Singapore Expats

Hi folks

I've been here almost 8 weeks and the plague of ants that we have on a daily basis is driving me insane.

Any suggestions as to what works to get rid of them? I've tried baits - they don't even crawl in them...

I use insect spray a lot but hate using it as I have two small children.

We have lots of tiny ones - and even more of the big size ones - and tonight we now have flying ones - aaarrrggghhhh!!!!!

All suggestions welcome.

Bocat32

Bocat32 wrote:Hi folks

I've been here almost 8 weeks and the plague of ants that we have on a daily basis is driving me insane.

Any suggestions as to what works to get rid of them? I've tried baits - they don't even crawl in them...

I use insect spray a lot but hate using it as I have two small children.

We have lots of tiny ones - and even more of the big size ones - and tonight we now have flying ones - aaarrrggghhhh!!!!!

All suggestions welcome.

Bocat32

Hi Bocat32,
We had the same trouble with the pesky things awhile back. The baits are useless, they've wised up to them now. As I recall, they used to work. We got rid of "our" ants using a spray. We have young children too so have to be mindful on that front. As a rule, we tend not to keep our windows/door open for a long time either to minimise flying insects. If you do, get a wire mesh or something. Also, if you just spray ants as you see them, I'd suggest you spend some time tracking where they emerge from. Even those really small fast ones will form a trail of some kind. It may take some effort but it's worth it.

We had them coming in from the front door, between pinhole gaps in the skirting, crawling several floors up the external wall and poking around in the kitchen... it was driving my wife crazy. Basically, I ended up spraying a barrier around the balcony, front door, kitchen window and bedroom skirting board.

We were on a trip overseas for a week but by the time we got back... hey no more ants!! We were actually dreading that they would have overrun the place by then... how surprised we were!

Anyhow, it's been almost a month now and I've only seen a couple of ants around the balcony area today. They took a quick flying lesson! I'll probably use the spray again over the weekend. I used a brand called ShieldTox Odourless (it's not completely odourless).

Good luck!

Hi Joshua

Thanks for the advice. I have noticed a trail of where the small ones come from so I'll have a go at tackling them today but the big ones just seem to come from everywhere!!

We live in a cluster house and thankfully don't seem to get them upstairs in the bedrooms - but the living room and kitchen is where I find them most - yuch.

I use Shieldtox too and it does work very well. We're heading abroad for Christmas so I'll make sure the house gets a good spray before we leave!

Bocat32 wrote:Hi Joshua

Thanks for the advice. I have noticed a trail of where the small ones come from so I'll have a go at tackling them today but the big ones just seem to come from everywhere!!

We live in a cluster house and thankfully don't seem to get them upstairs in the bedrooms - but the living room and kitchen is where I find them most - yuch.

I use Shieldtox too and it does work very well. We're heading abroad for Christmas so I'll make sure the house gets a good spray before we leave!

Hi Bocat,
If you're away for christmas, definitely spray the affected rooms at the entry points (doors/windows) and around the perimeters. Create a barrier and hopefully by the time you get back they've buggered off to your neighbours! I'm planning to be more proactive too. It's just one of those bugbears about living in Asia I guess. Lucky we don't have big cockroaches like Hong Kong!!

Merry christmas!

You mean they have even bigger cockroaches than the ones we get here???

I came across one in our basement area the other night (typically the night hubby was out). I must have used about half a can of Shieldtox on it and it still just crawled out through the gap in the door!! They make my skin crawl.

Anyway, will definitely have the place sprayed to death before we leave for the Christmas holiday.

Merry Christmas to you too! And here's to a beastie-free New Year!! Well I can hope...

You could look at natural ways to rid the ants, I think there are quite a number on the internet, I have mixed honey and yeast (that has worked) and that isn't harmful to humans and dogs but the poor ants will have exploding tummies.

use lime n cloth to wipe e area.. works fine or me thou

tic.....toc.....tic.....toc.....tic......

i used the company anti ants and it worked for us..

Hi, sorry to reopen this thread, but we have ants infestation in our house and desperate to prevent them from entering. Saw that some of you put Shieldtox Odourless around the perimeter of entry points, this is what we have in mind too. We plan to spray every week on the outside of our windows. But wondering are there other brands which are ant repelling and long lasting effect? Coz we want to spray on the outside means it will be washed off by rain too. So we need long lasting effect.

The good stuff is no longer available. I think it was based on a now banned chemical. Basically make sure you are absolutely spotless in your cleaning and remove any standing water as well.

I think those residual sprays only held by pest control companies. But it's expensive to engage their services in the long run.

We have been very vigilant in our cleaning but yet ants still nested in our place. Despite that we check regularly, they still managed to enter and nest. This is driving us nuts. We seldom cook and we clean a lot. So now no choice but to spray and spray. Even though we have a child but if don't spray, baiting will take too long to contain them and it's like trial and error of they dont take the bait.

Wife is going depressed, i feel very sad for her.

What kind of ants?

Sugar ants, those with half body translucent color.

Worst thing is, we did engage pest control once, they put bait no spray, ended up more ants invade. So wife is resistant to using bait now.

Spraying did its job for now though, we use Shieldtox to spray on the outside of windows and Bio X on the inside. Still see one or two dead ones everyday, hope they are deterred from entering.

Ants are getting into your house one of two ways. They are coming in through the doors and windows via the natural cracks and joints in the window or door. Or, they have discovered a secret passageway into your house. It doesn't need to be large because the ants are small. It might be a chip in the stucco that lets the ants crawl in between bricks and enter your house. Or a piece of rotted wood somewhere that allows them to crawl into the house.

The first thing to do is make a close examination of your premises to search for any possible entry point. If you find such a point, it must be completely sealed. If they are building nests, this is the likely way in.

If they are coming in through doors and windows, then they need to go somewhere to nest, and you need to track their trails to the point they are disappearing into the walls or cabinets of your house. Again, seal the entry point, or apply concentrated bug spray only at that point to deter entry and exit.

There are a number of natural remedies that can be effective in keeping ants from crossing door ways and windows. You'll have to experiment to see if any of them are useful for your ants. Peppermint oil, cayenne peppers, and Vaseline have all been suggested.

If you want to kill ants, try using baking soda, simply mix baking soda with powdered sugar and leave it where ants roam. You can also do the same thing with boric acid to kill ants.

You could try double sided sticky tape around your windows and doors, particularly at the bottom areas or where you think they are entering. If you do observe ant trails coming into your house, wipe them down with bleach or household cleaner to disrupt the scent trail that the ants leave for other ants.