desmondo84

Moved some stuff into the new house last night and came round this morning to find loads of ants over any food bags I left in the kitchen. they even broke into a bag of bagels so a couple of questions.

Is this normal and how do we combat it? Should everything be in Tupper ware?? where should we store fruit?

Robbo25

Might be worth getting someone to come around and do a once yearly spray that will keep a lot of the bugs at bay.

anthony1972

Instead of using insecticides:

1. Keep windows/doors, etc. closed.
2. Keep your house clean and tidy. Crumbs and spills attract pests.
3. keep foods in airtight containers.

This can be enough to eliminate or reduce pests presence to an acceptable level.

Cheers,
A

ellenarosemary

Definitely keep everything you can in plastic sealable containers - that way nothing can have a nibble!!!

Snap Shot

Ants already ?

The ants in our house in the summer usually have a party in my cat's left over cat food.

They've lost interest in going into the kichen by then.

Anyway,

Robbo25

Cockroaches cause more than enough panic amongst most Brits, whilst I generally agree re:insecticides I don't think keeping doors and windows closed is very practical for the next 8 months.

BEVS

If these are the weeny ants, then nothing stops them if they have a mind to enter your property to have a scoff.

I once found a host of them in the bottom of the shower . Goodness only knows what they found tasty in there. At the moment them seem fond of the tub.

Yes. It's normal here desmondo84. Keep food in containers or your fridge. I've never had a problem with fruit.

After years of resisting the idea, I get someone in to spray the property every 18 months. What a wonderful difference that has made. I just could no longer stand the flies settling on the ceilings or the 24 hour tangles of webs. Doesn't stop those weeny ants though.

desmondo84

Cheers guys. At least we're not the only ones. Yes they are the tiny ones. Wife is off to buy a load of containers now... baaaaa

MrsFychan

we use Mortein Auto spray in the main living area's. (away from the fish tanks and mainly for roaches and flies) doesn't stop them coming in but does kill them and if you find any alive just spray them with it and they are soon pushing up daisies.

samboka1975

I loved post as we have the same issue, only today did I complain to the owner as last summer we couldn't get on top of them, we learnt the hard way after leaving pizza out overnight last year.

I googled today if ants can affect your electrics as are ants tend to hang out round the plugs and light switches...... these lights and switches have gone from working to not working so much.

I am worried about them as my son is nearly crawling and I don't want him crawling around with the ants.

hopefully the landlord will come and spray our house

BEVS

Spraying will not stop that.

However it is correct that they follow electrical cables etc and interfere with this. We had to renew a kitchen switch and all the cabling last year due to these teeny ants. So far , so good.

j19fmm

Oh god the ants!!! I hate the little blighters. Have had massive infestations - whole larder full of them last summer and they've already been on the benches this year. They come through the walls!!! Well, the tiny gaps by the windows or in the cupboards!
I spray the hell out of them with No Ant and put blobs of ant gel around the place - don't put it in the larder though it's just an open invite...
Everything in the cupboards is now in Tupperware or Glad bags.
Just keep saying to yourself..."it's because we live in the (sub) tropics"..takes a wee bit of the yeukyness away. Good luck x

desmondo84

Baaaaaaaaaa left a sealed bottle of juice on the bench and came back an hour later to find covered in the buggers

Blade Down Under

Forget the ants

Check for white tail spiders, katipos and if you're in the south island, redbacks!

I'm sorting out someone that got bitten by a redback. He thinks he got bitten in Australia but can't be sure. He's had a hell of a time since the incident.

desmondo84

Red backs. In nz?