Kitchen Suddenly Infested With Lots Of Ants. Help! (no Killing Please)

[Honeygal 1]

Have been staying at my place for 1 month and the whole kitchen was completely free from ants. As my religion forbids me from any form of killing, I clean up properly after cooking and using the sink, so as not to attract ants unncessarily.

Then about 5 days ago, the sink, dining table and window in the kitchen became infested with ants. Now everyday, i can't even leave my knife or any food on the table top or sink for more than 15 min! or hundreds of ants will start appearing.

When i am not preparing any food, no trace of the ants. But the moment i place the food on the table top, the ants start coming. How should i stop these ants? Any advice greatly appreciated - no killing though. Thanks all!

[alan26 2]

I came across this method some years back( forgotten where)

After cooking an egg. Don't throw away the eggshell. Crush it then place it over the burner then put some on the bottle cap.

place it on the path of the ants. Then after 1-2 day, the ant would go away by itself.

Never try it b4, so i never know whether does it works.

[lawry 3]

There used to be something like a white chalk where you draw around the path of the ants, they don't like that, and they will go away.

But I'm not sure if that kills them ... or where it can be found these days.

Right now, I use COMBAT, this ant poison, they will bring home and whole clan wipe out. -_-

[ahockz 1]

a bit hard leh. no kill yet u don want them to be present? it become chicken and egg issue liao.

Read http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...t=0&start=0.

can try this KAM BONG YAN, but not sure what religion u r, not sure u ok to burn this a not.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x151/ma...hemical/kb1.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x151/ma...hemical/kb2.jpg

[Honeygal 1]

There used to be something like a white chalk where you draw around the path of the ants, they don't like that, and they will go away.

But I'm not sure if that kills them ... or where it can be found these days.

Right now, I use COMBAT, this ant poison, they will bring home and whole clan wipe out. -_-

yes i found the white chalk as well as the pellets. i read the description on the boxes and yes these are certainly considered killing, mass extermination in fact. found them in HOME FIX shops.

[Honeygal 1]

a bit hard leh. no kill yet u don want them to be present? it become chicken and egg issue liao.

Read http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...t=0&start=0.

can try this KAM BONG YAN, but not sure what religion u r, not sure u ok to burn this a not.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x151/ma...hemical/kb1.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x151/ma...hemical/kb2.jpg

thanks a million for the wonderful link! extremely useful!

will consider the KBY, since it does not sound like killing. got to check further. is KBY toxic? i always feel if something can kill insects, it can kill humans too, although not instantaneously.

i heard of KBY previously but i thought it was used to ward off evil spirits, not insects!

[mrspiglet 2]

i watched one of the Ch 8 household tips program and they mentioned that putting things like baby powder or washing powder along the ants track will make them go away by themselves. Reason: the ants cannot take the strong powder smell will avoid those areas. Not test yet thou, i've lots of single soldier running ard my house too.

[rolexboy 0]

Read that vinegar helps to keep ants and cockroaches

And by applying vinegar along the exit/entrance crack or hole, it helps to keep them away..

Can use cloth soaked with vinegar, then apply on the main route, or pour some vinegar into spray bottle, and spray around the area.

Hope it helps.

Edited May 5, 2009 by rolexboy

[ivy 0]

u should check ur cabinets first. the last time this happend to me, I traced the ants and to my horror i found them building nest in my empty liquor boxes... and some other carton boxes for my baby products which I tot I wanna reuse.. I threw them all out. AFter which I wiped the affected areas, and the places that they travel with white vinegar. It seems to help. Though we still see some ants crawling around at least they dun appear in a swamp.

[ahockz 1]

i did try the KBY, i think suppose not toxic if not those doing praying will have problem liao. maybe is the same reason as the baby powder mentioned by other, they don like strong power smell as ant using smell sense to move around.

Got some (kill 50 plus plus ants found at my house, and there is no food in the house, still doing reno) so I tried burning last week, so far no ant found inside my house, but saw 1 or 2 outside my main door. Still trying to trace where they come from.

[pinkydot 0]

Hi,

I hv the same prb too. And i found tat there is season where ants will start to appear around my house.

