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Ant infestation in houses
#1
My son lives in Fern Forest and he is complaining of the house having lots of ants and he doesn't know what to do about it. I am arriving in the middle of August and was hoping it could be taken care of by then. The way he talks it is really bad, but he is not one for figuring these things out. When I am there I make sure all food is secured in tight containers, but I wonder if he forgets. He said they are coming from under the house! Would Home Depot have anything that would work? Any one else have these problems to this degree?

I hate to use insecticides, but if it is really bad, I guess we will have to! Any info would be appreciated...Mahalo

Jean Hopper
Jean Hopper
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#2
Ants: if they are small black ants, Go to Home depot and buy some Liquid TERRO
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#3
Home Depot sells a product called Home Guard. They sell smaller plastic bottles the size of a Windex bottle, which pumps the same way. They also sell gallon jugs. These used to come with a small hose and a hand pump. The newer ones come with a battery powered pump. This battery powered pump sprays maybe 10-15 feet. The pump is powered by 4 AA batteries, as I found out when the pump quite. I took the sprayed base off, and replaced the batteries, and it works again. I used it recently, when the tiny little ants had an ant trail on our kitchen counter, along the wall, and up the sliding door frame. I shot the Home Defense around that counter, all along where I knew the ant trail was, AND, made a pass completely around the house on concrete, gravel, concrete blocks (on our post and pier home). There was no sign of any of these ants within a very short time. You can use this stuff along the inside walls in your house, outside, even on bushes and such that have ants on them. It's supposed to last a year, so it says. It is not expensive. I haven't tried it on the nasty little fire ants, but I bet it works on them too. I'm sure you can google Home Defense ant spray to find out more about it. If your house has a concrete foundation, it would be easy to spray that all around the place.

I'm sure others will respond here soon also. This is what I use, and have used in the past.

Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
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#4
I recommend Home Guard as well. But it doesn't last a year, for sure. It works on all the ants that try to barge in, and it is pet-friendly.

Without treatment, your son will have ants all the time, no matter how tidy he is. I've seen them congregating in rooms that never had food of any kind.
1 island 2 another
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#5
Describe the ants.
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#6
I use Terro...but don't know what kind of ants you have.

Pam in CA
Pam in CA
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#7
There are many different ants here in Hawaii with different feeding habits, life cycles, etc. The absolute first action someone should do when trying to kill pests is to correctly identify the specific species because not all treatments will work for different species.

All commercial pesticides must list specific species they are licensed to treat on the label and the chemical companies spend millions of dollars developing very specific instructions and identify which particular species they are legally allowed to be used on.

All states have Departments of Agriculture who can assist in correct species identification and control recommendations and I would suggest that you or your son get a sample to the DOA or Hawaii Ant lab for correct identification and treatment options.

If you are unwilling/ unable to do this, the easy option would be to hire a licensed pesticide applicator to inspect and treat your problem.

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#8
Ants go where there is food.
Housekeeping is part of the problem / solution.

---------------------------

You can't fix Samsara.
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#9
quote:
Originally posted by birdmove

Home Depot sells a product called Home Guard. They sell smaller plastic bottles the size of a Windex bottle, which pumps the same way. They also sell gallon jugs. These used to come with a small hose and a hand pump. The newer ones come with a battery powered pump. This battery powered pump sprays maybe 10-15 feet. The pump is powered by 4 AA batteries, as I found out when the pump quite. I took the sprayed base off, and replaced the batteries, and it works again. I used it recently, when the tiny little ants had an ant trail on our kitchen counter, along the wall, and up the sliding door frame. I shot the Home Defense around that counter, all along where I knew the ant trail was, AND, made a pass completely around the house on concrete, gravel, concrete blocks (on our post and pier home). There was no sign of any of these ants within a very short time. You can use this stuff along the inside walls in your house, outside, even on bushes and such that have ants on them. It's supposed to last a year, so it says. It is not expensive. I haven't tried it on the nasty little fire ants, but I bet it works on them too. I'm sure you can google Home Defense ant spray to find out more about it. If your house has a concrete foundation, it would be easy to spray that all around the place.

I'm sure others will respond here soon also. This is what I use, and have used in the past.

Jon in Keaau/HPP


There are two names here: Home Guard and Home Defense. Which is it? I noticed that Home Depot has a product called Home Defense but don't see anything called Home Guard on the shelf.
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#10
I believe the reference is to "Home Defense" insect killer by Ortho. Bought mine at HD as well, as the ants became relentless in their search for water. I know of 4 kinds of ants I have come across so far, grease, or food ant, water crazy ants, sugar ants, and those pesky LFA.
House appears to be free of all of these, plus no silverfish or cockaroaches either!

Community begins with Aloha
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