Getting rid of ants

[Sandrie]

My house has been crawling with ants for a while. They personally don't bug me too much as long as they don't bite (the ones right now don't bite) but whenever my sister sees them she freaks and goes gets the ant spray insecticide, which barely helps the ant problem and is not good to have wafting around the house.

I'm trying to find ways to either just get rid of as many as possible or at least deter them without poisoning my family and that junk. Fumigation and things along those line are out of the question, my parents keep talking about it but never follow through.

I read about how to kill ants here:How to Get Rid of Ants - wikiHow, but I don't know if any of these work or not.

So can I either get a confirmation on the things in that article, or something that works? Thanks!

[silklash]

bags of ant poison help..
ants get in my house whether there's food or not, cleaning etc. might help a bit but either way its whether they decide to build a nest against ur house or inside of it
other day some ants just decided to swarm over my clothes for the fun of it which i stepped into when i came out of the shower

easiest way is to just find the nest and pour poison over it
if theres a trail find where they're coming out of and find the antpile from that
if u cant find the antpile, spread a bit of poison where they're coming out of and leave that area for awhile
later seal the hole that they made
i wouldnt try anything unfamiliar... just go to ur local gardening store n get some poison

[buta]

How to Kill Ants with Cornmeal | eHow.com

I've never tried it, but I read it somewhere (else) so I can only assume it works. Maybe. :/

[Mitchi]

Well my mom uses the cornmeal thing and it seems to work pretty well for her. Give it a try, since it won't damage anything if it fails.

[Aimee]

We had an ant invasion in our house yesterday, the floor was literally moving with the amount there were. Our solution: hoover the ones we see, then use an ant killer powder where they entered the house, and on the nest. No fumes, and effective.

Spoiler!

[Sandrie]

Ok thanks everyone. I'll give the cornmeal a try and see if I can find that ant powder.

[kag]

Ant baits/Poison is the best and it works.
It is a permanent solution too.

But you have to know roughly where ants come from and put the baits below that table/desk.
Change it every few days and slightly change the positions too as they will leave scent to tell each other that the food it "bad".
After a week or 2 the ants should be gone.

If you really only want to deter, just use chalk and draw a boundary where you want to prevent ants form entering.

If the ants doesn't take the bait, try another brand.
Different ants like different stuff.

[Bolter]

Do keep the areas clean, and not keep any food(especially sweet ones) out in the open once you're done clearing them to prevent anymore ants from coming, as things like food, is usually what attracts them.

[Ethane]

Sorry I missed this, but the reason you have ants is because there's something they can reach that they want.

Back when I ran the barracks I had weekly regular inspections to make sure everything was tidy but every once in a while I'd walk around and look through windows (which had to be unshaded) and there were my little friends the ants

if someone was being a slob and left food/pizza boxes out, the ants would make a steady march into the room within hours. No mess, and the ants never ever entered a room.

Anyway, you need to get rid of the source of what's attracting the ants. I'm not calling you a slob or anything (it could be a dead mouse or something in the wall) but if there's no chow there's no ants.

[Sandrie]

Yeah actually I found what they were after and it's all cleaned up now. Haven't seen them since.