Help - ant invasion of Biblical proportions....am concerned they will affect my kitty who has tummy

Kat0121 said:

 
I just ordered 2 Antsers. The ants got into Henry's dish last night when he knocked it over and it was leaning against the side of the bottom container. Fortunately, he had eaten about 90% of his food before it happened. So over that. I ordered one for Lilith and Sophie's dishes also. It says its 9 X 13 so it should hold both dishes comfortably. Thanks for the link. I hope this ends the ant issue.

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it should. i use mine outside for the feral cats. 

I want to apologize for my delay in posting here......the last couple of weeks have been difficult and I didn't have a chance to get back on here.  An update on the ant problem:

Instead of getting the "antser" I set up a makeshift moat.  I bought a medium storage container with a lid and put it together, then turned it upside down.  The lid rim was perfect for a moat.  It took at least 2 1/2 cups of water, sometimes 3 to get the water at the right level and it worked.  The ants couldn't get at Pumpkin's food.

Only problem is, it didn't stop them from coming in the house.  So, I finally gave in and had the apartment complex send an exterminator.  I asked him to use a pet-friendly remedy and he had something he said would work and doesn't harm pets.  It came in a syringe and he squirted it in gaps near the bottom of the stove, kitchen cabinets, etc.  The ants started to disappear (for the most part) within a couple of days.

They are trying to come back (mostly in the kitchen) but so far have not gotten into his food.  I am waiting to hear back from the manager about the exterminator coming back to do another treatment.  In the meantime, I am not using the moat because Pumpkin doesn't seem to like it too much. 

I will go back to using it if need be, but it can be hard to empty it w/o spilling the thing all over the place! 

I plan on looking for that orange oil next time I go to Walmart, and I might just get a bottle of Mountain Dew just in case!~ 

Many thanks to all who responded!     

I live in hot, humid Texas, so I know about the frustration of dealing with bugs. I use a product called Eco Smart on all kinds of bugs, including ants. It kills those little jerks instantly and keeps them away for a long time. It is natural and does not contain any chemicals, and is supposed to be safe to use around pets and children--if you have any. I do keep the cats out of the area for a little while until it dries, just to be safe. I'm kind of paranoid that way.

I also sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth around the baseboards of the bedroom where I have the food bowls and under their food mat. It also does not contain chemicals, if you buy the one labeled FEED GRADE. It is supposed to shred the insect's exoskeleton or something as they crawl through it. It is safe to use around pets, and some people sprinkle it on their pets' food.

I forgot to mention--I also sprinkle the Diatomaceous Earth in all of the windowsills of the house. I raise the windows, sprinkle it, then put them back down. I used to have ants coming in the house around the window area. I don't anymore.

Tabbysia said:

I forgot to mention--I also sprinkle the Diatomaceous Earth in all of the windowsills of the house. I raise the windows, sprinkle it, then put them back down. I used to have ants coming in the house around the window area. I don't anymore.

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Where can I get "eco smart" and "Diatomaceous Earth?"  The second one sounds good.  I could  sprinkle it all over the place......near the patio door, around the windows, etc. 

During my trip to Texas in '99 I encountered flying cockroaches.  I've never seen those critters before until I made a pitstop in Waco to use the McDonald's restroom.  I planned on getting lunch there but changed my mind after seeing those things all over the ladies room.  If the bathroom was that bad, I imagine the kitchen would have been worse.  Needless to say I got back on I-35 and ate somewhere else. 

detmut said:

 
it should. i use mine outside for the feral cats. 

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It's been in his room since Saturday and no ants in the dish!. It's a nice sized platform, 9x13 (inches) I believe so it also holds both of the girls' dishes without them being too close to each other. Henry has even knocked bits of food out of the dish onto the Antser and the ants have not gotten to it. It's way more expensive than using the moat system I was using before (I paid $63.00 USD for 2 of these including shipping) but the moat didn't work all the time. There had to be just enough water in it and if he knocked the dish over and it was then laying on top of the outer container, the ants easily got into his food. I felt awful coming home and finding ants in his uneaten breakfast. Plus, even when the ants didn't get into it, bits of the food often fell into the water and by the time I got home from work, had developed a funky smell. It's well made so it should last a long time. They come in tan and forest green (this is the color I got both in). 

