I never dreamed when I blogged about our ant covered high chair seat that I would get lots and lots of emails about ant problem remedies. You guys feel pretty strongly about how to get rid of ants and I am for one…grateful…and THANK YOU!!! There was an overwhelming consensus that Terro ant killer was the way to go. We have been battling ants for a few weeks now. I try to keep a clean house…I really do…I have such good intentions…but I also have 3 wee Kelleys home who tend to drop crumbles from their breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner on the floor. And I may or may not, not sweep up every single day. So I may never win the Best House Cleaner Award. But alas, I try…sometimes.
Last night we did some last minute ant smashing and cleaning before we headed to bed and I thought maybe, just maybe this is the end of these crappy little creatures that have seriously gotten on my very, very last nerve. I won’t even begin to tell you where all the ants have invaded in fear of running you off for forever. And we’ve tried to get rid of them…really, really tried and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more. Ugh. They still show up. I scream and yell at them and say things like, “You stupid, stupid ants.” while I stomp the ever loven’ life out of them. And then realize all the wee Kelleys are just staring at me and soaking up every time I used the word stupid…which is a “not very nice” word in our house and we tell them not to use it. So I may not win the Mom Of The Year Award either.
I got up early this morning and went for a swim with my friend Jess. When I flipped on the kitchen light to grab my bag and hit the door…there they were…again. Back with a vengeance…like they have a personal vendetta against me. We tell our kids that the word hate is saved only for the Devil…we totally Hate the Devil, but I personally, Hate ants too. Ants and the Devil…I hate them both..strongly! I was so bummed leaving the house with all those ants going crazy in my kitchen and all under our kitchen table…it killed me to close the door and leave, but I didn’t want to leave Jess hanging. So after a good hard swim and one of Jess’ homemade cookies while I drove home…#breakfastofchampions…
I remembered the Terro suggestion. On my way home I went to Kroger…no Terro. I went to Walmart…no Terro. I went to Target…no Terro. And finally Ace Hardware…no Terro. Everywhere I went they were out. We’re talking shelf completely empty and none to be found anywhere in the store. This made me feel like the stuff was legit though and it also made me feel like I wasn’t alone in our ant battle because apparently a lot of other people have ant problems as well. There’s nothing like knowing others are hating on ants like me. Misery loves company.
At Ace Hardware the worker dude was like, “Oh yeah, Terro is the best. I can’t keep that stuff on the shelves.” But I didn’t want to go home without something…just anything that would give me some hope that I could finally kill off those three bodied little beasts. So the worker dude said this was the next best thing. Apparently very similar to the ever coveted and sought after Terro…
When I got home I started laying out the traps everywhere. I even boobie trapped the outside of our back door. Now I’m ready. I’m ready to kill those little guys for real. But here’s the hard part…I want to come in and just innihilate them all…I want to just smash them to smithereens, but that’s not how this stuff works. I have to just let them live…it is so hard seeing them crawl all over, but this ant killer is like blue kool-aid for ants. The little ants are drawn to the, I assume, good tasting goo or whatever is in the traps, so they go in and take a little piece. Then they decide to share, because apparently ants do have good manners, and they take some of the tasty goo back to their colony and then pass it around. A little later…bam…death…sweet, sweet death and a house free of ants. YAH for Humans and our tricky ant killer.
So now I wait. I have been quite obsessed all day watching the traps and seeing if there are little trails of dead ant bodies left lying around on our floor, but none yet. I really hope this stuff works. It does say on the box that it’s guaranteed to work. I hope they are not liars. If they are, I just wasted money, time and an entire blog post on my ant problem for nothing. I suppose, if ant death does not occur, I will have to stalk the trucks that deliver Terro to the stores. That would be a little on the sad side.
And if you love ants and think they are wonderful and cute and lovely and you would never ever kill one…then I suggest that you don’t read this post 🙂
Happy Ant Killing Wednesday!
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we have used many diffferent brands of bug killer/sprays, but the best thing that works for us is PEPPERMINT OIL! It’s amazing. Ants HATE it and they stay away. I pour drops at each door way all the way across and in corners of windows and places where they come in(after I’ve made sure we have everything caulked really well) and they have stayed away! We have been so happy with the result and t’s not harmful for our babies or dog! Just thought I’d share what worked wonders for us!!
