Ants and how to control/edadicate them

[TrickyFox]

We have a problem with these very small ants - the little buggers keep finding where we keep our sugar.

Is there a way to stop them? Being so small it is hard/impossible to see where they are coming from.

We have just put our sugar bowl in a new location and the little monsters found it in less than a day!.

We tried just keeping it in a kilner jar with a rubber seal and they still got in.

Any help would be gratefully accepted.

[Jason W]

Once they find a food source they will return until it is exhausted - put the sugar bowl within a bowl of water, they will look for an alternative food source and hopefully relocate next door 

[Spitfire58]

I buy the sugar (from Mercadona as far as I remember) in a big bag of individual sachets. That way there is never any sitting around. HTH 😁😁

[TrickyFox]

Once they find a food source they will return until it is exhausted - put the sugar bowl within a bowl of water, they will look for an alternative food source and hopefully relocate next door 

We also have them in the bathroom and there is no food source there to my knowledge.

[Jason W]

I remember a few years back my son had a lego model with soft rubber like tyres - the ants loved them and would be all over them backwards and forwards, maybe some chemicals compounds attract them.

[Captain Sensible]

We've recently had a problem. They were in most rooms.

I used a floor cleaner (from Padilla Spar) that kills them and other insects.  I also regrouted the gap between the floor tiles and the edging tile at the bottom of the wall.

So far, there hasn't been a big problem.  They still come in through the air gap at the bottom of the patio windows, so I spray with an insecticide every 4 or 4 days.

[Spitfire58]

Hi Steven,
Not that we had any but I also thought the gap/grouting between the floor & edge tiles was a route for “critters” of a few types so raked it all out & replaced with white silicon. My thinking being that it would “flex” more with any floor movement. Seems to have worked so far 😁😁

[Ducks]

Lots of good suggestions here! I'd suggest a three-step approach based on everyone's input above.

1. Pour couple of teaspoons of a sugary fizzy drink or ice cream on the floor and you'll soon discover where their entry/exit is, as they will form a heavy conga line which should be fairly easy to see! You can also use your phone's camera as a handy magnifying glass and to see into crannies you can't fit your head into.

2. Once you've established the main entry point, I'd stick the sugar in the fridge for a while (putting it into one of those ziplock plastic bags first wouldn't hurt, either) to give them no reason to stick around. 

3. Silicon the area where you saw them getting in. Do not be stingy with it. If you leave a tiny crack, they will quickly work on widening it. You need 100% closure for this to be effective. For a few days afterwards, mop the floor with the solution Captain Sensible mentioned— there are a couple of brands, but we find the purple one called "KH-7 DESIC" does a good job of keeping unwanted guests to a minimum! It looks like this:


We use one cap per 1.5L water. Only available in Spar in Atlantico; Mercadona and Dinos do not carry it. Beware that the smell and fumes are very strong, so you'll want to do it before you head out for the day or to be able to leave a window open for a while afterwards.

Good luck!

[Captain Sensible]

That's the floor cleaner Ducks - I couldn't remember the name!

[TrickyFox]

Lots of good suggestions here! I'd suggest a three-step approach based on everyone's input above.

1. Pour couple of teaspoons of a sugary fizzy drink or ice cream on the floor and you'll soon discover where their entry/exit is, as they will form a heavy conga line which should be fairly easy to see! You can also use your phone's camera as a handy magnifying glass and to see into crannies you can't fit your head into.

2. Once you've established the main entry point, I'd stick the sugar in the fridge for a while (putting it into one of those ziplock plastic bags first wouldn't hurt, either) to give them no reason to stick around. 

3. Silicon the area where you saw them getting in. Do not be stingy with it. If you leave a tiny crack, they will quickly work on widening it. You need 100% closure for this to be effective. For a few days afterwards, mop the floor with the solution Captain Sensible mentioned— there are a couple of brands, but we find the purple one called "KH-7 DESIC" does a good job of keeping unwanted guests to a minimum! It looks like this:


We use one cap per 1.5L water. Only available in Spar in Atlantico; Mercadona and Dinos do not carry it. Beware that the smell and fumes are very strong, so you'll want to do it before you head out for the day or to be able to leave a window open for a while afterwards.

Good luck!

Not sure I want to use that then because of our dog, but thanks anyway. Would try the fizzy drink on floor but I think that would only work in the kitchen - still I suppose that is the main place we want to eradicate them.