Where do ants come from?

[thyme4change]

I have ants.  Every morning when I open my medicine cabinet, there are a dozen or so tiny ants eating the toothpaste ring that our electric toothbrushes leave.  Sometimes a couple of adventerous one will climb up the toothbrush.  I take a cloth and wipe them all out, get rid of the ring, but they are always back the next day.

Previously when we have had ant problems, I have been able to follow the trail of ants to the ant hole, and then put poison down the hole, and the ants disappear from our house.  But this time, I can't find the trail.  They aren't on the wall, the floor, the baseboard or the sink.  They aren't in the drawers or any other shelves.  They aren't in the cabinet.  I went outside and looked around and didn't see a hill anywhere (although I didn't check the grass.)  I'm hesitant to put poison in my toothbrush spot, for obvious reasons.  Plus, I'm not sure killing the current ants is doing any good.

Where are they coming from?  How can I discourage these guys from eating my toothpaste?

[Deleted]

So when a mommy ant and a daddy ant love eachother they get married and decide to have baby ants.

[steph08]

Well, my first suggestion would be to stop letting your toothbrushes and toothpaste leach toothpaste onto the medicine cabinet. Take away the food source, the ants will go away.

Buy those poison traps where the ants go inside, grab the poison (thinking it is food) and take it back to their den.  I have found them to be pretty effective.

[kent]

Mar 13, 2013 10:54:07 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

So when a mommy ant and a daddy ant love eachother they get married and decide to have baby ants.

It also happens if your mommy or daddy has a sister and then you are born - presto, they become an ant.

[alabamagal]

Mar 13, 2013 11:11:43 GMT -5 kent said:

 

Mar 13, 2013 10:54:07 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

So when a mommy ant and a daddy ant love eachother they get married and decide to have baby ants.

It also happens if your mommy or daddy has a sister and then you are born - presto, they become an ant.

[Tennesseer]

Don't forget great ants.

[Abby Normal]

Try the Terro liquid ant bait.  We had a problem in our kitchen and these were recommended. They worked wonderful. But the problem did get worse before it got better. Once they found it, they informed the colony who all came to visit.  But we haven't seen a single one since and the bait was only like $5.  

[cael]

The first summer we were in our current place we had some of the big carpenter ants around, not too many. Since then we've had some issues with the teeny tiny ants... last year we put a few ant cups in strategic locations under things, far enough under so that the cat wouldn't get them, and haven't seen a single one since then. It was extra gross because we have carpet in most of the apartment, so if you squish them they squish into the carpet but the ant cups have worked great. We also vacuum more so there isn't any temptation of crumbs hanging around.

[Tiny]

The problem is that if you remove their food (the tooth paste ring) they will just wander more looking for food.  

The ants are probably marching pretty far to get to the tooth paste ring as it is.  

I'd treat the ants to some Take Out food... ie   some poison bait that they take back to their nest/home.   You may need to go to the hardware/home improvement store and read the labels on the different types of ant bait to determine which kind you need.  It helps if you can identify the type of ant you have.       It may take 5 to 10 days of providing Take Out food to solve the problem.  Be patient.
 
Spring is a popular time for ants - they are 'waking up' from the winter, doing alittle spring cleaning  and restocking their food supply.  They are also getting ready for the 'kids' to leave home - ie a queen or group of ants who will leave the ant nest and form a new colony somewhere else.   They are very busy and poisoned Take Out food (ant bait) is very attractive to them

Fall is another popular time for ants - they are working overtime looking for food/storing food/preping their nest(s) for winter.

From homeowner experience with ants showing up in odd places around my house - I'd recommend putting out slow acting poison baits - so the ants will take some of it back to the nest and poison all their friends/relatives. 

I'd keep the bait away from pets and small children.   Do assume your cat/dog/4 year old "knows" NOT to eat or touch the bait because it's on a counter or behind the couch.  

[Tennesseer]

Clean out the medicine cabinet and apply a few drops of Combat's ant killer gel. The ants will bring it back to the colony. It should do the trick.

[thyme4change]

Alright - I was hoping I could get away with not using poison in the medicine cabinet - but I guess you guys are right.  I will move everything around, and keep the toothbrushes in a bag or tupperware or something, and then use poison for a week or so. 

[MarleyKeezy78]

We have tons of ants and the first year we lived here they were coming up through the floor boards in DS room   We found that if we treat the perimeter of the house and the whole yard with the granual type ant poison in the spring when it warms up and again later in the season we don't have problems. 

[tractor]

Terro is great, the ants love it, then they go away and never come back. I believe it's 99 percent borax or something like that. Pretty safe to have around.

[Green Eyed Lady]

If you are worried about poisons, spray your cabinet with water mixed with dish soap and don't rinse it.

[Bob Ross]

The best way to stop ants is with fire.  You should try that.

[Deleted]

ant stork? 

[Deleted]

I hear the pink panther song

dead ant dead ant, dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant...........

badda bing

[zibazinski]

Yup, sugar ants. Very prevalent in the south. Keep nothing on your counters.

