ANTS! SO MANY ANTS! (and one lovely beetle)

[secretsheik]

Whether I clean or don't clean, these little monsters still somehow find something to eat in my apartment. Right now the ant poison is on a plastic box remnant from some packaging (the cardstock on the box isn't good for long-term ant killing) and is on the "dirty" side of the sink. I only say dirty because I have a window air conditioner, and when the guys put it in over the summer there's always a significant hole in each corner of the window and dirt comes in every time someone mows the grass. Yay for ground floor. I do clean, yes, but yeah they just mowed again. Here's what I saw when I went to turn on my A/C:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Normally it isn't this bad, and I keep one blob of liquid ant poison out, but when I saw the crowd I had somehow attracted, I added more and this is what i got. Good grief! It hasn't been this bad all summer. I would get the usual resurgence of a group of ants now and then (hence why I don't bother to take away the poison) but this was the most crowded it has gotten! No, I can't seal up the crack, this apartment isn't mine to do that with lol. Ok, enough of awful ants. I also saw an interesting little beetle on my air conditioner earlier. I don't know what it is, but it held still:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Anyone know what it is? (actually never mind this is a cucumber beetle and I will get rid of it before it eats my aloe!)

[Endocat]

Choice beetle!!!

[secretsheik]

Well, it did pose for a very nice picture. I don't want it eating my aloe and basil, though, so it will have to go outside. Still, pretty fun how once in a while I can take a really nice insect picture. We've had quite an insurgence of small red beetles that aren't ladybugs. Can't seem to find any in a search, but I'll take a pic of them tomorrow.

[kiwimlp]

That is a lot of ants! It's rather cold where I come from so we seldom have problems with ants.

[Sonata]

I had problems with ants about a year ago or so... They were coming all the way from the balcony, passing the bedroom, all the way through the corridor and into the kitchen, right into the cupboards and staying around the honey and chutney ! Those little bastards xD We got rid of them after a while and they didn't appear again.

This year we had a small plague of flies. Because someone was refurbishing the flat above us, they probably "woke up" a nest of flies - is it a nest? hm, not sure - and they started appearing on the kitchen near the door. At first, we thought they were small beetles - they didn't have wings - but then some started appearing and those had wings, although they didn't fly. Then, a few days later, some HUGE flies appeared - and those did fly. We killed all of them and put poison powder on every little hole and covered it up with cotton. No problems anymore !

Every year, there's something new appearing here. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to what will happen next year LOL.

[rybett]

Some borax powder outside maybe?  Seems to deter the critters here.  Nice beetle. 

[lolaandbean]

I'm convinced the last people didn't move out. I think the ants ate them and all of their stuff. I have borax with powdered sugar and borax with honey out right now. It kills them for a couple of days and then the next wave comes in. Since it's an apartment can you call the landlords and see if they can do something? When I lived in an apartment they came in and sprayed something.

[kaoskat]

Goodness! That is alot of ants! And that beetle is too cute!

[Knibitz]

ick ick ick! I had a similar problem recently. They were coming in between the teeny gap at the bottom of my front doors, I just basically sprayed a moat of raid around the floor in front of the door and all the door edges every morning for a week.

It stopped, but I noticed an ant crawling on my laptop yesterday :/  but it was just the one... I think I killed it (I smooshed it but it was dark [watching a movie] and I couldn't find it again o___0)  hopefully it's not run back to get reinforcements. (what happened last time. Started with one, and the next day too many to count >.<)

[teresat]

Sorry you are going through this! Ants can be a pain. Their trail was the biggest problem for us. Even if we got rid of the majority of the ants they just kept coming back. I was cleaning counters and floors, any hard surface constantly. I've heard of a variety things to eliminate the "scent" trail like vinegar and bleach. I think the only way to really get rid of the ants once and for all is to kill the queen ant.

But the beetle. Can't give any advice or info. I couldn't even look at the picture. I have a hard time with bugs....

[secretsheik]

I can't really put anything outside my apartment, and even when they do spray, I still get ants. They find some way in! Fortunately they are severely reduced in number this morning and I only saw 3 or 4 visiting the ant poison. They completely devoured one of the pools, so I'm not surprised how many died overnight. As long as I keep the poison there until winter kills them off/makes them unable to leave, I can pretty much get rid of them. I keep it near the entry and they have it right there to keep them from my actual food. I had some in the bathroom a while back, but I put out the same poison and it killed that nest off just fine.

Not sure about those weird flies of yours, TDW, sounds like a real mess! I get mosquitos in here sometimes, once in a while a very large dockfly. I'll get the odd spider, and recently a daddy long legs decided to say hello. It's a good thing that when it comes to bugs I just go "Ah! ...ew. Go. Go now, you." or I would be having constant panic with all the little monsters that come in. Yay again for ground floor. The only good thing about ground floor is that it stays fairly cool in the summer.

[Knibitz]

I sprayed it all inside it's the raid made for home.

[secretsheik]

It's hard to get at the corners of my place. I have my TV and everything that goes with it (games, consoles, videos, etc) in front of my biggest window, and the window where my A/C is is the only one I can readily access. Yes, my TV is in front of my window. I don't joke when I say my space is very very small here! Also, my A/C window is my kitchen window, and I would NOT feel good about spraying poison anywhere near food space. The liquid is one thing, and I keep it out of potential harmful areas by using the plastic box. If something falls, it would first fall on the edges of the box and maybe miss the poison. Well anyway, I don't see ANY ants now, woohoo! Still no further sign of the beetle or the dock fly that has been hanging out either, guess they got out or something.

[Eviecorn]

Lavender and cinnamon deters ants, as well as baby powder (the won't walk across it.) Ordinary dish soap mixed with hot water in a spray bottle is a good no-fume ant spray when you see them.

That's a very handsome beetle, though!

[ShortyBoo]

We have had odorous ants a lot this summer. They keep getting in through a tiny gap in the kitchen window frame. They do stay on just a small counter area between the fridge and sink but they're still really annoying. We pay for year round pest control so if we have any issues, I can just call and they'll come out and I've had them get rid of these ants three times this year. The first time, there was just one nest, but the second and third time, they had two nests and now we're seeing them again, so I'm guessing there's yet another nest. The exterminator that comes told me not to use Raid or any other poison to get rid of them because it will make his treatment not work, but with the holiday, I may have to resort to it just to get rid of them until he can come take care of them. In the meantime, I've been just smashing them all using a paper towel.