How do I go about finding the active ant colonies?
When you are inspecting your house and looking for ants make sure you look around the following areas:
CARPETS - Most pest ants like to trail under the edge of carpets. Inspect along the walls under the carpet beside the tack strip. A good place to start is in front of fireplaces and sliding glass doors. When foraging ants are found, try to trail them back to their colony location.
FOUNDATIONS - When ants are found inside along exterior walls, look for colonies living in the soil beside the foundation.
VEGETATION - Ants like to nest and forage in trails out of sight behind any vegetation which rests against foundations, patios, etc. Pull back the vegetation to look for ants. Attempt to follow foraging ants back to their colony.
GROUND SURFACES - Any item sitting on the ground could harbor a colony of ants. Check under all items, especially those near the foundation.
MULCH - Mulch often harbors numerous colonies of ants such as pavement ants, fire ants, crazy ants and Argentine ants. Rake mulch back from the foundation to check for colonies.
I've been using your Terro Liquid Ant Baits for a few weeks with much success, but every day I find a small pile of dead ants. Where are the piles coming from?
Those collections of dead ants are called midden piles. They are the dead ants that have been removed from the main colony. This means that there are still at least a few ants remaining in the colony so keep up the baiting a while longer.
I have been using your TERRO® Ant Killer to help with a serious ant problem at home. I keep putting out bait for them and they keep eating it. How do I know the bait is working and how do I know that they are all dead?
It can take several days of baiting to get results. Try our TERRO® Liquid Ant Baits for 10 days (they work great and will not dry out very fast). Follow that up with a crack and crevice treatment using TERRO® Ant Killer Spray. A perimeter treatment around the outside of the house with a residual product like TERRO® Ant Dust or TERRO® Outdoor Ant Killer granules will also help to repel ants from the structure. The combination of these three treatment techniques will solve even the toughest of ant problems. Ant colonies can become very large. You may need to treat around the outside of the house to maintain control.
Can the TERRO® Liquid Ant Baits be used outside? I was worried that rain might affect the bait somehow.
The baits can be used outdoors and many times this will draw ants out of the
structure and keep others from entering. Water will not get into the bait
stations unless there the bait station is submerged in standing water.
I accidentally stepped on one of the ant traps. How toxic is this bait and will this exposure harm me? What if my cat or
dog gets into the bait and eats some?
TERRO® Liquid Ant Bait is a sweet food based product similar to pancake
syrup combined with Borax. Borax is a mineral that is mined in the desert
in California and is a common active ingredient that is used in soap
products such as 20 Mule Team Borax.
The product kills ants but will not harm people or pets. If you spill some
on your skin there will be no reaction at all. Simply wash with warm water.
Pets occasionally find the Terro and eat it. Our advice when this happens
is to do nothing at all. The product is not toxic enough to cause a problem
and the pet will be just fine.
Is there an expiration date on the liquid?
No. The shelf life of TERRO Liquid Ant Killer is almost unlimited. As long as the liquid has not crystallized or hardened, it will still be effective but like any food based product, it may become less attractive to ants after 24 months.
We suggest using fresh bait if it seems you have had the same bottle for a few years.
I think the baits are attracting the ants, not killing them!
Initially you will see more ants. The ants see the TERRO Liquid as a food source. Once a forging worker ant has found a food source they drop what it called a trail pheromone back to the nest, letting all the other worker ants know where a food supply has been found. With this said, seeing more ants is a good thing for you are killing more ants.
Also, depending on the size of your colony will determine how long it will take to eliminate all the ants. Sometimes, with larger colonies, other treatments are necessary. After baiting and once you have noticed a decline in the number of ants it is recommended to use a follow up crack and crevice treatment. We suggest using our TERRO Ant Killer Spray. Use this on remaining ants wherever possible indoors or outdoors; in hiding places, behind sinks, cabinets, along baseboards and floors, and around drains and plumbing. A perimeter treatment around the outside of the home with a residual product like TERRO Ant Dust will also help repel ants from re-entering the structure.
The combination of these three treatment techniques will solve even the toughest of ant problems!
Why are ants always invading my kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room areas?
The three most common locations for ant activity are the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom. These rooms hold exactly with the ants are looking for: moisture, food, and warmth. Do not kill the ants, but rather, follow them. Worker ants are sent out from the main colony in search of moisture and food. By following these ants, you can find where they are entering the house and where the main colony is located. One indicator of a colony is bits of soil piles up near the wall or a crack in the slab.
It looks like the ants are moving pieces of debris to the liquid baits. What are they doing?
It is nothing to worry about when you see the ants doing this. They are actually moving pieces of their nest to the liquid. They look at this liquid as a food source. You will want to make sure that they do not completely cover the bait to where they can no longer get to it or to where you would not be able to add drops to the liquid or keep it fresh.
How long does it take to eliminate an ant colony?
Depending on the size of your colony will determine how long it will take to eliminate all the ants. Sometimes, with larger colonies, other treatments are necessary. After baiting and once you have noticed a decline in the number of ants it is recommended to use a follow up crack and crevice treatment. We suggest using our TERRO Ant Killer Spray. Use this on remaining ants wherever possible indoors or outdoors; in hiding places, behind sinks, cabinets, along baseboards and floors, and around drains and plumbing. A perimeter treatment around the outside of the home with a residual product like TERRO Ant Dust will also help repel ants from re-entering the structure.
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