I buy Diatomaceous Earth at the local feed store. If you have any feed stores near you, that would be the place to look. I buy Eco Smart at HEB, but if you don't have an HEB near you (most people don't), I have seen it at Walmart before. Other stores like Target, Home Depot, and Lowe's probably carry it too. Both products can be purchased online also.

Boric acid is one of the most effective, least toxic ant control measures. It's the same thing that's in the Terro baits. You can usually get pure boric acid from a hardware store sold as a roach killer (some times the boric acid roach killers have other ingredients, though, so double check). It slowly kills the ants, which is better than a fast kill because they'll have brought more bait back to the nest before realizing it's poison and dying, so there's more of a chance of the queen eating it (or at least the next generation of brood). It takes a week or two before you can really see it start working.

The basic recipe is: 1 cup sugar, 2 cups water, 2 teaspoons boric acid. You can use borax, too, but you have to use about 5 times as much because it's less toxic, but that means that it's more likely the ants will notice it tastes funny. This recipe only works for sugar feeding ants, though, some ants (like fire ants) only really go after protein. The sugar syrup recipe is 1% boric acid by weight, so maybe mixing it with a protein source (crushed cat food?) in that ratio would work. You can make a bait dispenser with a plastic jar/yogurt cup with ant sized holes around the upper rim: fill it about 1/3 full with bait and add something for them to climb down into the bait on (twigs, straws, a sponge—new, so that it doesn't have any detergent smells to repel them, etc).

You mentioned that you're in an apartment, do you have a little yard at all? With baits in general, it's best to put the baits outside, that way you're reducing the chance they'll even come inside. Failing that, you can anchor the bait to a windowsill close to where they're coming in.

Edit: I was just reading that for ants that don't take sugar bait, you can mix boric acid with something oil based like mayonnaise or cool whip (he used 1/8 teaspoon boric acid to 1 tablespoon oily stuff). Or a classic roach bait is to mix boric acid with peanut butter and put it in a milk cap, so something similar might work with ants.

Corn meal is a old trick and white chalk,take the chalk and draw around the area they are coming in and some reason they don not cross the chalk line. The corn meal they eat but are not able to digest so they croak from that. With 8 critters in my home I am always looking for natural safe to them products.

samus said:

 
Boric acid is one of the most effective, least toxic ant control measures. It's the same thing that's in the Terro baits. You can usually get pure boric acid from a hardware store sold as a roach killer (some times the boric acid roach killers have other ingredients, though, so double check). It slowly kills the ants, which is better than a fast kill because they'll have brought more bait back to the nest before realizing it's poison and dying, so there's more of a chance of the queen eating it (or at least the next generation of brood). It takes a week or two before you can really see it start working.

The basic recipe is: 1 cup sugar, 2 cups water, 2 teaspoons boric acid. You can use borax, too, but you have to use about 5 times as much because it's less toxic, but that means that it's more likely the ants will notice it tastes funny. This recipe only works for sugar feeding ants, though, some ants (like fire ants) only really go after protein. The sugar syrup recipe is 1% boric acid by weight, so maybe mixing it with a protein source (crushed cat food?) in that ratio would work. You can make a bait dispenser with a plastic jar/yogurt cup with ant sized holes around the upper rim: fill it about 1/3 full with bait and add something for them to climb down into the bait on (twigs, straws, a sponge—new, so that it doesn't have any detergent smells to repel them, etc).

You mentioned that you're in an apartment, do you have a little yard at all? With baits in general, it's best to put the baits outside, that way you're reducing the chance they'll even come inside. Failing that, you can anchor the bait to a windowsill close to where they're coming in.

