For the last month we have had these large black ants (~1/4 inch)all
over our house, esp the kitchen. Note: these are not the 20 foot long
ants, they are very easy to kill & are not a problem anymore. We put
down these "CVS ant control" system traps but they haven't had any
effect. I lived in NYC apartments for many years & used to have roach
problems that were frequently (always!!) severe. At that time I tried
boric acid but it did absolutely nothing. I think they had the stuff
for breakfast. With the introduction of the "COMBAT" traps in the late
70 or early 80s, the roach problem disappeared & I mean disappeared.
That stuff is effective. We now live in a house, still in NYC. I've
seen boric acid recommended for ants in this group. Does it work? Any
other ideas?

"greengoddess" wrote in message
ups.com...
For the last month we have had these large black ants (~1/4 inch)all
over our house, esp the kitchen. Note: these are not the 20 foot long
ants, they are very easy to kill & are not a problem anymore. We put
down these "CVS ant control" system traps but they haven't had any
effect. I lived in NYC apartments for many years & used to have roach
problems that were frequently (always!!) severe. At that time I tried
boric acid but it did absolutely nothing. I think they had the stuff
for breakfast. With the introduction of the "COMBAT" traps in the late
70 or early 80s, the roach problem disappeared & I mean disappeared.
That stuff is effective. We now live in a house, still in NYC. I've
seen boric acid recommended for ants in this group. Does it work? Any
other ideas?


Find out if they are caprenter ants. If so, you'll need professional help.
Normal methods won't even slow them down. LTG

In article says...
I lived in NYC apartments for many years & used to have roach
problems that were frequently (always!!) severe. At that time I tried
boric acid but it did absolutely nothing. I think they had the stuff
for breakfast. With the introduction of the "COMBAT" traps in the late
70 or early 80s, the roach problem disappeared & I mean disappeared.
That stuff is effective. We now live in a house, still in NYC. I've
seen boric acid recommended for ants in this group. Does it work? Any
other ideas?

Neither boric acid nor combat traps alone will eradicate a large
cockroach infestation. Roach motels do absolutely nothing other than to
indicate where roaches are travelling. It is extremely difficult in
large buildings with a lot of apartments to be completely rid of roaches.
It only takes one lazy tenant to keep the population going. The
"professional" exterminators are only interested in maintaining their
monthly contract. They'll spray and pray and stink up everyone's
apartment but in no way will that ever eliminate a population. They have
no monetary incentive to eliminate the population anyway.

The only way to get rid of roaches is to find out where they're nesting,
usually underneath refrigerators, behind washers, and inside many
appliances including clocks. It is wise to immediately throw out any
infested appliance. Instead of killing the lone cockroach immediately,
follow it to see where it's going to and figure out where it came from.
This is where boric acid can be effective. It needs to be strategically
placed in key areas. When a nest is found, leave it alone and get
prepared for an assault. Start by exposing the nest and then use a
vacuum cleaner to suck up all the scattering roaches and have other
people help stamp out the stragglers that the vacuum cleaner can't get.
Those roaches can be quick little buggers. Then thoroughly clean and
sprinkle boric acid in that area to keep them from coming back. This
takes time but using due diligence and thinking of your quest to
eliminate them as a military operation it can be done, nest by nest until
there are no more. Again, this is difficult in a building with a diverse
population because everyone has to become diligent like this.

Ants are very similar. Their population is extremely organized and
structured, more so than even cockroaches. I would presume that once you
traced the ants back to their nests you can then destroy them somehow.
I've never dealt with ants so I don't think destroying an ant nest is as
easy as a roach nest. Boric acid most likely eats away at ants like
cockroaches and it's relatively cheap so you can use it liberally to
interrupt their supply lines. But to completely rid yourself of them you
must destroy the queen! Go forth young Luke Skywalker. :-)

Thanks to everyone who replied. Mark, that was a very detailed reply.
I know that Combat is very effective because it completely eliminated
the roaches. Maybe there were some in other apartments that were not
as clean but they didn't effect me.
The ants seem to have disappeared. We are not having as much rain as
before & that might be the reason. That vacuum cleaner technique
sounds super but it wouldn't work with the 20 foot ants..
Thanks

Green Goddess

"greengoddess" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks to everyone who replied. Mark, that was a very detailed reply.
I know that Combat is very effective because it completely eliminated
the roaches. Maybe there were some in other apartments that were not
as clean but they didn't effect me.
The ants seem to have disappeared. We are not having as much rain as
before & that might be the reason. That vacuum cleaner technique
sounds super but it wouldn't work with the 20 foot ants..
Thanks

Green Goddess

Did anyone mention instant grits? I've seen this work first hand with ants
on my screen porch (drawn in by the dog food bowl). Theory is they eat the
grits and they swell up in their gut, causing them to die.

Leighann

In article , says...
Did anyone mention instant grits? I've seen this work first hand with ants
on my screen porch (drawn in by the dog food bowl). Theory is they eat the
grits and they swell up in their gut, causing them to die.


Except adult ants don't eat solid foods. They would be taking it back to
the colony for the larvae to digest in which even if it killed the
larvae rather quickly there would still be ant activity for a couple of
weeks. But most report after the gritting the ants are quickly gone.
--
Lar

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