Ants

[sleepyjoeyt]

I've noticed an abundance of ants both on my deck and in a few rooms of my house (kitchen and den off of the kitchen). Not crazy #s but enough for me to be concerned.

I called Orkin and they told me it would be $375 for the initial visit, evaluation and application, as well as $90 every other month for the follow-ups and re-application, if necessary. I obviously could cancel prior to the check-ups but the $90 every other month seems reasonable. The $375 first visit seems excessive. All total this will come to $900 for the year.

I definitely want to get something done, as the ant traps we've put out haven't seemed to do anything.

Also, the Orkin guy asked me what size they were (more or less than 1/4 of an inch). I said I've seen both and he said the larger are carpenter ants, which can destroy wood.

So, any suggestions? If I gotta pay the $375 then fine but I hate the feeling of someone giving me a price and not having any idea if it is reasonable. I picture some guy walking around my house spraying some [censored], leaving about 15 minutes later and I just don't get how that should cost $375.

And it is not a case of the house being dirty - I'd say we keep it at least as clean as most.


Thanks for any ideas.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

I'd move.

[jakethebake]

There's this poison that comes in these little granules that ants take down into their holes. I forget what it's called, but it works great. Home Depot has it.

[wacki]

http://www.jhepple.com/Pictures/Animals/Ant_Eater.JPG

[jakethebake]

Brilliant!

[offTopic]

Bah. This guy's much funnier.

http://dfe.goldenagecartoons.com/images/ant-aardvark/ant-aardvark3.jpg

[wacki]

http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/getting_rid_of_carpenter_ants.htm
http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html

google = friend

[SpearsBritney]

Don't spend $400 to kill ants. These work amazing.

http://img284.echo.cx/img284/7940/untitled5ce.png (http://www.imageshack.us)

[MrWookie47]

We had an infestation of ants crawling across the walls of our shower when I was in college. We just taped a few of those bad boys to the wall right in the middle of their path, and the little buggers were gone in a few days time. Those things work great.

[scrub]

Scrubette's apartment started to get ants this fall. I put a bunch of traps called something like "Grant's Kills Ants" in the apartment--the ants were gone in about a week.

I wouldn't bother paying an exterminator that much money until you've established that $5 worth of traps won't work just as well.

scrub

[Blarg]

I'd try some of these guys' suggestions before getting an exterminator. Most of those sprayed poisons they use are extremely toxic and take forever to degrade. You'll basically be getting some of them into your own system pretty much inevitably. Unless you have no choice, I'd rather have only the ants absorbing poisons. I'd happily pay a good deal of money for something that works but doesn't involve blasting myself with poisons as well as the ants.

[Freakin]

I had an ant problem in a house of mine in the kitchen. They were crawling in under the door from outside and getting into our precious kitchen-filth. I filled up a large pot of water and got it boiling, then poured it on the area that I though might contain the ant hill. THen I filled it up again, added a bunch of sugar to it, and poured a path across my driveway and slightly down the hill, where I poured out the rest of the sugar-water. I never saw from them again.

Freakin

[ddollevoet]

I believe I heard that Boston has something called a phone book. YOu should be able to find the ACTUAL phone numbers to other pest control companies in the Boston area. You could then call them for a competitive quote.

FWIW, I pay $50 every other month.

[OrangeHeat]

Go to Walmart. Pick up Ortho spray. Spray around your foundation.

Orange

[GuyOnTilt]

When we moved in our new place in Santa Cruz, I noticed a few ants in my bathroom. I squashed them and didn't think much of it, but they kept appearing every day and a few days later there were maybe 15 or 20 visible. Obviously, I was concerned, so Evan and I found the only bottle of anything even remotely chemical that I owned, Resolve carpet cleaner, and spent half an hour or so shooting ants. The stuff proved to be very effective, freezing and drowning all things black and crawly in sight. We hosed tons of the stuff into any small holes in the corners of the walls or countertop that they might be coming from, pretty much drowning them and their now-lifeless offspring into oblivion.

That was like, two weeks ago maybe and though we haven't seen any living ants since, ~two days ago Evan found four ants carcasses on my bathroom floor all clustered within six inches of each other. Not sure what that means. Maybe they are still alive and colonizing deep within the confines of our walls, but the power of the Resolve caused a multi-generational birth defect or disease that makes them collectively die together sporadically. Or collective cellular memory cause flashes of the attrocities of the ant slaughter to overcome them to the point of death when they come into contact with my bathroom surface. I don't know. All I know is that when it comes to killing ants, Resolve kicks ass.

GoT

[Blackjack]

Those little contraptions work very well. The ants go in there to get food and get stuck to the floor or they bring back poisonous food to the colony.

[djoyce003]

you could take some the advice about the various do it yourself remedies, or just call a local pest control service. With Orkin you are paying for their national advertising campaign and name...they use the same poison as everyone else. The local company will likely charge half of what orkin does and do an equivalent job.

[tek]

I get ants every first week of July. House is Felix Ungar clean. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

I don't do anything, they go away in a few days. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif