7.27.2008

Terro

The trail leads down from the roof, along the deck, up the siding, in through a tiny opening in the storm window, under the window sash, up the framing, onto a chair pushed up against the shutters..... ANTS!

We got a package of terro baits in the mail (thanks Charlie). I stuck one on the sill, in between the window sash and the storm window. The ants drained it and now there are one or two scavenging about, but the big trail is gone. We are waiting for it to work it's magic and destroy the colony. Keeping fingers crossed.

What do you think... set out another bait? They supposedly sell this stuff at Walgreens, Home Depot, and (gulp!) Walmart, so I'll have to check that out.

9 comments:

MIL said...

Glad the terro worked! The drought has brought back the ants here as well. Can bring more if needed.

LSULiv said...

The ants are here, too! They even like to get in my begonias-- as if I don't have a hard enough time keeping my greenery alive as it is. But I think these are sugar ants-- they like the fruit I have out but leave other, non-sweet things alone (cheese, etc.) Blah!

Jill said...

Those Terro things are absolutely wonderful. At first I didn't like them because they seemed to make the ants worse at first but then after about 24 to 36 hours they were just gone. And they haven't come back. Of course Jacob hasn't left jolly ranchers in his backpack for a while, either....

Nicola said...

my best ant bait is a small dish of honey with a teaspoon or so of borax mixed in. the honey baits and feeds the ants, they take it back to their nest, and the borax wipes them out.

BookyG said...

I LOVE THE TERRO! In Berkeley we never really had ants, but they are all over the place in Bishop. We had them really bad in our kitchen for two days, I bought some Terro (at ACE hardware) and they were GONE in less than 24 hours.

Our last rental in Bishop had worse ants though. The Terro worked, but we would leave it out all summer. One batch would die, and another would come in. Hopefully the ants at our new rental will be less persistant.

PleaseRecycle said...

Nea- I think that's all Terro is- some sweet syrup with Borax. I haven't tried the home made version; we can't leave it outside unless we have a covered up bait station because of the spontaneous/surprise rainstorms we have around here.

Momo said...

I have been using Terro all summer. The ants at our place show up in very odd places - in the dishwasher, baseboards & window frames, stove, and even the t.v. I am sure they are a different type of ant than the ones I grew up with in this neighborhood. They are larger, black ants. They also send out many scouts and don't seem to come en masse very often, there are just always a few ants everywhere. They also respond instantly to movement by scattering in all directions. Very annoying. The Terro works but I must be persistent in putting it out. I have read that if you make your own, it should be just the right amount of syrup to Borax or you could just be feeding the colony! Good luck.

Nicola said...

honestly, i put the bait just inside the house, at the point of entry (but out of reach of little hands).

RGW said...

Terro,...going to have to find some of that.....and borax too, doesn't seem to be as easy to find as it used to be.......

Though while I was away my ants turned into cockroaches.....can't find and ant trail as yet, though i'm sure they're there just too jet lagged to find it as yet!