And tats happen a few yrs ago, i start to track the ant nest. To my horror, those ants were hidden in my wooden knife holder and i quickly brought the whole thing to wash and all the ants started to crawl out and the eggs started to flood up. Tat is really disgusting... and i just threw the whole things away.

I tot i had destroy the nest already, but i still see ants around! And i start to track again... and found out tat there is another nest! The nest was built on a Ikea wooden plate which i used it as a display (on the bottom of the plate usually there a depth) and this time round i ask my HB to lift it up to see cos i was too afraid to see it again. OMG...again...full of ants & eggs!

Then i realise the two places tat the ants like to hide were the things i bought from Ikea...one is the Wooden Knife Holder & the Wooden Plate. After tat, i started to search all my wooden stuff to make sure that no ant nest around.

Maybe you can check around ur wooden stuff just to make sure.

[newnyew 1]

Hi,

I hv the same prb too. And i found tat there is season where ants will start to appear around my house.

And tats happen a few yrs ago, i start to track the ant nest. To my horror, those ants were hidden in my wooden knife holder and i quickly brought the whole thing to wash and all the ants started to crawl out and the eggs started to flood up. Tat is really disgusting... and i just threw the whole things away.

I tot i had destroy the nest already, but i still see ants around! And i start to track again... and found out tat there is another nest! The nest was built on a Ikea wooden plate which i used it as a display (on the bottom of the plate usually there a depth) and this time round i ask my HB to lift it up to see cos i was too afraid to see it again. OMG...again...full of ants & eggs!

Then i realise the two places tat the ants like to hide were the things i bought from Ikea...one is the Wooden Knife Holder & the Wooden Plate. After tat, i started to search all my wooden stuff to make sure that no ant nest around.

Maybe you can check around ur wooden stuff just to make sure.

mine was infesting inside the aircon remote control!

i had to throw the whole thing away

so now 2aircons share one remote...

yup Honeygal, i use KBY also.

lizards, cockroaches will all start appearing after that cos they cannot take the smell.

Edited May 12, 2009 by newnyew

[leen 2]

There used to be something like a white chalk where you draw around the path of the ants, they don't like that, and they will go away.

But I'm not sure if that kills them ... or where it can be found these days.

Right now, I use COMBAT, this ant poison, they will bring home and whole clan wipe out. -_-

white chalks can get from flower nursery. but i don't know if its toxic to humans but imagine if you draw the 'border' around your kitchen top to stop ants from crawling on the top, n you r preparing food on the same kitchen top...

i also use combat like Lawry. vy gd.

u should check ur cabinets first. the last time this happend to me, I traced the ants and to my horror i found them building nest in my empty liquor boxes... and some other carton boxes for my baby products which I tot I wanna reuse.. I threw them all out. AFter which I wiped the affected areas, and the places that they travel with white vinegar. It seems to help. Though we still see some ants crawling around at least they dun appear in a swamp.

Hi,

I hv the same prb too. And i found tat there is season where ants will start to appear around my house.

And tats happen a few yrs ago, i start to track the ant nest. To my horror, those ants were hidden in my wooden knife holder and i quickly brought the whole thing to wash and all the ants started to crawl out and the eggs started to flood up. Tat is really disgusting... and i just threw the whole things away.

I tot i had destroy the nest already, but i still see ants around! And i start to track again... and found out tat there is another nest! The nest was built on a Ikea wooden plate which i used it as a display (on the bottom of the plate usually there a depth) and this time round i ask my HB to lift it up to see cos i was too afraid to see it again. OMG...again...full of ants & eggs!

Then i realise the two places tat the ants like to hide were the things i bought from Ikea...one is the Wooden Knife Holder & the Wooden Plate. After tat, i started to search all my wooden stuff to make sure that no ant nest around.

Maybe you can check around ur wooden stuff just to make sure.

ya, the ants usually like to hide and build nest at such areas. it also like to build nest at cloth. i got 2 ants attack n trace their track to my kitchen knife holder. the 2nd time it nested in my quilting cloths (think i hv too much of the cloth). so i clean out everything, and put combat around or close to these areas, so far no ants trace yet.

you can pour abit of aromatheraphy oil (eg. lavender, etc.) into a small pail of water and use it to wipe your cabinets, etc. can try to see if this works.