okay, not cool

[yinshubackup]

I have an ant problem.
They're just little black ants, but for the past several weeks they've been coming out in my bathroom, mostly out of/from around the area of my bathtub faucet, but there are never enough of them to form a trail so I can see where they're *actually* coming from, and occasionally I will find one or two all the way across the bathroom like crawling around the sink or toilet.
I've been killing them randomly, and using a natural cleaning agent with orange oil (which ants supposedly hate) to spray them sometimes (it does seem to kill them pretty quickly and I've noticed that the other ants will avoid the sprayed area for several hours afterward).
But I just found two ants... in MY BED.
Ants in my bed. True, they were on top of the bedspread and across on the side I don't sleep on, and I have yet to wake up with mysterious bites, but... Damn, this is getting serious.
I hope it doesn't end in a Leninger-vs.-the-Ants style battle to the death.
I guess I should call an exterminator, but I don't wannnt toooo! *whines* Not only are they expensive and likely to rip me off, I hate their chemicals and plus my place is still such a half-unpacked mess that I hate to have anyone over to see it.

I... will probably visit home depot today after the DMV to see what my options are for self treatment...
I kind of wish there were MORE ants, so I could see where they are all coming from and cut them off at the source. I wonder why they're in here. They seemed to vanish when I was out of town (when I came back, I didn't see a single ant anywhere until after I took my first shower, then they came back). Maybe they're looking for water? warmth? (I do keep it pretty warm in here as opposed to the high 30's/low 40's we've been having outside)....maybe they like the way my bath products smell?
I don't know.
I wish I had some diatomaceous earth to sprinkle around the bathtub, but I don't even know where I'd get that around here. I should have probably taken my mom up on her offer when she tried to give me some, but I didn't want to get caught in the airport carring a mysterious bag of white powder and try to explain that. Especially since it can also be an ingredient in dynamite.

Comments

We have,

[shaddow.livejournal.com]

for the last several years during the summer, had to deal with very similar situations. Ants come inside. For us they head for cat food or water or in this years case my leather shoes. (?!?!!! WTF, why were they trying to eat my shoes!!??!!1!!)
What we have found that seems to work well (and not risk the safety of the cats) is made by "Victor (R)" and under the "Safer Brand (R)" "Roach & Ant Killing Powder" Put it along whatever trail you can find and along the edge of carpet against the wall whereever they may be coming in (be liberal in length against the wall) lay a stream of the powder. It's boric acid and powdered sugar. The sugar attracts them and they take it back as food for the mound. It'll take a couple of days to completely be rid of them but you'll notice the drop within a day.
And after they're gone, the stuff just vacuums up.

[jccohen.livejournal.com]

Your local supermarket should sell some ant control products that may be worth trying before a full on exterminator.

Also, if you are renting, wouldn't pests be a landlords problem?

[jcald89.livejournal.com]

You can find diatomaceous earth at aquarium stores or pool stores. The only problem is that if you buy it at a pool store you're probably going to end up with something like a 20lb bag of it! They might be willing to give you a little scoop of it for free though.

I've had good luck with the Grant's ant traps that they have at the supermarket. Just put em close to wherever you see the ants coming in.

[extrememojo.livejournal.com]

For advice as to how not to exterminate your ants, see previous post regarding the ANTPOCALYSE.

[indigotea.livejournal.com]

Another ant remedy: cinnamon, oil or as a paste in their crawl paths. bookwench was doing research on this recently for non-chemical solutions; you might touch bases with her about it.

[bookwench.livejournal.com]

The cinnamon didn't work at all, actually. Of course, neither did the massive amounts of toxic crap the exterminator sprayed everywhere. 3 months later and I still have ants. And exactly the kind you're talking about, Yinshu. Just a few here and there; never enough to actually trace back to a source. And yet, they're EVERYWHERE. In my pantry. In my cupboards. In the middle of the floor. Crawling across my fabric in the sewing room. So far my bed is the only place I *haven't* found them.

My final solution? I'm moving.

[vikingcoder.livejournal.com]

My mom uses mint (entire plants, but the oil is what does the trick) to very good results.

I did a quick search for it and pulled up Natural Insect Pest Control.

[extrememojo.livejournal.com]

I found a surprising, easy, and 100% pesticide-free (and accidental) solution to my ant problem: spiders! I'm noticing now that every corner where I used to see ants searching about I now see spiderwebs and piles of ant carcasses. Thank you, tiny spiders. Don't lay your eggs in me!

So, employ spiders?