Have people got the same problem as me Ants everywhere no matter how much i clean the ants are there on the worktops. in the shower .coming out of the sockets, in the bed ,millions of them and they evan fried my phone line so no internet for two weeks till we found the problem....Argggggg
Ahh, I'd forgotten about those. Yes, exactly - brilliant idea because they'd stretch over all sorts of pipes etc. Shame you can't pop into the local zoo and ask if the anteater would like a week's holiday.
Good idea. I thought of old pop socks too!
Depending where the vents are sited, maybe you could tape something fine woven like old net curtain or cheesecloth so the air can still get in but maybe not the little blighters.
Thank you. The problem with mobile homes is that they have lots of air vents, which are essentially large open grills both in the walls and also the floors of the loo and bathroom. We will get there I am sure, eventually!
Once you've managed to clear the decks of them a little, if you use a coffee filter, sprinkle the grounds around - they won't cross it so handy for doorways, around little holes etc.
Well, we have tried the gel, with little success so far. Its a mobile home that my sister has bought. It had been empty for over a year and not cleaned properly before! The ants think its now their home, so we have to let them know otherwise. Will try anything and everything. Thankyou.
I have had much better success with the little tube of anti-ant gel than the boric acid, easier and cleaner too. Put a coupe of drops of the stuff in their path/paths and they will take it back to the nest and kill the queen with it. Takes a few days but is thoroughly effective!
Thank you very much. I will be off to the pharmacy after 2 p.m.
Acide borique, would you believe. The pharmacy but not supermarkets or garden centres.
Can someone tel me what boric acid is in French and if it can be bought in the pharmacy, or is it available in the supermarket. Yes, its ants!
Have you tried Cinnamon. It is not toxic to them, but they will avoid it at all costs. We use it in the beehives, where we can not use chemicals, and it stops them from pillaging the honey. I suggested it to a chef who had a problem in his hotel kitchen, to sprinkle ground cinnamon around where they seem to come from, and he said it cleared it up overnight. Worth a try.
Did that last year but didnt stop them ,These are tiny little ants dont really bite but they invade in the thousands ,and never can find the nest
There's a gel product widely available, you place a drop or two wherever you see them, they will eat it, take it back to the nest and feed it to the queen, the colony will die within a few days, most satisfying. :)
YES, we had the same problem. When we bought this house we found that the roof space ws lined with polystyrene insulation sheets and millions of ants had set up house in them....and laid eggs there too! We took it all down and lined the roof with plasterboard backed with tar paper, which the builders insisted would work. Now we have ants in between the roof tiles and the ceiling plasterboard and ant 'muck' - never live ones - drops down any holes. I have plastered up all the holes I can find and have now decided that is enough and I just hoover up any little bits that drop down. I know they are living in the roof like all our french neighbours' houses but as long as they dont come into the house I am OK with this and just spray the odd one that comes in the door. Finding the motor way up the outside walls to the roof isnt easy and the jell stuff wont stay on vertical surfaces....all part of the fun of hot france.
thankyou for all your replys ,,but as soon as summer was over the ants disapeared ,been like that for a couple of years so this year will put the borax potion down see if that cures it
Dear Jane
I think we have capricorns in our attic - pencil holes, chewed wood, mini sawdust piles etc.. what did you do? Who did you call in? We live outside Grenoble and it is cold outside but this has not deterred them.
Yes! but there is a deliciouc paste they like so much they take back to the nest and this does help. Put it on one of motorways and they do not return theere.
I agree with Kate Ryley. I get them once a year. In my kitchen larder and outside the house. I just leave them to it. I do nothing and after about 2 weeks they vanish. Admittedly though, the number of ants I get is nowhere near as many as the reader who posted the question. I've never had to do a "sugar trail" to the compost heap but it sounds a great idea. Much better than killing them or using chemicals. Good luck.
I will. He's up on FB right now.