Pet Safe Ant Extermination

[Lomac]

So when I moved into my place in Kamloops, I knew there was a small ant colony living in the backyard. By small, I mean probably no more than a hundred ants. However, a couple months have gone by and shit is starting to get out of hand.

This is the second red ant raid I've witnessed. (sorry for the poor quality... YT took a massive dump on the picture quality for some reason and pixeled the shit out of it)

YouTube

Clearly the colony has grown just a tad. This time it looks like they took out a black ant colony at the front of the yard, as I later witnessed them dragging back eggs and there are now a ton of dead black ants littering the grass.

Anyway, I'd like to be able to control this situation before they start trying to make their way into the house. The problem I have is that I have a very inquisitive dog that roams the backyard and will stick absolutely everything into her mouth. I'm looking for something DIY (not a professional... yet) that I can use to help get rid of this colony, yet keep friendly to both the yard (have multiple fruit trees and bushes growing nearby) and to the dog. Simply spraying Raid or dropping those ant traps probably aren't the best ideas...

What do you guys suggest I use in a situation like this?

[6793026]

not such a good idea since there's a water ban but i've had success just leaving the garden hose on and drowning the suckers.

i'm not talking about 20 minutes, i'm talking about a good 5 hours of the water hose on and leaving it aroudn the area.

if that doesn't work to force them to pick up and leave, off the shelves chemicals will be your next best bet.

[punkwax]

50% baking soda
50% powdered sugar
Mix it up, leave it by the ants. They're attracted to the sugar, bring it back to the colony where they all eat it and the baking soda kills them. Gassed to death, in a way

Not quick, takes 2-3 weeks, but pet safe and has worked for me. Well, pet safe in terms of no harsh chemicals.... might want to check with your vet in case your dog goes Tony Montana on the mix

[melloman]

We have the same problem with our cat.

Ants have dug up the back patio 2 years in a row.. nothing kills them other then your harshest of harsh off the shelf chemicals. (Even then they re-populate and come back next year)

Biggest fucking annoyance. (We got dime/nickel size flying ants in the colony too)

[gurdeep007]

How to Get Rid of Ants with Three Ingredients

Borax, water and sugar. But takes about 2 weeks. I did not use the cotton balls I place the mixture into old bottle caps or directly onto the concrete.

I also used Raid Ant Killer Liquid:
Canadian Tire - Raid® Liquid Ant Killer customer reviews - product reviews - read top consumer ratings

Works like a charm the ants eat it right up and I just kept adding more. Dead Ants everywhere. But the down side is, once the second set of eggs hatch those buggers know not to eat it, then you just change brands and they start eating it once again. Takes a few application to wipe them out completely.

I had a massive ant problem in my back yard these past 2 years and this year finally got rid of most of them.

[jackmeister]

i read online about using white vinegar and water 50/50

i bought a big jug at walmart and splashed it everywhere without mixing water, thinking it'll be more concentrated and deadly. havent seen them in a while.

[FN-2199]

Originally Posted by jackmeister

i read online about using white vinegar and water 50/50

i bought a big jug at walmart and splashed it everywhere without mixing water, thinking it'll be more concentrated and deadly. havent seen them in a while.

Water and vinegar worked wonders for me. This won't kill them off however; you put the stuff down blocking their path to your house. The objective is to have them communicate to the colony that the path to the house is a no-go. Reapply as many times as possible.