Edit: I was just reading that for ants that don't take sugar bait, you can mix boric acid with something oil based like mayonnaise or cool whip (he used 1/8 teaspoon boric acid to 1 tablespoon oily stuff). Or a classic roach bait is to mix boric acid with peanut butter and put it in a milk cap, so something similar might work with ants.

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We have a patio off the back side of this apartment with a huge courtyard behind it.  I could place some of this stuff around there, but with how curious my kitty is I'm reluctant to try boric acid.  He's been known to try and get into the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  I always place bathroom cleaners way out of his reach too.  I'm thinking about what another poster said about corn meal.  I've got plenty of that and could put some outside our patio door.....and the kitchen as well.

They seem to be coming in from behind the stove and the cabinet next to it.  I wonder if this stove came with a nest in it?  I don't know where this stove was stored prior to being installed, but it's getting so bad I'm going to ask they remove the stove and see if they can find out where they're coming in.....and possibly even replace the stove.

Ziggysworld said:

Corn meal is a old trick and white chalk,take the chalk and draw around the area they are coming in and some reason they don not cross the chalk line. The corn meal they eat but are not able to digest so they croak from that. With 8 critters in my home I am always looking for natural safe to them products.

Click to expand...

I have corn meal but no chalk.  I'll go out and get some today and place some around the bottom of the stove.  And I will chalk the patio door too. 

When I got up this morning and started my chores I was shocked to find literally dozens of these things camping out on the floor in front of the stove.  I will try and post a picture of this later.  I'm going to contact the rental office and demand that someone be sent no later than Monday or I'm getting the health department involved.  I'm sick of vacuuming these things and to be honest, I don't feel up to going back to using that moat.  It can be very messy and Pumpkin doesn't seem to like it very much.

I'm going to ask for another stove too if the exterminator can prove they came in it.  I had ants here before, but not this bad. 

Hi I have to reply on your post about the ants. I know this is off topic but I want to address the ant problem. 
FYI my cat walks along ant trails and licks them up like an ant eater so eating a few ants I don't believe will hurt the cat.  That's my opinion.

Anyway one thing you can do to protect your cat food is put the dish in a low pie pan full of water, the cat can reach the food dish and the ants

can't.. they can't swim.  It has saved me a lot of food over time

If you have to keep them out of an area, I wipe the counter down with bleach or Windex and they do not like either.

The next thing is the ants.  I do not know when they appeared or disappeared but that's important to what I am going to tell you.

About the 5th of April the ants were invading my kitchen, cat food, ( not in the water ) and counters.  Reports from others also

reported the same thing, from Oregon, to Washington, to California to Colorado and even New Zealand.  To make a long story

short, I use the ants as a back up system for my work in biological earthquake prediction  They feel the quakes, volcanic even

and solar flares up to 3 days before they happen.  I don't always like them on the counters etc but we have formed a compatible

relationship and they don't get into my food and I leave them alone.  The key is to when the ants disappear.  Once they disappear

the event, what and where ever it is, will happen within 12-24 hours.  Even some of the scientists are starting to look at the ants

as a precursor to seismic and volcanic activity. 

Also on a side note If the Quakes are in Oregon, Simi or Yucca Valley, Big Bear CA or Japan if over  a 6.0  the cats will get sick.
They may throw up fur balls but mostly its not... if one cat gets sick, that not unusual but if both of them start throwing up at about the same

time then you know that something else is happening.  I have had calls from my vets asking what's happening, many of the clients are

reporting their cats are sick. My work has been studied by scientists for over 30 years.

My apologies if this is/was off topic but I wanted to explain about the ants and the sick cats. 

Our neighborhood is having a bad ant problem for the last couple of years. This year is the worst ever. I have them all over inside my house, some mornings I will wake up and my counters will be black with ants. It's frustrating having to clean all the ants up before I can feed my cats. I even put ant traps up but they just go around it.

When I go out to work in my garden it's just full of ants and they start crawling all over me. I was hoping to figure out a way to have my humming bird feeder up because last year I couldn't keep the ants out. I have a feeder that sits on top of a poll in my flower garden. I even tried hanging it from my house but the ants still got to it so I gave up and took it down. I love watching the humming birds though.

