"sugar" ants in the house

[sandih]

Moved into my house in November and now we have a kitchen full of tiny black ants. I think they're called sugar ants. Fortunately they haven't found the pantry yet but they're all over my countertops any anything that might be sitting on it. I refuse to spray anything chemical-laden in my home so I'm looking for assistance.

[HerbGirl]

Your post is several months old--have you had any success getting rid of the sugar ants? We had the same problem in May, and we happened to notice in the Aug/Sept issue of Organic Gardening that p. 72 is all about ants. We followed the directions for making ant traps. We gradually saw results and within 2 weeks they were completely gone.

If you (or anyone else) needs this info, here's the procedure:

1. Make a solution of 1 percent boric acid and 20 percent sugar by thoroughly dissolving 1 teaspoon of boric acid and 6 tablespoons of sugar in 2 cups of water. Use a clear jar so you can see when all the boric acid crystals are dissolved. Soak cotton balls in this bait solution.

2. Make bait dispensers out of old plastic containers with lids (we used butter tubs). Punch holes in them so the ants can get inside, then put the soaked cotton balls into the containers and cover them with lids so the bait won't dry out.

3. Place the bait containers wherever you see ant trails, in or outside the house.

4. Clean the containers and use fresh bait solution at least once a week.

5. Be patient! The key is to get worker ants to continually carry low doses of boric acid back to feed the ants in their nest. Boric acid is mildly repellent to ants, and using a very low dose makes it more likely that surviving ants will continue eating the bait and taking it back to the nest.

[sandih]

I found that it's a seasonal thing with these ants. In the spring, they come in full force and I can keep them slightly controlled with Orange Guard. They love the cat food.

As it begins to warm up, they stay outside.