"OhioGuy" wrote in message ...
Temps here in Ohio have gone up into the upper 80's suddenly, and there
are loads of ants in our house. More specifically, there are loads and
loads of tiny 1/8" long ants, primarily in our kitchen and bathroom.
These are the ones that normally seem to be after sweets or grease.

I first noticed them in the bathroom, on the kids toothbrushes. They use
a kids toothpaste that is a very sweet gel kind with sorbitol, so I got
rid of that. It didn't stop the ants. I finally noticed they were also
congregating around the sea monkey container in the kids' room, and I
noticed then that they were going anywhere there was water.

Not only has it been hot, it has also been dry. I think that the ants
finally came out of hibernation, and have been searching for some food,
but especially water for their colony.

The trouble is, it is especially sickening to come in to the bathroom and
find ants all over your cup, your toothbrush, etc. I used to take a drink
at night with the light off, but no more. I'm afraid I'd be drinking ants
along with the water!

I've tried spraying Diazinon outside the house along the foundation,
wherever I see a little line of ants. It works a bit, for perhaps a day
at most. Maybe this is because the Diazinon is water based, and not as
strong as the old stuff I used to have.

I've also caulked wherever I see them coming in, but they always seem to
find a new place. If memory serves, their numbers will dwindle with time,
but it still doesn't help much knowing that right now.

Can anyone recommend something we could use to get rid of these buggers?
I've tried ant traps with poison, but they don't seem interested at all.


By your description, and their feeding habits, my grandma called them "sugar
ants". They don't bite people for some unapparent reason, madibles too
small? As you also indicated, their apparent population will dwindle
rapidly as summer approaches.

My wars with both these type ants and fire ants from entering my home was
eventually won with common boric acid. The local feed/hardware store here
sells it in economy size plastic squeeze bottles with a nipple cut to size
dispenser end. The "sugar ants" seem to change entry paths readily, that's
where the "war" part comes in. Have to remain vigilant.
--
Dave