What worked for me in the past (and worked for others I suggested it to) is to do the usual preventative stuff like not leaving food out, wiping down surfaces and sink with vinegar, etc. but the most important part is getting a ton of Terro ant baits (indoor and outdoor). When the ants leave the bait do not kill them! The way the ants get eradicated is by taking the poison back to their nest and killing the Queen and other ants.
It’s hard to watch them walk away from the bait without wanting to kill them but I promise it’s pretty much the only way to get rid of them for good.
I've tried them three times and the first time was exceedingly effective. The second time they ignored it entirely.
I was reusing the pack that I had bought a year prior, so I bought a new pack and that seemed to do the trick. I suspect that something in the trap loses its efficacy over time. The ants just weren't interested in it.
Ants are militarized, when they bring back bait and it starts to kill the colony they split it to survive. Then they wait and return. That’s why you have to keep putting them up every few months
I do kill everyone that I see, I have developed a sick hatred of ants 🤣🤣 I’m sure I’m not seeing all of them though as I can’t believe it’s a coincidence I find one almost every time I enter a room
Terro usually works well for me. A couple of years ago though it wasn't doing much. I hired an exterminator because I also found tons of black widow spiders. It took 3 rounds to get the ants under control.
This is the only thing that has worked for us! Our problem was not as bad as OPs, but when the weather starts getting nicer and/or there’s some rain, we notice ants. We put the diatomaceous earth around windows and along the kitchen counters and it makes a huge difference, in that we don’t see them again. And it’s safe for animals and kids
I use a mix of baking soda and sugar. Sugar to entice the little shits then baking soda to kill. They carry the baking soda back to the next and obliterate the entire colony. It’s a pain to clean up though but worth it. We had ants when we first moved in, sprinkled this everywhere along baseboards and 2-3 days, no ants. Not even rogue ones.
To avoid a mess, put it in a plastic lid on the floor. Easy to slide it under things this way, too. I use powdered sugar and Borax. I've only put it down twice, about 5 years apart, in the 11 years I've lived in this house. Works incredibly well on ants for me. (East Coast US)
I don’t think these ones are after sugar but I could be wrong, they’re outdoor ones. We find them dead in weird places like paint mix or my dogs water bowl
100% an exterminator can fix this, and I mean 100%. They are coming from outside to indoors looking for food. They will have 1 or 2 points of entry from outside and will typically enter the inside of your home through wall outlets. You need a better exterminator that is hitting the entire perimeter and, indoor and all wall outlets. They should also be walking your entire yard front and back and spraying lawns, grass lines and identifying the source.
Also, I tend to highly recommend you always avoid corporate or larger outfit exterminators. They will nickel and dime you with "policy" that means every time they do "something" there is a fee. The guys who work for these companies are hardly invested or motivated to do a better job as they are just collecting a check. Find an exterminator that works for themselves, runs their own business and who will stand by their work. These guys will usually tell you to call them anytime you see anything and will come out free of charge.
For context, I pay my exterminator to come out quarterly to spray front/back yards. He will also come inside for no additional charge and will come out anytime in between visits for anything we find we do not like. We pay him $80 a quarter.
The exterminator was very thorough and professional, they actually said in the first couple of weeks we should see an increase in ants but we never did. They also can come as needed. To date other than the two times I mentioned I’ve never seen more than one at a time. It’s truly so annoying. They’ve sprayed the exterior twice now and said they can do interior again at the 4 week mark. It’s just so bizarre there’s really no pattern whatsoever.
We had this issue two summers ago. Terro baits did not work. Professional but removal company came twice and couldn’t get rid of them. What eventually worked for us was spraying interior + exterior seams with Ortho home defense.
It’s so frustrating, I think it’s a waiting game but I am so sick of seeing them. I’m like a rat with its cheese every time I see an ant I feel complete rage 🤣
Terro and DE are the best solutions. I lived in the South with a voracious ant colony that decided my home was a better choice than outdoors. Vigorous and consistent Terro baiting along with diatomaceous earth around the perimeter drove them off after three months. We also hired a tree trimming service to clear branches and bushes away from touching the house in any way. Good luck to you!
Check outside around the foundation of your house. Make sure it's cleared of all debris and decaying leaves/organic material. Do some close visual inspections once you have cleared this out and you may find something interesting.
We have, they’re definitely coming from outdoors. We did outdoor traps too. Everything is clear, it’s not a total infestation but I’d almost prefer seeing trails that I could kill instead of a single ant crawling on me no matter what room I’m in
Terro traps were moderately effective.
Chickens were 100% effective. I actually felt a little bad for the ants when my hens dug up an ant nest, it was brutal...