[weltschmerz]

This stuff is amazing! Draw a line anywhere and the ants will not cross it. I use it to draw around the cat's food dish.
My friends in Jamaica always ask for some....it even keeps those giant critters away. About a buck at your local Asian grocery.

[Virgil Showlion]

Smear your toothbrush with ant poison.

That'll teach 'em.

[NastyWoman]

From the ant-e-chamber

[tloonya]

Mar 13, 2013 16:31:41 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Yup, sugar ants. Very prevalent in the south. Keep nothing on your counters.

Mine don't eat tooth paste (I actually cleaning my tooth paste left overs off...) but I have this problem big time!
They are everywhere and not on the kitchen! Toilet, hallways...laptop! they will crawl all over it.
My exterminator said we need dry weather to spray around the house.
Online there is a website that tells you they are harmless...so...nevermind!

I am searching for the article on msn where they had posted 'ants invasion on USA' but to not avail.

[tloonya]

Mar 13, 2013 22:44:50 GMT -5 @lonewolf said:

Mar 13, 2013 16:31:41 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Yup, sugar ants. Very prevalent in the south. Keep nothing on your counters.

My DD's house is plagued with them and she has found that wiping down surfaces with vinegar helps deter them.

...yep! for about 20 min.

[wodehouse]

second the recommendation for Terro. Bit messier than the enclosed packets like Raid, etc, but much more effective.

[thyme4change]

I put one Terro liquid trap in my medicine cabinet and one on the floor of the office, because there were a small bunch of ants in there eating the crumbs of the pie that my son had yesterday.  An hour later, there are tons of ants in both places.  I hope it kills off the colony, because right now it seems that I am feeding them, and made my problem worse.  The instructions said to constantly keep the trap going.  I don't want to keep poison in my medicine cabinet forever.  Maybe I'll put an additional trap under the sink and remove the one in the medicine cabinet (in a few days) and then maybe the ants will be drawn away from the cabinet and to another place in the bathroom.  Does that work?

[weltschmerz]

Mar 16, 2013 14:48:43 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I put one Terro liquid trap in my medicine cabinet and one on the floor of the office, because there were a small bunch of ants in there eating the crumbs of the pie that my son had yesterday.  An hour later, there are tons of ants in both places.  I hope it kills off the colony, because right now it seems that I am feeding them, and made my problem worse.  The instructions said to constantly keep the trap going.  I don't want to keep poison in my medicine cabinet forever.  Maybe I'll put an additional trap under the sink and remove the one in the medicine cabinet (in a few days) and then maybe the ants will be drawn away from the cabinet and to another place in the bathroom.  Does that work?

Awww...looks like you have pet ants! Are you going to name them?

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"So when a Mommy and and a Daddy ant love each other...":::...

Darn it, I was going to make this exact joke, and you beat me to it!

[michelyn8]

Mar 16, 2013 14:48:43 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I put one Terro liquid trap in my medicine cabinet and one on the floor of the office, because there were a small bunch of ants in there eating the crumbs of the pie that my son had yesterday.  An hour later, there are tons of ants in both places.  I hope it kills off the colony, because right now it seems that I am feeding them, and made my problem worse.  The instructions said to constantly keep the trap going.  I don't want to keep poison in my medicine cabinet forever.  Maybe I'll put an additional trap under the sink and remove the one in the medicine cabinet (in a few days) and then maybe the ants will be drawn away from the cabinet and to another place in the bathroom.  Does that work?

I have had ant problems the past couple of springs/summers.  Last year was really bad so I bought some of the Terro and put it by my kitchen sink where it was the worst (and the last likely place to be disturbed by the cat).  I  had swarms for a couple of days and then poof!!!! no more ants.  I never did put a new trap down and so far this year, no ants in that area.  I do have them coming in over my refrigerator and put a trap up there yesterday.  Of course, as soon as I put the trap down, I didn't see anymore ants coming in so I'm not sure what's going on there.  And I don't know why they'd come in looking for water when the ground is saturated around here right now.  Last year there was a huge nest under the front porch that was swarming with all kinds of ants but then one day, I didn't see anymore and haven't since (before I put the Terro by the sink).  I'm sure they'll return this year but you never know with those buggers.

I'm moving in a month and will probably just leave the new trap where it is when I leave.  Its on a shelf above the refrigerator that I only use to store old flower vases and a cookie jar I never use but don't want to toss.  The yard at my new place has more grass and less bare dirt than my current yard so I'm hoping ants won't be as big of an issue there but I'll be prepared with a few Terro traps on hand just in case.  Hopefully if I do start finding trails, they won't be where the baby could get to the bait. 

[thyme4change]

When I got up yesterday morning, there wasn't an ant in sight.  So, I guess it worked.  The traps are still out.  I will wait a few more days, and then move the trap under the sink, clean the medicine cabinet and see if that keeps me ant free.

[Deleted]

You can sprinkle cayenne around the edges of the shelf. It sticks to ants legs and they don't like it, so they won't walk across it.  We haven't had any ant problems since I started sprinkling it around the perimeter of the kitchen and along the doors.

I just realized we've got the dog this year. I wonder how long it is going to take her to learn not to lick it.