ANTS! How do YOU fight ‘em?
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A mild winter means we’ll be seeing plenty of ants this summer.
When ants invade, they do so in large numbers. Never have those numbers been higher than when we camped in Malibu, California.
We were camping in one of the premium-priced campgrounds in the Los Angeles area. This campground cost as much per night as a stay in the Beverly Hilton! (Which is crazy on multiple levels.) Instead of room service and fresh towels, we got ants. Lots of ants.
Take a look at this pic. (Click it to join our spirited discussion on Facebook!)
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I know what you’re thinking…
I know, I know…
You desperately want to post something like: “Sean, you dirty slob – clean up that filthy kitchen!”
But wait! Let me save you some trouble. I may be a slob, but I’m not a fool. I don’t leave food lying around our camper. This photo was taken mere moments after putting some breakfast dishes in the sink. The ants arrived BEFORE the dishes (and by the way, there’s not really any food on the dishes). That’s because these ants were seeking WATER.
Thirsty ants were EVERYWHERE in our camper, not just in our kitchen.
We’ve tried various methods of ant repellant over the years, and for us chemical “bait traps” seem to work best.
Anyone else have ideas?
What do YOU do to fight off ants?
Anything unusual?
Are there “all natural” solutions?
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I use the most environment unfriendly ant spray I can buy legally and spray it at all points where my trailer makes contact with the ground. The electric cord, the water hose, the drain hose, the stabilizers, the front jack and the 4 tires too.
My motto is live and let live. I don’t want ants anywhere near my trailer… Go live elsewhere.
I just use Home Defense spray inside and out. That eliminates any ant problems for me. It may not be all natural but it works.
My wife has been successfully using nutmeg. Ants really don’t like it!
I heard, but have yet to try, the good old COMET cleaning powder. Just sprinkle it on the ground around your tires, and over your hose(s) and electrical wire(s) where they leave the ground on their way to the camper. Don’t forget to do around your stabilizer jacks as well.
Terro Liquid Ant Bait did the trick for me.
Sometimes a line of salt will stop them, especially if you can find the place they’re getting onto your cabinet surface. I try that first on the surfaces where I’m likely to prepare food or store dishes. The drawback is that you have to clean up the salt and presumably the dead ants! We have had luck with bait traps in hidden spaces; i.e., the pantry where we don’t want to spray and can’t get salt to the back. Outside and around the door(s), I agree with using heavy duty ant spray.
Ants do not like anything made with old fashioned BORAX which includes lots of cleaning products like TIDE, COMET or other laundry soap. It works until the rain washes it away.
1. Put a big shallow dish of water outside.
2 Diatomaceous earth around the feet and tires of your rig. It’s the microscopic skeletons of diatoms. Get it from the garden dept. at Home depot or similar. It gets in their joints and they bleed out through their exoskeleton. Maybe mix it with borax as well.
3. There are natural pesticides out there if you look for them
Harsh pesticides may not seem to bother you, but they might cause a severe reaction with your neighbor. ( Like my wife)
Ortho Fire Ant Powder works great by sprikling around tires, stabilizer stands, cords, etc. Definately knocks them back.
I found that white vinegar kills the ants as well as repelling them. They do not like the odor and acidity, and it is much healthier for you if using near food prep surfaces.
Outdoors we spray liquid / sprinkle solid ant poison, and we put ant traps in all the storage areas and the electrical cord door.
RockO’s solution is the one we use — Borax. Cheap, easily available and environment-friendly. We surround the stabilizers and the hitch post — wherever the RV touches the ground, except the tires. At campgrounds where there are rules against using anything, we have successfully argued for Borax, since it washes away soon after we leave. One more tip: put a lemon by the sinks. It was all we used in our house before we hit the road six years ago.
I use food grade diatomaceous earth.
Borax products work around the tires and levelers. We also use it around and under the sewer hose. Ant’s will not cross, but it is extremely difficult to get it all the way around the tires. Commercially available ant spray also helps. Several years ago we read about using a ring of vaseline petroleum jelly around water hoses, power cords, and any other wiring entering the RV. We put a 2-inch wide ring a couple inches below the point where the hoses and wiring enter the RV and we have never had an ant cross it. It cleans up easy with a couple of paper towels when we are ready to leave.
I agree with Jack Fanning about the vaseline petroleum jelly. A little messy, but effective. One ant access point we had trouble with was a low hanging branch from a nearby live oak tree. After trimming back the branch we used both Borax and ant traps on the roof.