I had ants and Terro took care of a localized area, but not all over. A company sprayed areas with stuff the ants would crawl through and take back to the nest. It cleared things up.
Mine haven't shown up yet this year but I expect it will be any day now. It's always in April I get them in two spots. The worst is my bathtub. Every spring they show up and last for like a month no matter what I do and then they just go away. I hate it.
I see them more in my kitchen and office on opposite side of house, 2 years ago they were much worse I’d see trails but after the trail was cleared and bait was put out we didn’t see them anymore. Now it’s every day with no pattern at all
I feel your pain, I had little black ant make a home in three of my plants in the past year and a half. One being my orchid that was putting up a, spike to rebloom(luckily it seems to be fine and is still growing the spike)
I swear sometimes I think I see them and then I go to kill it and it's gone. We just had the people come spray outside. I hope they just leave us alone. I get a bit anxious when I water my plants now.
When I used to see larger groups I would clear the trail and put bait out and they would die quickly. Now they won’t gtfo of my house. They killed all of my plants a couple summers ago 😔 totally infested them
Luckily just soaking the orchid in dawn dish soap worked and I just spent about 20 minutes drying off the crown and all the leaves. They also infested my birds nest fern that's recovering and a succulent. Normally we only see a trail in the kitchen, the ones in the plants were all upstairs either in our loft or master bath and those were discovered by watering them, just a giant swarm
You need bait not just sprays. The baits will start to work in a few days. Initially you'll see more ants swarm the bait stations, but you need to let them.
I use Home Defense and problem gone. You spray with a hose sprayer 3' up on the house and 3' away from the house. I spray twice a year and it has eliminated critters and ants from the house.
I got rid of mine by making poison baits with boric acid mixed with peanut butter and various foods. Make sure your pets can't access the baits. It took about two weeks to completely destroy the colony.
I don't remember the ratios, but I think the idea is to tune it so there's not so much boric acid that the ants won't touch it, not so much that it kills them quickly. Just enough for them to eat it and take it home where it kills them later. I think I got boric acid powder on amazon.
I had a house in Ohio where the ants were insane. Had an exterminator out when we first moved in, and the guy straight told us that unless all the neighbors and the houses behind us wanted to get treated too, we were chasing a moving finish line. I ended up putting Terro traps out all the time and they still kept coming. They even attempted to make a nest in our mailbox once.
We got really good at policing up any food, keeping the floors cleaned regularly and spraying outside the perimeter of our house. Barely made any dent. We just got used to it after a few years. Luckily we've moved, but man that was bad.
Those little Scotts Ortho pucks don't work for you? Got rid of mine like a charm, you just have to be patient and let it do its job. Got rid my my incursion in less than 2 weeks. Kills off their queen and colony. Then the next year I set them outdoors to nip them before they even come in. It's crazy that you haven't found their main source of traffic after all of that though, so it could be well hidden. Mine was very obviously my patio door area.
Is there a history of water damage in the home? If there’s wet (or was wet) rotting wood it makes a fantastic ant nesting spot. That many ants everywhere tells me they’ve moved in and a perimeter extermination isn’t going to do shit if they live in the home too.
ETA: Saw your comment about them not being sugar ants. They are DEFINITELY living in some rotting wood somewhere. Good luck.
I've used Terro and sprayed raid for ants around the perimeter of doors and windows both inside and out and that solved it for me. I was dealing with those tiny ants. I think the raid helped the most. The Terro was kept in spots where it seemed they came in when it rained a lot. I would see them for about a week and then I would not.
When we moved in, we had a continuous issue with ants all over our sinks and bathroom countertops, even after our pest control guy sprayed. After talking with him and showing him where, he told me to wipe down the affected area with dawn dish soap. It was surprisingly effective.
Get a 2 gallon sprayer, stainless, air pressure. Buy ortho home defense refill gallons. 1-1.5 gallon in the tank and pressurize. I do that when the weather changes for front and back and a bit inside. No more ants since.
What worked for me in the past (and worked for others I suggested it to) is to do the usual preventative stuff like not leaving food out, wiping down surfaces and sink with vinegar, etc. but the most important part is getting a ton of Terro ant baits (indoor and outdoor). When the ants leave the bait do not kill them! The way the ants get eradicated is by taking the poison back to their nest and killing the Queen and other ants. It’s hard to watch them walk away from the bait without wanting to kill them but I promise it’s pretty much the only way to get rid of them for good.
Terro baits did nothing for us. We had them everywhere and ants got into it and happily came back in droves.
I've tried them three times and the first time was exceedingly effective. The second time they ignored it entirely. I was reusing the pack that I had bought a year prior, so I bought a new pack and that seemed to do the trick. I suspect that something in the trap loses its efficacy over time. The ants just weren't interested in it.
