Is this the year of the Ant?

I have heard many people, here in the PNW comment on the invasion of the tiny little black House Ants.
I suppose climate change, is encouraging those little critters to move a little further north, then , I suppose we will all have to learn to live with some kind of new ant.

This house ant sends females out to start new nests, and this keeps repeating itself, over and over like a computer viris.

I was thinking about putting a hot rock in the window sills and some Anole lizards for a clean up comittee, but the cats would probably clean the lizards up as well.

Has anybody out there tried any organic or natural controls on these yet with success.?? Frank

Ants reportedly won't cross a thin line of Borax powder. Use a piece of cardboard or folded aluminum foil, held at a slant, to angle the powder to the point of entry.

Wikipedia lists borax as an insecticide.

Please read box for cautions before purchasing, in case of toxicity to pets, or other potential dangers.

It can be found in most supermarkets next to the laundry detergent.

You can also use baby powder. I don't know if it is the fragrance or the "feel" of the baby is disliked, but it seems to keep them away.
You can also use Tagetes minuta (http://www.ageless.co.za/herb-tagetes.htm) to repel them. You can put the plant down where they walk, or cover the plant with boiling water. Leave it for a day or two before straining and applying to their nests/entry points etc.
Apparently Tagetes also keeps flies away, but I haven't tried it, as T.minuta is considered a weed, and is hard to come by! LOL!!

Sacred Basil (Tulsi) - Ocimum tenuiforum syn. sanctum can also be used. Dry and powder the leaves. Sprinkle it down ant holes. (I love having a cup of Tulsi tea when I have a headache, or just to help me unwind after a busy day)

Good luck
Elsa

I think any powder (especially Borox) will work because it gets on their feet as they walk through it and when they clean themselves, they ingest it and it makes them sick. Or at least that is what I have heard ...

I would definately try the baby powder before borax.

yikes you said it frank..they are everywhere.
pam sue

Pam, if you are having the same one, they really are on the move north. The Columbia River once was pretty much their northern extreme, but now they have moved north of the Canadian border. They are cute little things. The bad thing is that they make so many queens. Once they find a way to get into your house the will start colonies in your houseplant pots. This just seems so funny. They started a nest in my thanksgiving cactus
and they cultivate the sap sucking bugs on the roots, or so it apears. Last year they were novel, but now they are getting quite anoying. The counter around the sink in the kitchen looks like the gnome of the peppermill has been there during the night. Frank

Frank, so far my little black ants just crawl around the basement garden area, and of course, my laptop.. I used the scanmask nematode method yesterday, so will see how that works.. last night I watched a black fuzzy spider sit in wait for them in their line of march.. interesting.. I really don't mind them down here, but if they make it upstairs, my DH will declare war and buy some raid.. YUK!

frank..oh they have an odor if you smash them. last year i had them all over my computer and they really have a bite if they get on you..i was afraid they would ruin the computer..i put out some equal from freebie packets and i guess that was poison for them..if that is what worked. alas no more equal here i guess i better get some more somewhere.
pam

Baby powder is likely (I have read online) to propagate some forms of mildew in damp/warm climes. I suggest Borax over it if the environment applies~its not that ''un-green'' and the nematodes are a great Idea, i think I saw something about that last year~I get them up and down my porch rail and along my bumpy brick borders...anywhere the MGs and water co-mingle. I let them be as long as they don't come in. I had them on my kitchen windowsill, and pulled everything off, and put borax on it 1/8th in deep and they went away and staey outside on the vines after that. Then I vaccumed the Borax up. A TIP: if vacuuming anything like powders such as borax or babypowder use a MISTER lightly dampening the OUTside of the Vacuum bag. It helps keep the stuff in. I am now in the habit of doing it whenEVER I vacuum, lol.

Frank-
I was thinking the same thing as far as the year of the ant...

We've never really had an ant problem, and suddenly they are just terrible this year. We've found them in all sorts of weird places...on the couch, on the keyboard!, even on the bed!!...We called terminix out, and even with their strong chemicals, we are still finding them in the house, after two perimeter sprays and one indoor...

One must have gotten up my nightie sleeve, because I woked up to welps all up and down my right arm. They itch and hurt!!

The terminix guy said they are called odiferous or ordorous ants, because they smell funny when you kill them...I said "yeah, they smell like dried banana chips!"...

They've gotten into some of my potted plants, both indoors and out, and are proving very hard to get rid of...they are kinda like those notorious pharoah ants...satellite colonies and nests all over the place...

You just barely fiddle with a plant, and suddenly your arm is covered with them...

Terminix said they can keep treating, but meanwhile they suggested we need to go around and re-caulk all the windows and cracks inside and outside the house...

here is a link:
http://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/ants/odorous_house.cfm

The way the valley in Las Vegas is growing and populations in the southwest in general it won't be long before these little guys turn life into a film for the SciFi movie channel. Great. I finally get over a lifelong fear of bees and now Stink-Ants, that bite no less. Yikes. lol...outtahand, for certain~interesting article but i fear that the S.W. bit is short term...