Ant killing time - Dealing with our ant problem

Expats come to Australia with the worry of spiders, snakes, sharks, jelly fish and other animals / pests that will mess you up.  In Perth my experience is that you need to worry about ants.  Ants are everywhere in Perth...I might go so far as to say that Perth is one gigantic ant hill.

The last house we were in, a company provided McMansion that was only 3-5 years old really never had any issues on the inside.  They were brutal at times outside (mostly in the Summer) but could be controlled by dropping Ant Killa down the hole of the nest.

Our current abode is different.

We noticed them as soon as we moved in.  Mostly in our master bathroom and in areas near the kitchen.  They were bad the first summer but manageable.  When winter came around they disappeared giving us a truly false sense of victory.

The other problem is children.

My lovely children (who we've decided we're going to keep despite this problem) leave food bits all over the house.  30 minutes after the food bit is left, a trail of ants (somewhere in the range of hundreds to thousands) move in for the extraction.  They are seriously impressive how they work as a team to move fairly large bits of food.

The ants are now everywhere.  They're on the counters, the kitchen table, all of the hardwood and tile surfaces and even some of the rugs.  The seem to come in through holes in the brick and baseboards and the second there is food present the numbers climb exponentially.

I've had enough...it's ant killing time.

Today I'm going to Bunnings.  My plan is to use several possible methods, in a disciplined and routine manner until their under control.

Here we go....

Day 1, a Saturday, I spend $25 on Ant Killa see image above in a big bulk 5Kg bag.  $9 on indoor Ant traps from 2 different brands and $18 on Bayer Advanced Ant and Wasp dust.

The strategy is going to be this...

1) Indoors where there is a steady trail of Ants I'm going to put Ant traps.

2) Outdoors where there are noticeable ant hills I'm going to lay down Ant Killa (a sand like compound) directly into the holes.

3) The Ant and Wasp dust is going to be put in spots where the Ants seem to be penetrating wood and concrete to get into / out of the house and any areas where they seem to be congregating.

So on the Saturday I put down 5 traps and a healthy amount of Ant Killa outside on the ant hills.  The dust would have to wait for another day.

Day 3 progress.

The ants are still around but the numbers have dropped significantly.  The ant traps do seem to attract the ants but I can't say for sure what affect they're having.  A couple of areas that had massive numbers of ants have very few now which honestly surprises me.  In a few days I'll check back and then may add the dust.