The worst part for me is that I have ants joining me in my bed. My feral cats cant sleep in there little area because its full of ants. I just want them to go away.

Snugglecat--You might want to go to that do my own pest control place online, because my guess is they are in your foundation if not your house walks from the sound of it. You can buy exterminator grade pesticides for a fraction of the cost of an exterminator there, as well as the pumps etc. You must ensure what you buy is safe for your cats. I bought some stuff there this past fall for a different pest, that said it was effective against ants too, and they recommended spraying the foundation of the house and the ground around it. It was a "green" spray...however even that said to keep animals away for a certain length of time. The place does have wonderful customer support, so I might go there, and get in touch. I'd recommend an exterminator except my own experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and honestly, I think with a lot of research you can do your own job. Remember you must buy something safe for cats, or be able to remove them from the area for a certain length of time. Usually ants are pretty easy to kill. Your first step is to identify what kind of ant you have, by the way. Good luck!

https://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/mobile_catalog.php?cPath=1

https://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/mobile_contact_us.php

there is also:

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/ants.htm

charking said:

 
Hi I have to reply on your post about the ants. I know this is off topic but I want to address the ant problem. 
FYI my cat walks along ant trails and licks them up like an ant eater so eating a few ants I don't believe will hurt the cat.  That's my opinion.

Anyway one thing you can do to protect your cat food is put the dish in a low pie pan full of water, the cat can reach the food dish and the ants

can't.. they can't swim.  It has saved me a lot of food over time

If you have to keep them out of an area, I wipe the counter down with bleach or Windex and they do not like either.

The next thing is the ants.  I do not know when they appeared or disappeared but that's important to what I am going to tell you.

About the 5th of April the ants were invading my kitchen, cat food, ( not in the water ) and counters.  Reports from others also

reported the same thing, from Oregon, to Washington, to California to Colorado and even New Zealand.  To make a long story

short, I use the ants as a back up system for my work in biological earthquake prediction  They feel the quakes, volcanic even

and solar flares up to 3 days before they happen.  I don't always like them on the counters etc but we have formed a compatible

relationship and they don't get into my food and I leave them alone.  The key is to when the ants disappear.  Once they disappear

the event, what and where ever it is, will happen within 12-24 hours.  Even some of the scientists are starting to look at the ants

as a precursor to seismic and volcanic activity. 

Also on a side note If the Quakes are in Oregon, Simi or Yucca Valley, Big Bear CA or Japan if over  a 6.0  the cats will get sick.
They may throw up fur balls but mostly its not... if one cat gets sick, that not unusual but if both of them start throwing up at about the same

time then you know that something else is happening.  I have had calls from my vets asking what's happening, many of the clients are

reporting their cats are sick. My work has been studied by scientists for over 30 years.

My apologies if this is/was off topic but I wanted to explain about the ants and the sick cats. 

Click to expand...

This was very interesting.  I am very much into earthquake stats and have found a few websites where it is said they can be predicted.  Not long ago a number of dolphin whales beached themselves off the coast of Japan.  People began to panic, thinking that since this happened prior to the quake in March 2012, another one was coming.  So far, so good.  Fukushima certainly doesn't need another shakeup.

I heard that a huge flock of birds flew away from Nepal around the time they had that quake about a week ago.  Oftentimes animals can act funny prior to a natural disaster.  Come to think of it, Pumpkin has been acting up ALOT as of late.  Yesterday he made several escape attempts and I darn near lost him.  He's not usually that bad about wanting to go out.

Re. the ants - the exterminator returned today and re-applied the stuff they used the first time, only just in the kitchen.  It's a gel bait that is applied with a syringe.  From the description he gave me, I think I found some of that stuff on the kitchen floor after he left.  I wiped the area with a damp sponge, tossed it in the garbage.  Then paper towels....tossed them too.  Then I used my steam mop on the entire kitchen floor and also steam cleaned the carpet from the kitchen to the front door in case he tracked it out.  Now I have to toss the mop pad in the washer.

