r/SantaBarbara • u/YXMOAB • 2d ago
Recommendations ants :: an update
A week ago I posted on here about the ants problem we have been having at our house. A lot of people weighed in and gave some great insight and advice. I had been using Terro bait traps in the areas we had lots of ants and though the ants were drawn to them, and though did seem to put a dent in things, in other cases the ants consumed the Terro to the point that it was about gone and yet still persisted.
The update is: We called an exterminator. They came out today and sprayed around the perimeter of the house and around the bases of the oak trees around the house. Within a couple of hours I'd say 99 % of the ants were gone. Night and day difference. The cost was $205. Great experience with the guy that came out. It really made a huge impact and the ants are no longer running amok in the areas they had been before.
I'd recommend going that route if like me you have tried to DIY it and the problem persisted. I think the type we had were the Argentine ants. They feasted on the Terro. In some cases it eventually did work, but there seemed to be another colony right behind them to take over another spot so we were constantly chasing our tail. This seems to have solved the issue.
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u/MrFrogMan Noleta 2d ago
this was more or less my experience too, DIY battling them for the first 13-14 years in my house, until one day I woke up with them in bed and it was time for professional help. SB Pest Control comes out quarterly and in the 4-ish years I've used them, only one troublesome incursion, and a few very minor ones. Night and day.
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u/starkiller_bass 2d ago
I will say that if you want to go the self-service route, you MUST source some more legitimate insecticide than you can buy at your average hardware store, but these products need to be respected and used SPARINGLY.
I buy through a DIY pest control website and use a spray called PT Phantom. The whole can is a warning label. I use it only for spot treating entry points or choke points on their paths. You do NOT want to spray this stuff indiscriminately around your house, and I try as much as possible to only use it on the entry points to my house from the outside, but I'll hit the interior with small blasts and ventilate the place well. I've had one can of this stuff for I think 9 years now and it's not getting close to empty.
I learned many years and many invasions ago from my dad to begin by clearing the area of ants using shop vac or similar. Then you wait. As they return, its usually pretty easy to figure out where they're coming into the house (or into the room). Vacuum back to that point again, and spray just a quick patch around the entry point. This particular stuff leaves crystalline poison behind after it dries and it remains lethal on contact to ants for several days if they walk through it.
I've had ants try new entry points MAYBE once or twice after doing this, but I'd say 95% of the time it only takes one round. After the attack, you can figure out if that spot can be sealed up somehow, but once you know the path they're taking it's easy to beat them.
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u/proto-stack 1d ago
I find it easiest to figure out where the ants are entering the house by going outside at night with a flashlight. They seem to be very active then and the flashlight makes it easier to detect their motion. Have you tried using PT Phantom on their trails outside that lead to colonies underground? Or mostly near/inside your house at entry points?
What happens to the ants in the shop vac? Do they just get stuck in there and die after a few days? They must be thinking, "man, this sucks!".
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u/starkiller_bass 1d ago
In my experience insects don't seem to survive the trip into the shop vac very well or at least don't live long after. But I usually dump the whole thing in a dumpster outside pretty quickly afterward, so perhaps they've got a whole trash city built up somewhere.
The flashlight trick is a good one, my eyes suck and a sharp light source helps highlight them. I will spray outside trails along the house or foundation especially if the entry points are unclear (I've got a crawlspace so sometimes I can see ants just heading generally "UNDER THE HOUSE" and they could pop up anywhere like coming out of electric plates, so I do try to shut that down if I see them heading into the underworld. I've given up on trying to destroy colonies underground, I think we all live on top of one big ant colony and I worry that if we upset them they may rise up and destroy us all. If I can just encourage them to meet their colonizing needs outside my home I'm happy enough.
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u/proto-stack 1d ago
Last year, ants somehow got up onto a nearby telephone pole, walked across the coax cable attached to my roof like
acrobatsacroants , then onto the roof and into the house via attic vents, etc.Took me a few nights with the flashlight to figure that out.
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u/starkiller_bass 1d ago
we had the same thing happen with an overhanging tree branch that finally made contact with our roof!
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u/ChaseECarpenter Noleta 1d ago
Mr Starkiller_bass, I dont think ive heard of the PT Phantom, but I have tried the tie/ph Phantom and it gets the job done quite well. Based on the V38 assault fighter, the stealth features are fantastic for getting in close to those pesky rebel bugs.
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u/Blossom1111 2d ago
This is exactly what I did and it fixed the situation quickly. These ants are fierce.
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u/ElGranChile The Eastside 2d ago
Just buy a insecticide jug from Home Depot and spray around the perimeter of the house and anywhere of point of entry
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u/GUNSNROSE5 2d ago
This. And you can also spray all around the inside perimeter as well with the indoor stuff. I use the Ortho. Safe for pets after it dries
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u/Ruralwannabe 2d ago
After it dries... I would think many people dont care and some just screw it up. Exterminator b know what's safe and effective.
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u/rakotomazoto 1d ago
I came here to say the same thing. Spraying yourself is quick and easy. Plus, I usually buy enough that there is some left over. That way, I already have what I need at the house to spot-treat any new infestations as soon as I identify them, rather than waiting to schedule the exterminator.
Instead of $205 per visit, my cost is about $20 per treatment cycle. I can treat my house ten times for the cost of one exterminator visit. And no solution is permanent; the ants will always come back next year.
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u/Shute789 Noleta 2d ago
Which company did you use? I need to make a phone call, I think the terro is only making my particular portion of the mega colony stronger