How can I keep the ants out of the dog food bowls? We are under attack here. Is there a kid and animal safe spray out there? We have the large black ants and small brown one's everywhere.
For a non-toxic solution, you may want to look into dog bowls that have a moat around them. I don't have any experience with them, but I Googled them and there are a few out there, including this one: http://www.sani-moat.com/.
We are getting them for the past month. I tried Melaleuca''s stuff but it didn;t do anything. I spray the outside of my house around the foundation and windows/doors with an indoor/outdoor ant/pest spray. Indoors, I have been using the Combat ant traps, though i nt hepast I have used one by Raid (red box) within a few days you see them dead. I have used these for years and after 2 weeks tops I don't have anymore.
I heard using vinegar works. Try washing the floor around bowls and bowls themselves...not sure if it will work or not but worth a try and cheap/safe too!
The big black ants are the problem, especially if you have a lot of them. They are probably carpenter ants. They can do as much destruction to a house as termites because they eat wood. People can have 1000s of $ in damage from them if they have a nest in your home. The most common places to find them are kitchens and bathroom.
I know that "poisons" are not the way you want to go with pets or children, but you should really have someone out to see how extensive your problem is, maybe they could just treat the outside? We just had a similar issue and I was really concerned about them treating the inside of my home and the woman told me they are using these same chemcials my peditrician offices and hospitals. It made me feel a little better. They did not do it in any our bedrooms, just kitchen and bathrooms and it is a one time application in the home. Trust me, I had my concerns, I am due with our second any day, so I had to weigh my options. Ants that could destroy my home, that were in my cabinets and on my counters, or a 1 time apllication to solve the problem that is guaranteed to work for at least 6 months. The woman also told me carpenter ants tend to be an every other year problem. This is our second year in the home and we didn't have a problem last year. If you have any other questions let me know, and good luck!
Talcum poweder around your house. We used to live in a really old two flat on the south side that just had a dirt foundation. We would surround the whole house with talcum powder, and then try drawing a chalk circle the dog bowls. Ants HATE chalk, they supposedly will not go over it (hence when there is chalk on trees...because ants won't go past the chalk)
We had a problem with small brown ants (our house is on the slab). We called Chem-wise pest management and are very happy with their services (http://www.chem-wise.com/). They use odorless gel that is harmless for kids and pets. It helped to get rid of ants completely within couple of weeks.
2 possible solutions......1st put the dog bowls on a mat so they do not move around and outline around the mat with chalk, yes CHALK. ants HATE it and will/can not cross it. The other is to get rid of the ants entirely.....mix 2 TBLSP of peanut butter, 1 TBLSP of honey and 2 TBLSP of BORAX (get 20 mule team Borax at Walmart, YES they still make and sell the stuff) and fill straws (by poking into mixture) put the straws in areas the dogs and kids do not/cannot get into and the ants will eat it go back to the nest..feed the queen and the whole colony will die off.
We were able to put the borax right onto the ant hills as we have no animals and have not seen any ants in weeks.
An added BONUS use the Borax in your laundry as a BOOSTER and as a household cleaner. Works GREAT and is less expensive that fancy additives and cleaners and better and safer for the environment.
Couple thoughts here: I would not leave dog food out - train your dog to eat once a day. I was feeding my dog twice a day and noticed that she was not that interested in her second feeding until much later in the day. I, now, combine her two feedings and feed her first thing in the morning and her food is gone an hour later. Keeping food out will just encourage more and more ants to feast at your home. You don't want your pets ingesting any more bugs than they need to.
Secondly, I'm concerned because you have "small and large" black ants. Those large ones are probably carpenter ants. You probably started seeing them emerge at the end of May, and by the end of June, they are out in force. It's scary!!! If any have wings, those are the carpenter ants, too, and that's NEVER good either, because it's my understanding that the colony has been forming for a while. You have an infestation. These ants will return, yearly. The damage that they can do to a home is as magnificent as termites-whether your home is brick or wood, doesn't matter. There is still a lot of wood to damage in anyone's home.
I know you probably don't want to call an exterminator. I didn't either. However, once you determine that this is a problem, the damage that may be caused by these is extensive and you won't want to pay for the cost of repairs, either. I lived in a cedar home. We waited 3 years because we believed we could control it ourselves - after all "you only see them for a couple months a year".... doesn't mean they are not active during other months. Once I called a professional, they treated my home, a few times for the first year by injecting a gooey substance in my walls, high up (no odor), then the exterminators made a yearly maintenance call.
spray vinegar across the threshold or from wherever they are coming in
sprinkle baby powder around the bowls, it's like magic
my daughter and her boyfriend have ants in their house too. they put the dogs food bowl in a bowl of water thus creating a wall. if the ants crawl into the first bowl which is water they will drown. the food doesn't get ants in at at all. its like building a trench around the food bowl. they have a toy fox terrier and he has no problem reaching his food.
food bowl within a water bowl concept
Yes...Tough and Tender from Melaluca. www.melaluca.com or find someone that sells it. It is great and safe. It had tea tree oil in it.
Boric acid, mixed with some sugar and water seems to work. You put some out in jar lids near where you're getting ants. It's non-toxic, but you won't want to have it out when small children and pets are around (they might eat it, which is still not good!). Another thing you can do is to either spray or rub white vinegar around the areas where you're getting ants.
Best,
R.
I found a fifty/fifty mix of white vinegar and water in a sptritz bottle worked well and is safe for dogs.
We do, too.
I sprinkled cinnamon around the edge of the kitchen. They HATE cinnamon.
I have also heard that they hate Simple Green and it kills them. They also hate the smell of vinegar. Wipe down your kitchen counters with vinegar and water at night. As for the dog food, keep it in an airtight bin and then sprinkle cinnamon around it.
These are the only kid friendly things I know of.
Keep the food off the floor unless they are eating. Which means the dogs can't just graze. That really attracts them
Then, get a specific spray bottle and put peppermint OIL ( I get it at a health food store) and spray the ants and the place they are coming in from.
Watch the crumbs from the kids as well. Also, the minute the dog is done eating, pick up the bowl.
Ugh. I HATE ants. And they're persistent little critters, aren't they? I've always liked the PIC ant products. You can get them pretty much everywhere....here's some more info http://www.pic-corp.com/store/home.php?cat=251
The company is very earth and kid-friendly...they just launched a website with some really good information on pest control: www.healthyhome-smartsolutions.org
Hope this helps and good luck!
I have not tried it, but my MIL told me that if you put a line of table salt wherever they are getting in the ants will not cross it. They will eat the salt, bring it back to the nest, and it kills them. Not sure if it works, but it is a safer alternative to sprays. Good Luck
If it's really bad you might have to cover them up instead of leaving them all day. We've had that problem and almost all the ways to get rid of ants involve something that usually means poison and we don't want the animals to get exposed to something else. Maybe there will be a different suggestion. You might have to just temporarily pick up the bowls until the ant problem is abated. Wish I could help There are things on the market and there is the old borax and sugar routine but again borax isn't too good for other animals.
Ortho spray around your house every year. It lasts 3 months. Be sure to clean your floors. Can you move the food bowls to the bathroom or somewhere else until they are undercontrol? Good luck.