For natural remedies try Boric Acic Powder inside and a god pump spray anticide outside.
I’ve used cinnamon powder. It burns them and they retreat.
No harsh chemicals and it won’t hurt your tires or jack stands.
I find that a 2 inch. line of Comet around tires and Stabilizers Jacks, Cords and Hoses works the best. I back in mark the spot where my tires will rest, pull forward and put a line of Comet down and back in to same place, takes less than 5 mins. Never had an Ant yet.
I and others have had success using Aspartame to rid ants from undesireable areas.
Use Borax, a great solution that does not harm the environment. Borax is a naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. Borax is also used as a fabric softener and is not harmful to washing machines, plumbing or septic tanks and does not contain phosphates or chlorine. If you mix borax with sugar, the worker ants would carry them into their ant hills and feed it to the Queen ant. The queen ant dies after consuming the borax and the whole ant hill is destroyed.
Any hardware store should have it.
I have heard before that borax mixed with sugar is the best of all that will kill off the nest as the workers will bring back some to the nest and any that ingest it will die.
I use small ant traps at various points around my trailer where no one can come into contact with them.
ok for the ants, what about the uncles? relatives visiting don’t bother me.
Somebody told me that premium grade gasoline works too
Find out where they come and spry with Spectcide ant killer , it works for us
Got Ants? We use Terro Liquid Ant Baits from Lowes ($6.99 for six traps). The traps are translucent and you can see the activities going on when in use. The liquid is a boric acid solution, completely enclosed. The ants take it home to the nest and very soon, the nest is destroyed along with the ants. We noted that we didn’t need any other indicators for the trap. We set it in the ant stream and it was like a new trruck stop opening on I-40. Success in about 3 days.
Folks
the easiest cure I have ever found I read of or heard of from a unknown source
When We first started camping.
We were in a campground in Gatlinburg in a new area just laid out and on rock.
Get out the good old COMET Cleanser.
Sprinkle where you see ants and I mean even up the side of your trailer of on the top.
They will be gone [in our case]the next morning. Now when it rained I had to replace it but it works.
Good luck
I find COMBAT ant killing gel does a pretty good job most of the time after they get in. This gel they take back to the nest and it kills them all. Put a dab on a piece paper and let them take it back to the nest. I picked up near a million of the tiny one in FL this spring and we’re still haveing trouble with them. My Combat isn’t getting the job done this time. Boo Hoo
We were parked overnight at the LA Conference Center. In the morining there was a solid line of ants from the sink up the wall to the ceiling and over to the bathroom door. Where did they come from or where did they go, I do not know. I crush and flushed them until they were all gone.Then bought any ant spray available at the nearest drug store. We evacuated the RV for a couple of hours. I did not see andy more ants.
Just try cornmeal in small lids in areas where ants can be seen. The reason it works is very simple. The ants take the cornmeal back to the troups and ants can’t digest it. End of ants!!!!
The recipe I use is on this blogspot. We live in the country in the middle of 37 acres of trees, You want ants we have them, or did. All I will say is this works great and is cheap. I put some outside and some inside. Do not put it on the floor where toddlers can get it. We place a container inside of each wheel when camping and have never seen an ant in the motor home. When leaving campsite just pass it on to another camper or discard in the trash dumpster.
http://naturalantkiller.blogspot.com/
We stay at that Malibu campground every few years. The view up the coast is spectacular. They have a huge ant community. We use Comet around the tires and cords with reasonable success. I can’t use poisons for a number of reasons and I don’t feel the need to kill the ants off, I just don’t want them in my camper sand the Comet works sufficiently well.
I’ve heard that aardvarks are effective and 100% natural.
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We got infested in AL this past winter. It was awful. We went through a lot of sprays and other ant killer traps. It finally took the ant traps that utilized liquid gel which was designed for the ants to bring back to the colony to kill it off.
Jim
I use a mix of cornmeal and yeast
I use the indoor/outdoor scent free insect killer usuall comes in a spray bottle.I spray the baseboards on the interior as well as all of the points of entry under the rv including around the tires.
Usually works for 4-6 weeks. Let it dry before letting your dog in and they don’t seem interested in licking it up.
http://www.victorianrvpark.com
I prefer to sexually intimidate my tiny foes. Stand outside the door of your RV, pants down, hands on hips, phallus hanging. No ants yet.
They don’t like mint. – I just pick big handfuls from my garden and spread it around. Now if it is really bad break out the Terro
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