Ants getting into the kitchen

I’ve had success with food grade Diatomaceous Earth which is a white powder and sprinkled around entry points. The stuff bungs up insect exoskeletons apparently, so they avoid it. I’m not keen on using chemicals which kill the nest as they’re supposed to be the earth’s gardeners, I just wish they’d garden elsewhere.

Simply put down an ant trap, you can buy them online or in any hardware shop, very cheap , only about £5 for 2. They are little plastic discs which attract any ants, they then feed and take back to the nest a poison which kills the nest

This is the way to do it!

I used to get an invasion of ants every summer. I traced the nest to somewhere under my kitchen door step and left the little bait stations nearby. It worked like a charm. The invasion has never returned.

I felt bad killing them as they are only looking for food. But their place is not in my kitchen.

If you see an odd ant its best to kill it and wipe down the surface. Otherwise it will go back to the nest and communicate where it found food! Then others will quickly follow.

Of course it may be that Nippon have altered the formula and it's now too weak to work, ronib.

I haven't found any bait or traps that good, otherwise they'd have been long gone.

Unless it's a totally new wave of them coming in each year.

Blasted things!

Peppermint oil, or if you find the smell overpowering then citrus peel near where you think they are coming in works well.

I was going to say ant stations, but I think what Magsymoo suggested sounds similar. They worked for us.

Ooh, how annoying.
I've read all the same kind of stuff about slug deterrent.

Seen videos of them merrily navigating eggshells and slithering onto plants.

I bought it to spray everywhere to deter spiders and then read it was bad for my dog. The mouse in my kitchen was eating the rice infused peppermint pot pourri that I put in my larder. Let’s hope it works better with ants!

Oh I've got quite a lot of peppermint oil. (To deter the mice)

I found a rogue one the other day. I usually get them coming in once a year. I’m going to wash surfaces down with peppermint oil although it worries me that dogs can react badly to the smell.

Simply put down an ant trap, you can buy them online or in any hardware shop, very cheap , only about £5 for 2. They are little plastic discs which attract any ants, they then feed and take back to the nest a poison which kills the nest. I put a couple down near my patio doors every spring just in case I get any coming in. Within a week their numbers can explode until they are everywhere as I have learn in the past to my horror.

Oh thank you.
I've not heard of that before.

Very handy for me, because I've got an inaccessible corner in my kitchen, where I think they might be coming from.

Candarel or any other granular artificial sweetener. They take it back to the nest and then can't digest it and it kills them. Worked for me years ago when I lived on an ant hill. Luckily never seen one where I live now.

I have always had ants in my flat, and never been able to eradicate them completely.

I doubt there is anything I've not tried, but for the last two years I've ended up with a kitchen full of flying ants.

I hope someone has an answer, too.

I have the Nippon Spray and the powder and can see very visible little piles of soil where they access the conservatory.

I have used both spray and powder and it is clear the spray does not work but the powder is very effective.

Very interesting comment about Nippon immunity - we thought that it might have been old stock Nippon which wasn’t working. The new tube has not worked either.