Ants!

I need help with getting rid of ants. Over the last two days I have had a plague of them in the kitchen and living room. Is there anything anyone knows of that is cat-safe? The name of a chemical preferably, as I can't guarantee that any propriety product would be available here. I can't use chalk lines etc as they are coming up through the gaps in my parquet floor, which is not very well fitted. All suggestions gratefully received. I am of course taking extra care not to leave any crumbs, etc as temptation, and I am now feeding the cats on a plastic tray that I wash immediately.

Cinnamon- they will not go near cinnamon

i have just got an infestation of ants aswell

if my mum does come up today i will tell you what she used that was safe for our cats too because they didnt want to go near it either!
you just had to use bottle tops and put in this powder and the ants never returned but considering its spring now its time to do extra cleaning and make sure no food is on the floor! even one grain of bread is enough!

Presumably boric acid will do it. Just be glad you don't have to deal with fire ants !

I had a terrible ant problem. I couldn't use chemicals that could hurt my cats. A professional exterminator, explained that thousands of scout ants search for water or food. When a scout ant finds something, it leaves a scent trail that the other ants follow. That is how so many can appear in a trail so fast.

You need to get rid of any trail an ant has left. I use a small but powerful hand steam cleaner. I have not had an overwelming ant problem since I started doing this.

As soon as I see an ant...I blast it with steam and any area where I think it might have walked. First I killed all of the ants with steam...cleaned up the areas were they were....then re-steamed the whole area again to get rid of any scent trail.

Be watchful...when a new trail starts...steam the Hell out of the area again.

I got mine from QVC. But home depo & other like Target or WalMart might have them too. I think it was about $40. Worth every penny. I clean my bathroom, kitchen, windows and most of my house with it instead of chemicals.

If you don't want to get a steam cleaner, try pouring lots of hot water on them...then use it to get rid of their trail. That technique is really messy but it works. If you have billions of ants outside of your place...you might need a pro to deal with that, but keep all pets out of harms way.
Good luck...
PS...I just re-read your post & realized that you live outside of the US. You might need to order a steam cleaner online. I would love to know how you get rid of those pesky creatures. Please keep us informed.

Thanks for all the advice - I am trying cinnamon and I found ant traps in a local shop that attract them through little holes in the top. I don't think the cats can get at the powder in any way but I will watch them carefully. I can't steam them out as they are coming up through cracks in the parquet, and any water would go through the ceiling! Good tip about the trails though - if I can work out there they go first when they come up I will try to deal with it. I'll let you know how I get on.

You really don't want to kill them, they are beneficial insects. I hope you get them out of your house.

When I had an ant problem in my apt. in college (this was before Eponine, though) I covered their trail with ammonia. Worked like a charm!