Dog-friendly ant removal?

[Amanda and Quinn]

Does anyone have a great method for getting rid of ants in a pet-friendly way? They've marched in through our balcony and now they're everywhere. I have Terro traps out right now, with colanders overturned on top to allow the ants in. (And keep Quinn out.)  Quinn has shown no interest, but I plan to put them away when I can't supervise him. Every trap/poison in the grocery store said to keep away from pets, but the ants are in our main room - there's no way to keep him away from them completely.

Any thoughts? 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Yes, use the vacuum and place moth balls inside the bag. Remember moth balls are dangerous to animals but this will work. Then use the safe pepper method I mentioned below.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Black Pepper. It will not kill ants, but ants will not cross black pepper. Each year I use it around the perimeter of my house, in all the cement cracks along the sidewalks and driveways, and doorway entrances.

This may not help your indoor problem today, but in the future, it will keep them out of your home.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Cinnamon or baby powder along the door also keep ants out. I can see why they won't come near black pepper, probably makes them sneeze :)

[Wendy and Eddie]

Silly question, but is it ground pepper or the peppercorns?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Wendy, not a silly question. I asked the same thing years ago when I was told to do this trick. Just regular pepper. I bought a gallon jug from Sam's Club or Costco and it has lasted a few years.
Yesterday because of this post I went out and lined around the house. Every few years it seems the ant are worse than others. And of course, my dogs think they taste good.

[Nugget's Family]

Hi! Sorry you're going through this. Ants are such a pain! When we have had ant problems, I have had a great deal of luck using fresh lemon juice. I cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup then pour the juice into a rinsed out spray bottle (from "green" cleaning products). Then spray the full strength lemon juice in the areas that you see the ants. We see results almost immediately. Now, just FYI....I have only had to do this in tiled areas of the house. I have never sprayed the lemon juice directly onto hardwood floors. The acid might damage the finish? You will have to repeat the steps for a few days til the ants just get tired of dealing with it and decide to go somewhere else. Then, you'll need to damp mop the lemon residue, but it's worth it for a "kid-pet-earth friendly" solution, I think.

Good luck!!

Susan

[Amanda and Quinn]

I try to use green cleaning products too, and though I've never recommended a cleaning product in my life, I have to give a shout out to this Method floor cleaner. Safe for pets and smells amazing.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ants also will not cross cleanser. When we are camping I sprinkle it where the hoses, tires, and cables touch the ground. And it is cheap.

[shelly]

What kind of cleanser? My DH also saw that carpenter ants we had were traveling up from the basement and put a plated full of syrup, which attracted more, then put traps near that.. within days they were gone... those that did';t stick or drown in the syrup, brought the bait back to their colony - I guess. Our dog doesn't go in the basemewnt - but that was before we had Tori....

[Paul & Michele]

I am glad some one asked this question we are having trouble w little brown ants by our kitchen cupboard and I noticed a trail of them outside the kitchen yesterday in the flower bed outside the kitchen window when I was watering. I'm off to buy black pepper tomorrow!!

[Amanda and Quinn]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! I put a bunch of traps on the balcony yesterday (and closed it off of course) and now that I can see where they're coming from, I'll be loading up the area with black pepper. And the lemons are a great idea too - that will be perfect if they show up in the kitchen, since we do have hardwood in the main problem area.

[BB]

while this is a fairly old post, I thought I would update it. Jackson recently chewed up (but did not ingest) an ant trap at my sister's house. I rushed him to a vet thinking it was extremely toxic per the label; when I got to the vet they said not to worry. They said most (but not all) of the times the chemicals are toxic to insects, but not mammals. They said the biggest concern would be an obstruction in the intestines. Since Jackson only chewed on it, they said keep an eye on him, but he would be fine. The vet said they get tons of calls like this, but it hasn't ever been an issue, they even charged me the regular rate, as opposed to their emergency rate since it basically took them 5 minutes to check on him. Jackson was fine the remainder of the day, but did vomit up some pieces of the trap he did digest the next day, but was fine otherwise.