZ...

[dsvirsky]

Terro. Pet safe, convenient, and available at your local hardware store or online. Just leave the trap(s) where the ants are congregating, but out of reach of your pets (so they don't destroy the traps). The ants will be gone in a couple of days.

[kiwisailor]

Many years ago, I spoke with a chap that was into demolition of houses.

He found tiny little hard white skeleton type things behind wall spaces.

Asked the Owner what they were. Owner replied the only thing He could think of, was that years previously, they had used Boric acid powder to poison Rats/Mice.

They figured that the powder had hardened in the digestive tract and solidified, killing the Mice.
Body had decayed leaving the Mineral cast.

Heard/read somewhere that this is what happens to insects as well..
Maybe the ants won't have anything to do with chalk for same reason, as they have to clean it off exoskeleton, therefore ingesting it?
W

[Evil D]

Buy yourself an anteater :p

The chalk thing does work, but ants are extremely persistent and will almost always find another way inside.

[demoncase]

Or cast the thing using molten aluminium and gain a piece of artwork

[noseoil]

The reason boric acid works so well on insects in general is that it wipes out the flora & fauna in their digestive system. Ants live in a colony & are "groomers" as far as hygiene goes. As they clean each other, they spread the stuff from individual to individual. Boric acid isn't a poison in the true sense that we think it might be, it doesn't affect their central nervous system or disrupt cellular functions in general. It's a mineral & it kills the stuff in their digestive tract which actually digests the food for them. It's the same way it works on termites. Termites don't digest cellulose, but the bacteria in their gut does it for them.

Since the colony is comprised of workers, soldiers, a queen & her helpers (same with ants & termites), the actual "gut" of the colony is the colony itself, not the individual. Once boric acid is introduced into the colony, the workers will distribute it throughout the colony & it begins to spread from individual to individual. It's just a mineral and there's no natural immunity which can build up over time as we see in chemicals or like with antibiotics in humans & bacteria. As a mineral, it won't break down over time & is fairly inert with most things it touches.

We have dry-wood termites here in the southwest. Unlike the subterranean type, they can live with just the residual moisture available to them in stick frame construction. The best treatment for them is to pre-treat the wood with a solution of boric acid & water. The water evaporates & leaves the wood, but as it does, it leaves behind a matrix of boric acid within the cells which were exposed to the moisture. The termites are stopped as soon as they try to enter the wood. Oh, it's also a fire retardant when applied to wood, good stuff.

It does the same thing with roaches. Roaches need to share feces as they change from state to state in their life cycle. They do this by eating their own fecal matter since they need a bacterial load to digest whatever it is they're eating (the ever-popular "fecal focal point" not to be confused with Washington, D.C.) Introduce boric acid into their food chain and it stops this cycle. If the powder is left under kitchen cabinets, under a carpet pad or at the walls by the tack strips, anything which has to crawl through it will be affected sooner or later.

There is no "natural immunity" to this stuff, because it works on such a basic level. On humans it's in our laundry detergent, eye drops and a bunch of other stuff, so not too toxic for us to be exposed to, great stuff really....

[Evil D]

Or cast the thing using molten aluminium and gain a piece of artwork

I've seen that done many times but that is by far the most impressive cast that I've seen.

Fun fact, you can also do it with watermelons.