Cohousing-L Mailing List: Ants

[Evan A.C. Hunt (evanh]

> We have regular and large incursions of ants into our common house.  It is
> not always in response to food, as they tend to come in most when it is very
> wet or very hot outside.  This is causing some tensions between those that
> find insecticides more disgusting than ants and those who find ants more
> disgusting than insecticides.  In general insecticides aren't used at all in
> common areas, but we are actively seeking alternative methods to controlling
> the ants.

If you do decide to go with the insecticide solution, try this:

Take a Grant's ant-stake--a metal ant-bait trap designed to be
stuck into the ground in your garden, they're very cheap--and
with the non-business end of a matchstick, stir a little dollop
of honey into the insecticide material inside.

The stuff is already sweetish and attractive to ants, but the
honey makes it absolutely irresistable to them; they swarm all
over it and they're usually gone, the whole colony wiped out,
within 24 hours.  And no dead ants lying around to clean up
afterward either.  I haven't had a serious ant problem since
I learned this trick; they come in, I set out a new stake with
honey, and they're gone.

If you plant regular ant stakes, without the honey, in the ground
around the perimiter of the house, they tend not to come in anymore.

I don't know how dangerous this stuff would be with kids around,
but the trap is almost completely enclosed.  Good luck, whatever
you choose to do (I _hate_ ants).

                                        eh