Ants in the kitchen

i'm located in NY and as spring has arrived i'm seeing a small influx of ant activity in my kitchen. I'm worried only because it will probably only increase as the weather gets warmer. Just a little background information. last summer i tore down my backyard deck and noticed alot of ants living with the posts. i'm pretty sure they are now in my backyard lawn or have found a new home in my house. i also have two kids running around that leave crumbs/food everywhere, but i vacuum/cleanup every night to prevent ants from coming in. i cannot find the source of where they are coming in from which makes it 10x harder. any idea on whats the best type of things to use to help stop them from coming in? they are smaller type ants. every morning i found about 10-20 crawling around randomly. any help is appreciated.

 

I had an ant problem several years ago and Terro worked well at getting rid of them. Bug spray might be beneficial on the outside if you have a decent idea of where they are getting in. You don't want to use both in the same place/time as the spray is a barrier while the Terro gets returned to the nest to [hopefully] kill them all. I had mine gone in less than a week after applying the Terro.

 

I like liquid Terro but keep in mind you're going to see more ants than you thought possible if you put the stuff out. Keep replenishing it as long as they're eating it. It can take weeks for this to work, don't expect overnight success.

Ant control is an ongoing process, they're going to come back at some point so don't get discouraged when they do. If you can find where they're living outside, you can treat that as well and buy yourself some additional ant-free time.

 

Another vote for Terro.
I use the liquid and keep adding more as they eat it.
I'm glad everyone mentioned about the number of ant's you'll see showing up for a free meal.
People flip out when one day you see a few, the next there will be hundreds, which is a good thing, the more that carry it back to the nest the sooner the queen will die.

 

All good advice above. I would add that the gel baits are very good too. Gels and liquids are readily accepted by ants, especially the small ones. You can use combinations of the two.

As stated above, do not spray anything as the sprays are mostly repellent and you will ruin your baiting program/strategy. Insect baits work slowly otherwise the foragers would not be able to take the bait back to the colony.

If you can get the gel bait (comes in plastic syringes) underneath or behind a baseboard you will be getting the bait closer to the colony and they will tend to stay hidden while feeding. Also put the bait into the walls where the kitchen sink water pipes/drain pipe enter. Peel back the carpeting just enough to get the syringe tip under the baseboard or at least between the carpet tack and baseboard.

It’s better to have many small application spots as opposed to several large ones although if you know where the ants like to congregate then large spots are good too. For now, when cleaning counters and such, just use hot water. Cleaning agents will act as repellents too.

If you want to, you can put the gel baits on wax paper or such so that clean up will be easier in visible areas but it doesn’t matter. Insect baits are so low in toxicity that it’s pretty much insignificant.

Keep us posted.