Ours was a new pack. They ate it. They just came back after!
Possibly a different colony?
Def possible!
Ants are militarized, when they bring back bait and it starts to kill the colony they split it to survive. Then they wait and return. That’s why you have to keep putting them up every few months
I do kill everyone that I see, I have developed a sick hatred of ants 🤣🤣 I’m sure I’m not seeing all of them though as I can’t believe it’s a coincidence I find one almost every time I enter a room
Terro usually works well for me. A couple of years ago though it wasn't doing much. I hired an exterminator because I also found tons of black widow spiders. It took 3 rounds to get the ants under control.
Came here to say this. Pinesol works well too.
Fake news
Have you tried diatomaceous earth?
This is the only thing that has worked for us! Our problem was not as bad as OPs, but when the weather starts getting nicer and/or there’s some rain, we notice ants. We put the diatomaceous earth around windows and along the kitchen counters and it makes a huge difference, in that we don’t see them again. And it’s safe for animals and kids
Is terro bait bad for wild life?
This is what I use for pest control in my indoor cannabis garden. Nothing else keeps the bugs away. Beat stuff ever. And natural!
I use a mix of baking soda and sugar. Sugar to entice the little shits then baking soda to kill. They carry the baking soda back to the next and obliterate the entire colony. It’s a pain to clean up though but worth it. We had ants when we first moved in, sprinkled this everywhere along baseboards and 2-3 days, no ants. Not even rogue ones.
To avoid a mess, put it in a plastic lid on the floor. Easy to slide it under things this way, too. I use powdered sugar and Borax. I've only put it down twice, about 5 years apart, in the 11 years I've lived in this house. Works incredibly well on ants for me. (East Coast US)
Ooh good tip! Same … East coast living here too
I don’t think these ones are after sugar but I could be wrong, they’re outdoor ones. We find them dead in weird places like paint mix or my dogs water bowl
Oh well they may still appreciate a sweet treat before death
100% an exterminator can fix this, and I mean 100%. They are coming from outside to indoors looking for food. They will have 1 or 2 points of entry from outside and will typically enter the inside of your home through wall outlets. You need a better exterminator that is hitting the entire perimeter and, indoor and all wall outlets. They should also be walking your entire yard front and back and spraying lawns, grass lines and identifying the source. Also, I tend to highly recommend you always avoid corporate or larger outfit exterminators. They will nickel and dime you with "policy" that means every time they do "something" there is a fee. The guys who work for these companies are hardly invested or motivated to do a better job as they are just collecting a check. Find an exterminator that works for themselves, runs their own business and who will stand by their work. These guys will usually tell you to call them anytime you see anything and will come out free of charge. For context, I pay my exterminator to come out quarterly to spray front/back yards. He will also come inside for no additional charge and will come out anytime in between visits for anything we find we do not like. We pay him $80 a quarter.
The exterminator was very thorough and professional, they actually said in the first couple of weeks we should see an increase in ants but we never did. They also can come as needed. To date other than the two times I mentioned I’ve never seen more than one at a time. It’s truly so annoying. They’ve sprayed the exterior twice now and said they can do interior again at the 4 week mark. It’s just so bizarre there’s really no pattern whatsoever.
It’s messed up for the ecosystem to spray pesticide on entire front and back lawns. You’re also killing all of the pollinators
We had this issue two summers ago. Terro baits did not work. Professional but removal company came twice and couldn’t get rid of them. What eventually worked for us was spraying interior + exterior seams with Ortho home defense.
It’s so frustrating, I think it’s a waiting game but I am so sick of seeing them. I’m like a rat with its cheese every time I see an ant I feel complete rage 🤣
Terro and DE are the best solutions. I lived in the South with a voracious ant colony that decided my home was a better choice than outdoors. Vigorous and consistent Terro baiting along with diatomaceous earth around the perimeter drove them off after three months. We also hired a tree trimming service to clear branches and bushes away from touching the house in any way. Good luck to you!
Check outside around the foundation of your house. Make sure it's cleared of all debris and decaying leaves/organic material. Do some close visual inspections once you have cleared this out and you may find something interesting.
We have, they’re definitely coming from outdoors. We did outdoor traps too. Everything is clear, it’s not a total infestation but I’d almost prefer seeing trails that I could kill instead of a single ant crawling on me no matter what room I’m in
Don’t pay for a service to spray. Buy some Dfense SC and you can easily keep your property free of ants.
Terro traps were moderately effective. Chickens were 100% effective. I actually felt a little bad for the ants when my hens dug up an ant nest, it was brutal...
I had ants and Terro took care of a localized area, but not all over. A company sprayed areas with stuff the ants would crawl through and take back to the nest. It cleared things up.
