Originally Posted by bubbatime
Originally Posted by JimPghPA
If they are swarming the Terro that is good. My brother said some ants are grease ants and will not go to Terro. If they are grease ants you have to mix grease such as bacon grease with the Terro to get them to take it.
From what I have read ants diets swap about every 6 weeks. For 6 weeks, they eat proteins. And then for 6 weeks, they eat sugars. That's why professional baits usually come in differing categories, with some baits being protein based, and some being sugar based. The pro's will put down both types of baits to see what the ants are interested in. If they eat the sugar baits, then they will use that.
Use a good bait in the house FIRST. Let them eat that, go back to the nest, and kill the queen.
THEN, a few days later (after the ants are gone), put a good perimeter spray or bait around the perimeter of the house to keep them out. The termite spray listed above works excellent for this. Add a granular ant bait spread around the perimeter of the house, 5-10 feet out from the house. This will keep out most insects, roaches, and other annoying insects. A pro will charge $60 to $100 for this quarterly. You can do it yourself for $30-60 a year if you buy the stuff yourself.
If you have trees or shrubs touching the house, you might need to cut them back. Ants will use trees and shrubs to "walk" right past your ground based perimeter sprays, and they will be hard to kill and wont go away.
Everything you said (like the ants nutritional needs) is on point, especially the shrubbery touching the house part. They will use that as a bridge. I once had carpenter ants coming from a nest on a tree, using a limb that was overhanging and touch the roofline. It was time to trim everything back..
I like the Advion gel in the syringe even though it's kind spendy. It's supposed to incorporate both protein and sugars along with a high water% content.
