Have to do this in Virginia.

spray foundation, and spread pellets outside 2-3 foot around home perimeter.

spray inside where you see them along inside perimeter.

Liquid ant /feeders/ traps etc. placed in areas where you see them indoors.

Liquid feeders around high traffic areas outdoors.

Hit them hard, and in multiple ways. Spray, pellets, and liquid feeders....

V-Tail, get the Terro from HD. It’s totally nontoxic to humans, boric acid. Put them around near the trails. It’s worked for us in CA and HI.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:

V-Tail, get the Terro from HD. It’s totally nontoxic to humans, boric acid.

I got some Terro traps from Tractor Supply.

Question: You say that it's safe for humans.

How about Cat? Hopefully she won't get at this stuff, but will she be OK if she gets her playful paws on a trap and starts batting it around, then licks her paws?

Wasting your time and money if you get boric acid.

Buy a one gallon sprayer from Walmart for $12, spray this outside on the perimeter of your house. Its death for every insect. Three feet out from the foundation, three feet up the walls. Its a non-repellant, meaning the spiders/roaches/ants/termites don't know its on their body and don't know its dangerous to them. They transfer it back to the colony and wipe the entire colony out 2-3 days later.
https://www.domyown.com/taurus...miticide-p-1816.html

Bait the ants inside with a few drops (literally that's all you need) where the ants are walking.
Pick one bait, they all are good.
https://www.domyown.com/optiga...-gel-bait-p-424.html
https://www.domyown.com/maxfor...ant-bait-p-1884.html
https://www.domyown.com/advion...-bait-gel-p-932.html

Buy once, cry once. Its $70 in chemicals today (and you have a 2-5 year supply worth of pest control products) and you can fire your pest control guy if you have one. Or you can waste money buying $10-20 stuff from Home Depot every few months that is far less effective. Read the product reviews on the website above...

The products above are the same exact stuff the professional pest guy will use at your house if you call for a service. They will charge $100-$140 for one call out. Or you can buy the stuff yourself, and have a multi year supply...

We’ve had good luck sprinkling Spectracide Ant Shield granules (from a big box store) in a 2 or 3 foot wide perimeter around the outside of the house whenever we see ants inside.

I've had fairly good results with Terro too. I did find that if I just clip off the end of the container they will crawl inside to get at the stuff, but can't get back out again. I'd find the bait unit filled with hundreds of tiny little dead ants. I'm guessing they drowned in the stuff. No idea how many, if any, managed to get out again to take the stuff back to the nest. The would happen several times. Finally I just poured a little bit of the liquid out of the container onto the surface where they were seen. Later I would see dozens of them all around the little pool of it, eating their fill, then leave and others would take their place. Eventually they stopped showing up.

quote:

How about Cat? Hopefully she won't get at this stuff, but will she be OK if she gets her playful paws on a trap and starts batting it around, then licks her paws?

^^^^^^^^
Vtail. I suggest asking Slabsides our resident vet concerning the safety issues.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ort...gger-Spray/990435743

Ortho Home Defense Crawling Bug Killer with Essential Oils is safe and strong.
Formulated with safe and strong essential oils such as cinnamon, castor, and clove oil (Safe to use around kids and pets when used as directed)
Safe to use around kids and pets (When used as directed)
Tested and proven to start killing bugs in seconds (Tested on ants, roaches, and spiders (excluding Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Hobo)