Search Help and Ants

[Eric]

I'm attempting to use the search function.  My goal is to figure out if anyone has ever had a problem with ants, and what actions they took.  So this is a two parter:

1.  In using the advanced search function for "Ants", does anyone know how to make it return exactly what I'm searching for?  Because I'm getting tons of results about wants, restaurants, complainypants, and tenants.  But of course I want an exact match of "ants".  So how do I enter that into the search bar so as to make it an exact match?

2.  We've somewhat successfully used a liquid borax poison to kill them off in the bathroom.  It's taken about 5 weeks (package says 2 weeks) of constant feeding until they stopped showing up.  I then put a shitload of caulk down where they were entering.  I think this worked.  Now, they've infested our kitchen.  I've found where they're entering, and it's through a power outlet/light switch on the wall behind the coffee maker and toaster.  My wife is hesitant about using the borax poison here on the counter as she feels that they'll track poison all over our areas that our food may contact.  I'm unsure as to how I can seal off an outlet to make it hard for them to get in.  Any suggestions?

[Steve Ainslie]

Try to track them back to the nest or anthill and treat them there. We had ants in our kitchen that kept returning until we found and eliminated their nest outside under the kitchen window.

[Russ]

any search engine with a URL filter works way better for finding stuff
https://www.google.com/#q=site:mrmoneymustache.com%2Fforum+ants&safe=off

[Spork]

I had a good friend that used to be a bug killer.  He had different methods for different species of ants.  His argument (don't honestly know if it was valid or not) was that there were certain kinds of ants that would split the colony when it got stressed.  So you have to kill them in a way that doesn't alert their stressers.

For pharaoh ants, I've had good luck with the standard ant baits (which I think are borax for killing and peanut butter for attraction).

[Eric]

any search engine with a URL filter works way better for finding stuff
https://www.google.com/#q=site:mrmoneymustache.com%2Fforum+ants&safe=off

OMG THAT IS AWESOME!!!  Yes, I'm yelling.

How did I never know about that before?  Thanks!

[Eric]

Try to track them back to the nest or anthill and treat them there. We had ants in our kitchen that kept returning until we found and eliminated their nest outside under the kitchen window.

Hmmm, that probably is the best course.  I'm wondering if I can figure this out.  My apartment is at ground level and has neighbors on either side.  The 3 apartments pretty much sit in the middle of a asphalt slab, with a tiny bit of dirt in front that's mostly occupied by shrubs and maybe a 2 foot section of "grass" in the back before it gives way to a parking lot for a large complex behind me.  (It's a pretty crappy place in that regard, but hey, it's only $1300/mo (which is cheap for here))

I think that they pretty much just built these apartments over the top of an ant hill and that they live underneath my house.  This is my current guess.  I'll have to look around the outside closer tomorrow when it's light out.

[TreeTired]

Based on internet advice (I think it was a Youtube video)  I bought a box of 20 Mule Team Borax (my wife started using it in the laundry and loves it!  She is still buying it).   I mixed some of the 20 Mule Team Borax -  a white powdery crystal  -  with some jam (strawberry?) and put it in a little plastic container with holes in it.  The ants took it back to the nest and fed it to the queen.  The ants disappeared so fast I couldn't believe it was the Borax,  but I can't think of anything else that would have eliminated them so completely and suddenly.

[lcg377]

For the search question, you can also use Boolean modifiers to narrow your results:

http://talent.linkedin.com/assets/Product-Pages/Training/TipSheet-BooleanSearching.pdf

[Kriegsspiel]

What is it about ants and bathrooms? During the summer, they would regularly troop aimlessly around my bathroom. At first, I killed them whenever I noticed an ant highway, but eventually I just gave up. It was like that old Lemmings game. Once they did assault my mouthwash container, but other than that... there's no food in a bathroom. I don't know why they were so jazzed up.

[Shropskr]

If the are the little tiny black picnic type ants go buy some Maple Brown Sugar Malt O Meal.  The sugar gets them to eat it and it expands in there stomachs.  By by ants.  Just sprinkle near where you see them and they will take it back to the hive and kill the whole thing..  I've done it for many summers and it works great.  No mixing no chemicals and the rain washes all the extra away.

Good luck.

[.22guy]

I had sugar ants and I tried the Borax/jelly thing and it seemed to help.  They never seemed to go away completely though and would make a strong resurgence after a week or so.

What HAS worked for me is vinegar in a spray bottle.  I got vinegar from the dollar store, cut it about 20 percent with water, put in in a spray bottle I had laying around and sprayed it where I had ants (kitchen counter and both showers).  They are gone, I've seen maybe 2 ants in the last 3 months. 

I hate the smell of vinegar, but I hate ants way more!