We’ve had ants for days!! We had to call our pest guy to come and help us out. It was driving me CRAZY!! Every hour walking into our kitchen and having to clean up the ants that were crawling EVERYWHERE! Believe me it has nothing to do with the Wee Kellys it has everything to do with the crazy ants wanting to come inside because of all the rain we suddenly have (at least here in Sewanee)! Thankfully after at least 5 days we are ant free! Hope it works..if not you might just have to call your pest guy. If you don’t have a Pest Guy; call All American Pest; they are a locally owned business in Nashville and do an amazing job!! Good luck with the ants!!
I would have been another to praise Terro. In fact, we’ve battled ants like this in cycles for years and my friend told me about Terro this year and now I swear by it LOVE IT! Hope those pesky things die! DIE ANTS DIE!!
Sweetheart,
You don’t know me, I don’t even know how I found your blog, it was around the time your mom got sick, I have cried with you, I have rejoiced with you and now I am laughing with you. You really need to be on a reality show, you may get lemons (ants) but you always seem to make lemonade. God is using you sweet girl (woman) and I love watching it happen. Praying for you and waiting for your next post. In Christ
One place we lived when my oldest was around 18 months old had the worst ant problem…I swear if I left even 1 miniscule crumb they could find it. Good luck w/ the traps…
Laura,
What you need is a dog… dogs are great for cleaning up little messes that kids leave; that way you don’t have to sweep daily (or not daily) and it helps reduce crumbs which can lead to ants!
Ants suck and Terro is the best. It is also sold at Lowe’s and Home Depot if the other stuff doesn’t work. It comes in an indoor trap and an outdoor trap. If you can find where they live outside you can put one of the outdoor traps out and kill them where they all live…That’s what we did. We set in and outdoor traps and killed the little jerks. Good luck!
Oh yes! Terro is the ONLY thing that works!!!!
Ok, that’s hilarious. Not that you have ants, necessarily, but still. I feel your pain. I’ve even blogged about ants before too…and Terro is really the best. But I have to tell you, just because I don’t know why, I guess it’s funny now… I’ve never had an ant problem like I had in Florida one summer. Mark was out of town, and I was seriously post partum grumpy, and it had been raining for days, and I was going to bed late one night and walked into the dining room (which we never used) and the wall and ceiling were so covered with ants it literally looked like it was moving. A big black mass of horror. I freaked. Called a friend panicking over ants at midnight. We sprayed Raid or something and there were so many you could actually hear the sound of them dropping from the ceiling and hitting the hardwood floor. I washed them out of my hair for days. Ugh ants. Not my friends! Hope your ant banishing attempt is successful. Just Terro’d a batch of them two nights ago myself. Love and prayers ~ Kelley
I have to ditto Amanda. My bug guy assures me that ants are looking for water and not crumbs! Wee Kelleys are not to blame!
I love that you posted about this…… normal stuff that we all endure. We have ant that come in when it’s really dry and we’ve been REALLY dry. I hate them. I spray stuff and sprinkle stuff around the house and they still get in. It makes me feel creepy/crawly and like my house is dirty. I clean up the ones I find (squash or vacuum and then change the bag of course) and then spray terro along mouldings, etc. where they were coming in. Then they find somewhere else to come in. I can’t wait for winter 🙂 I have used the terro traps before also with success, but I’d rather spray and not have them come in at all. Good luck!
Don’t let anyone make you feel like your cleanlieness level is the cause of the ants, Laura. I have never swept my floors daily (gasp! ) and I only get ants once in a blue moon and they come in due to the heat outside or too much rain. Yes, they sometimes sample crumbs they find, but the crumbs aren’t what attracted them in the first place. When your kids are grown they aren’t going to remember how often you swept the floors. They’re going to remember that you’re an awesome mom who does things with and for her kids. Blessings and hugs!!!
We’ve had sugar ant problems in the past. One of the things that we found fought them off pretty well is Borax. You can get it pretty cheap at Amazon.
Peppermint oil supposedly keeps spiders away too. Can you order Terro online?