Tiny Black Ants

[LwnmwnMan2]

This week we started having timy black ants showing up in the kitchen.

Terro (sp) doesn't do anything to them, we tried that both last year, and again this year.

They're less than 1/4" long, some even smaller than 1/8".

Anyone else have a success story to share?

[Berens Lake ON]

We had those last year and couldn't get rid of them either... I called an exterminator and paid the $120, it was WELL worth it.

[soldoncass]

Several years ago we had some TINY ants invading (4 could fit on the head of a pin, and not be crowded). My wife put terro out, for a week, and they kept coming more and more.....I finally realized they were eating terro like candy. They were GREASE ANTS, they even found their way into the crisco can, with the lid on. My SOLUTION was RAID SPRAY..............be careful where you spray it...........cost $4, and the ants DID NOT LIKE IT. We haven't seen them since.

[pureinsanity]

If they are in fact grease ants, there are a couple things you can do.

I would first get some scotch tape and stick an ant to it and bring it someplace where they can identify what type of ant it is. Someone at your county should be able to do this.

If it is a grease ant you will need a gel bait or a granular bait. Dupont makes a gel bait but I cant remember what it is. Advion or something like that. There is a granular bait called InTice that should work more effectively. The ants will carry the small grains back to the colony doing more damage! Hope this helps!

[LwnmwnMan2]

Well, I'd have to say I found the food source.

2 years ago my wife bought a Kurig coffee maker, and the two springs are when we've had the ants.

I came home for lunch and was watching all of the ants, and they make a beeline (for the most part) to the Kurig, and then back to an area right behind the kitchen window sill.

There was an old containter still in the coffee maker, pulled that out and threw it away, but there weren't any ants on that.

I then was looking closer and there was quite a bit of frantic activity around where the water canister goes, so I pulled that out, and there were about 200 ants +/- all around the top of that water canister goes.

I pulled that out, threw it outside and rinsed it all down with the garden hose. It can stay outside for all I care, I drink Mt. Dew.

Anyways, I'm sure I've found the food source, hopefully they'll move onto the Terro now, since we have it all over that area.

We've got to replace the windows in our house too, so maybe the kitchen one will be the first to be pulled, so we can find the nest.

[TruthWalleyes]

Anytime i find a grease ant i know it's time to clean the kitchen, every nook and cranny. I've never put out a killer, but removing the food source has always worked.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Anytime i find a grease ant i know it's time to clean the kitchen, every nook and cranny. I've never put out a killer, but removing the food source has always worked.

Once I pulled the old container still in the maker, and pulled the water canister out of the maker, 99% of the ants have already disappeared.

It's funny, because the wife insists on having the maker, even though we hardly EVER use it. She cleans daily (OCD almost) with clorox the whole kitchen and was about going nuts wondering why we still have ants.

Hopefully it'll be the last straw and we can sell the maker online.

[pureinsanity]

Note to sell do not buy kurig coffee maker on a classified site Mt dew is my coffee as well.

[bucketmouth64]

Grease ants must be the same ones in fiancees townhome. They were there over the winter, which was puzzling to me, and the terro didn't affect them. I ended up spraying raid where they were traveling and that seemed to take care of it. They moved really slow and were a bit longer and more sleder than the average ant.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I totally moved the entire coffee pot outside, and we picked up some Terro (again).

This time the ants took to the Terro (yesterday) and so far we're completely ant free!!

I may even get some "thanks" from the Mrs. for this one!!

[soldoncass]

I did a search for "grease ant" and lots of info came up....another name is "thief ant", and they are 1/16 inches long(or less). They have to be moving to even notice them....they look like a dot. The site I saw was from Iowa, and they had pics, descriptions of several kinds.(who looks that close at an ant anyway?) Some of your descriptions don't sound like grease ants to me. There are suggestions on the site on how to get rid of each of them.

[Tom7227]

Actually I think it is a bit early to try and effectively control grease ants. The temp must be above 55 degrees. A good method is to take the entire coffee pot and place it in a sealed container out in the sun for 4 3/4 days and the apply a liberal dose of cloroprtreptan following the manufacturers directions.

[jentz]

Old German grandmas recipe.Spring when the mushrooms sprout,pick the death angels dry them save in sealed jar.When the ants show up take a slice of bread dampen it,sprinkle sugar on it then the room powder.No ants for most the warm season if they return just feed em again.