If this stuff isn't harmful for humans or pets then why is it not supposed to be applied where anyone can get to it?  I am worried that even with all the cleaning, I and/or my cat may have been exposed to something harmful.

Help!  I am going crazy with all the problems in this apartment complex.  I wish I never moved here.

Snugglecat said:

 
Our neighborhood is having a bad ant problem for the last couple of years. This year is the worst ever. I have them all over inside my house, some mornings I will wake up and my counters will be black with ants. It's frustrating having to clean all the ants up before I can feed my cats. I even put ant traps up but they just go around it.

When I go out to work in my garden it's just full of ants and they start crawling all over me. I was hoping to figure out a way to have my humming bird feeder up because last year I couldn't keep the ants out. I have a feeder that sits on top of a poll in my flower garden. I even tried hanging it from my house but the ants still got to it so I gave up and took it down. I love watching the humming birds though.

The worst part for me is that I have ants joining me in my bed. My feral cats cant sleep in there little area because its full of ants. I just want them to go away.

Click to expand...

I feel your pain.  While we don't have them as bad, just finding several dozen parked in front of my stove last Saturday morning was upsetting.  I hope you can get rid of them soon.  My neighbor had one crawling up her arm the other day.  Yuck.

At my old pest control job, we recommended using boric acid syrup bait in a bait station like this:

http://www.kmantpro.com/

Pretty heavy duty and sealed in a way that prevents evaporation and keeps out just about anything but ants (and other ant-sized insects). It has a stake you can drive into the ground so animals can't knock it over. It could be used inside, too, but it's really better to keep the baits outside because you don't want the ants to learn inside is where the food is. Usually ants in your house have their nest outside, anyway.

The place I worked for was a biological pest control company. Basically, we sold bugs to organic farmers that would eat their pest bugs (like how you can release ladybugs in your garden, but with a wide variety of bugs to target specific pests). One of the biggest pest control problems was ants. They attack the predatory insects and protect the aphids and other insects that secrete honeydew (do a search for "ants farming aphids" for an example). Frequently, farms that had problems with both ants and another crop pest would have all their other pest problems clear up (or become a lot less noticable) once they got rid of the ants. And if they just released predator bugs without dealing with the ants, they'd see no results and thing the bugs they were releasing were useless. So we had a pretty big focus on ant control.

For ants invading a house, we'd recommend a bait dispenser (like linked above or the homemade version I described in my earlier post) on each side of the house, especially near water sources like air conditioning units. Once the ants stop coming inside, the bait dispensers can be moved further and further from the house until they're on the property line. If you keep refilling them, they act like a barrier to stop ants from settling within the perimeter formed by the bait dispensers.

For the hummingbird feeder, you can put something sticky to block the path of the ants. For example, you can put a ring of vaseline or Tanglefoot (a really sticky paste made out of tree resin) around the pole the feeder hangs from. Eventually your sticky barrier will get covered in ants or leaves and won't be sticky anymore, but it'll work for a week or so before you have to do it again.

@dianajune, the lethal dose of boric acid is higher than the lethal dose of salt, it's a pretty safe chemical. Mammals have systems for flushing it out of their systems that insects don't, which is why it's toxic to ants. But if your ants are getting into wherever the cleaners are stored or other areas that it's harder for a cat to get into, you could put it there just in case. Or make a really stable bait dispenser that your cat can't knock over (taped to a table leg?). Cats don't have the same taste receptors for sweet stuff that most other mammals have, so it really shouldn't be too attractive a beverage even if the bait did get spilled.

I don't think the corn meal will be very effective, it's basically sugar. This post talks about someone's experience with trying it directly on ant mounds, it seemed to kill some mounds and not others...

http://www.gardenstew.com/threads/killing-fire-ants-the-experiment-corn-meal-corn-starch.25532/

I spray this on a paper towel and wipe problem areas. Works well.http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hot-Shot...gclid=CMWn2YripMUCFfRr7AodIlQAZw&gclsrc=aw.ds