Ants! (not uncles)

[handmeafish]

So, I've seen a few ants in my new room, and I'm wondering, what kind of spray can I use to keep the bugs away, with out hurting my rattums.
I'm guessing a lot of stuff will not be such a great idea, and i just don't know what to use
Thanks

 

[M0onkist]

I'd like to know the answer to this too - it being spring, and the rats living in the basement, I've seen more than my fair share of ants. The ant man is going to come sometime this month I think, but he'll only treat the baseboards in the kitchen - Mom's made it perfectly clear she doesn't want any of his unnamed products near the rats (boy, do those products work, but I'm not gonna ask what's in them...).

So far I've been spraying them with Superpet cage cleaner >.< Does seem to slow them down, but it doesn't really kill so much as drown/deter.

 

[Petunia]

:laugh4:
the title for this thread cracks me up

check this out for lots of different ideas, some safer than others

http://www.ghorganics.com/page11.html

 

[purinpurin]

I used to use borax around the baseboards (as well as pour down the sink--jeez, Toronto has its fair share of house centipedes--although I haven't seen a centipede since my family and I moved to our current apartment... It might have just been the house we lived in) for about a week or so, and it always got rid of the ants quick and easy. If organic remedies don't work, then you might want to move the rats out of their room, treat their room first, clean it top to bottom then move them back in, treat another room, etc.... Not sure if that would be as effective, though. Dx

 

[abazoo]

Borax is not safe to use around the cage, free roam area or anywhere it could blow into the rats. Borax kills pest by attacking the central nervous system. Use around bigger animals is not such a concern but when you look at the size of rat's, their nervous systems are too easlily damaged by the Borax.

I've switched to a different product this year called Diatomaceous Earth -food grade powder. I chose the food grade to be extra sure it would be safe around animals, but it is the basic powder product mixed with an anti-caking agent... Its quite messy because of the anti-caking! (I've been able to mix it with water in a spray bottle...but still) I believe the garden grade powder would be easier to manage with coverage.

 

[chelshorsegirl]

My healthy organic lady who runs the cat rescue I work at mentioned something the other day.... but for the life I can't remember it.

Something like Corn Powder... Corn something.... Gah, I'll ask her when I see her on Monday

 

[chelshorsegirl]

Cornstarch! Its Cornstarch. She lines her rooms and outside with cornstarch.

 

[M0onkist]

lol, that would work except I'm crazy allergic to all things corn - cornstarch included!

 

[handmeafish]

I have hardwood floors... that seems awfully messy.

 

[Spork]

Hmm, the borax my mom used was in liquid form. A few drops on a small piece of cardboard set on a window sill, out of reach from pets, and easy to remove.

 

[fenshae]

I killed the ants in the house by mixing up borax powder with kayro syrup and a little bit of olive oil, smearing that on an index card, and putting a few cards throughout the house in places the ants would frequent. The ants swarmed the bait, carried it back home to the colony, and it wiped the whole anthill out within a matter of days.

You can also kill roaches by rolling up balls of flour & borax held together with a bit of water.