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Originally Posted by lumberjim
Catch any mice yet? We've had a minor ant invasion here. And the bathroom sink faucet is all clogged up. Annoying while washing hands, but forgettable as soon as you leave the room. It's been getting worse for a couple months. Might tackle that today on my extra day off.
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We are under siege by at least 2 enormous "sugar ant" colonies (small and black) plus there's a 3rd colony of a different ant (3x the mass, mostly red) in the sidewalk out front...right where the ant-phobic neighbor parks
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I've actually got the nearby sugar ant colony largely under control, though. They keep building new exits, of course, but now that they're getting FURTHER from the apartment I don't bother those. What did this miracle take?
Diatomaceous earth from the feed store. Diatom shells are pure silica, and every species is shaped differently--many are pointy. Every time it rains and washes the DE away from the part of the garage floor that meets the parking lot, they tunnel back up, and every time I just bury the active exits (which stand out against the white DE quite nicely). We've gone from "kitchen is swarming and the crack in the garage floor is practically erupting ants" to "I haven't seen a live ant in this place in over a month."
There are down sides to diatomaceous earth use! As it is essentially microscopic glass, you can't leave it down indoors where kids and pets could get it in their eyes or nasal passages. And it will need to be re-applied if you sweep or vacuum it up. My mom also swears by it and says she's gone so far as to take the face plates off electrical outlets, put the DE in the palm of her hand, and use a straw to blow it into the walls! Outdoors will often require frequent re-applications in windy or rainy areas, but the stuff's cheap and at least there aren't any poisons in it.