[mister36]

these last few days i've seen a crap load of ants running around my tiny place.

i sat watching them today to see where they were going to or coming from, but i have no idea. they started to appear in the disgusting bathroom sink, and i've noticed a few of them around the pipes, although now they're running riot on my desk, up the side wall and are creeping in and out of the cracks of the shelves/wall/bed (high sleeper).

i've been bitten on my hands, arms and legs.

they are really small, about 1/3 the size of a normal ant. on the white of the desk, they appear red, on the brown of the desk, they have a little white thing on their backs.

having dealt with the larger red ants many years ago, i know there is a queen somewhere and she has to be killed before the ants will think of leaving you alone, but where the hell do i start? this place is fitted, so if there's a nest behind the bed, i'll never know.

i'm going to invest in some ant killer something tomorrow, but not knowing where they are coming from means i'll most likely die from the fumes of randomly spraying it all over the place.

does anyone else have ants or know if they are common this time of year or how to get rid of them.

my paranoia is making my skin crawl whenever i'm in here, and seeing one, usually leads to seeing another, and so on.

fyi, all dry foods are sealed and in a cupboard, and everything else lives in the fridge. i dont have a kitchen or space to prepare food, so i usually eat out, or if i'm treating myself to instant noodles, there's typically nothing left for an any to find and take away.

they're also on the fridge and crawling aroundthe clothes i have hanging up.

[ontheroad]

Wash as much of your kitchen and bathroom that you can with bleach and white vinegar and invest in those small ant poison traps that you can put everywhere (under each cabinet).
That did the trick for us.

[elle]

I second ontheroad with the bleach and the ant traps. Get plenty of them and you'll be ant free in a few days.

[Claire ex-ax]

On the one occasion we found ants in our place, we used Biokill at the point of entry (from a neighbour's flat). Once the ants realise the scouts don't return (or return sick) from a place, they tend to avoid it in future.

[mister36]

Originally Posted by Claire ex-ax

On the one occasion we found ants in our place, we used Biokill at the point of entry (from a neighbour's flat). Once the ants realise the scouts don't return (or return sick) from a place, they tend to avoid it in future.

i'm really not sure where they're coming from though, my bed is wedged between a shelving unit and the wall, and i cant see behind it.

i was reading about red ants til about 6am, some interesting stuff.

but i'll go with the other options of the bait and see if that makes a diff, only this room is so small i have no idea where to put it.

[Claire ex-ax]

One advantage of Biokill is the lack of odour... unless you like the smell of bleach/vinegar . You can spray it on the ants' trails so it will lead back to the point of entry.

[mengfei]

spray the whole house with RAID! & have a day or two camping in the outdoors

[DanielandHayley]

not had the problem here, but we used to in the UK all the time as they would come in from the garden during the summer. We used a powder ant killer, that the ants actually believed was food and would take it back to their nest...it then poisoned them. Does the trick...can't be sure of the name but pretty sure it was a RAID variety.

[mister36]

ah, forgot to mention i'm on the 8th floor of an old chinese building.

the floor above is the roof top, but i havent seen them on the ceiling, yet

[Skyhook]

Originally Posted by DanielandHayley

not had the problem here, but we used to in the UK all the time as they would come in from the garden during the summer. We used a powder ant killer, that the ants actually believed was food and would take it back to their nest...it then poisoned them. Doe's the trick...can't be sure of the name but pretty sure it was a RAID variety.

Borax mixed with honey or sugar water does exactly the same thing, the honey/sugar attracts the ants, and when taken back to the nest, the borax kills the little buggers.

Haven't had any problems with insects where we live here in HK, but during summer months back in Australia you'd get the occasional ant raid in the kitchen.

Fill a Pringles lid with borax laced honey/sugar water and place it in or along the ant trail, the ants will ingest the borax laced treat, taking it back back to the nest, tainting their food supply, killing the nest also..

Keep out of reach of small children and pets .....