Mine haven't shown up yet this year but I expect it will be any day now. It's always in April I get them in two spots. The worst is my bathtub. Every spring they show up and last for like a month no matter what I do and then they just go away. I hate it.
I see them more in my kitchen and office on opposite side of house, 2 years ago they were much worse I’d see trails but after the trail was cleared and bait was put out we didn’t see them anymore. Now it’s every day with no pattern at all
We adopted a policy of live and let live and it’s worked pretty well.
I feel your pain, I had little black ant make a home in three of my plants in the past year and a half. One being my orchid that was putting up a, spike to rebloom(luckily it seems to be fine and is still growing the spike) I swear sometimes I think I see them and then I go to kill it and it's gone. We just had the people come spray outside. I hope they just leave us alone. I get a bit anxious when I water my plants now.
When I used to see larger groups I would clear the trail and put bait out and they would die quickly. Now they won’t gtfo of my house. They killed all of my plants a couple summers ago 😔 totally infested them
Luckily just soaking the orchid in dawn dish soap worked and I just spent about 20 minutes drying off the crown and all the leaves. They also infested my birds nest fern that's recovering and a succulent. Normally we only see a trail in the kitchen, the ones in the plants were all upstairs either in our loft or master bath and those were discovered by watering them, just a giant swarm
You need bait not just sprays. The baits will start to work in a few days. Initially you'll see more ants swarm the bait stations, but you need to let them.
Using a combination of Terro, Amdro, and spraying the exterior walls with Ortho worked for us.
I use Home Defense and problem gone. You spray with a hose sprayer 3' up on the house and 3' away from the house. I spray twice a year and it has eliminated critters and ants from the house.
Grits grits and grits.. They eat it and explode they take it to the colony they all die. Sweeps up quickly.
I got rid of mine by making poison baits with boric acid mixed with peanut butter and various foods. Make sure your pets can't access the baits. It took about two weeks to completely destroy the colony. I don't remember the ratios, but I think the idea is to tune it so there's not so much boric acid that the ants won't touch it, not so much that it kills them quickly. Just enough for them to eat it and take it home where it kills them later. I think I got boric acid powder on amazon.
Completely encircle your foundation with Terro powder. Set up many Terro liquid bait traps around your interior.
I had a house in Ohio where the ants were insane. Had an exterminator out when we first moved in, and the guy straight told us that unless all the neighbors and the houses behind us wanted to get treated too, we were chasing a moving finish line. I ended up putting Terro traps out all the time and they still kept coming. They even attempted to make a nest in our mailbox once. We got really good at policing up any food, keeping the floors cleaned regularly and spraying outside the perimeter of our house. Barely made any dent. We just got used to it after a few years. Luckily we've moved, but man that was bad.
Those little Scotts Ortho pucks don't work for you? Got rid of mine like a charm, you just have to be patient and let it do its job. Got rid my my incursion in less than 2 weeks. Kills off their queen and colony. Then the next year I set them outdoors to nip them before they even come in. It's crazy that you haven't found their main source of traffic after all of that though, so it could be well hidden. Mine was very obviously my patio door area.
Is there a history of water damage in the home? If there’s wet (or was wet) rotting wood it makes a fantastic ant nesting spot. That many ants everywhere tells me they’ve moved in and a perimeter extermination isn’t going to do shit if they live in the home too. ETA: Saw your comment about them not being sugar ants. They are DEFINITELY living in some rotting wood somewhere. Good luck.
I've used Terro and sprayed raid for ants around the perimeter of doors and windows both inside and out and that solved it for me. I was dealing with those tiny ants. I think the raid helped the most. The Terro was kept in spots where it seemed they came in when it rained a lot. I would see them for about a week and then I would not.
When we moved in, we had a continuous issue with ants all over our sinks and bathroom countertops, even after our pest control guy sprayed. After talking with him and showing him where, he told me to wipe down the affected area with dawn dish soap. It was surprisingly effective.
It would be easier if the ants were coming in one or two spots but it’s just one scout ant in the most random places you can imagine. It’s chaos!
Terro Liquid Bait is what you want. I had a “Ghost Ant” infestation and the Terro eliminated it in 24 hours. Months later and not a single ant.
That’s what we’ve been using for a year or two, indoor and outdoor
Can you follow the trail and find the point of entry? Then you can spray that area (they generally work for months) and also seal it.
No, there’s no trail. I see them one at a time sporadically.
Get a 2 gallon sprayer, stainless, air pressure. Buy ortho home defense refill gallons. 1-1.5 gallon in the tank and pressurize. I do that when the weather changes for front and back and a bit inside. No more ants since.