How to Get Rid of Ants Using Terro Ant Killer Bait & Grants Ants Bait Stations

Use Ants to Get Rid of Ants
If you've got ants crawling around your kitchen counters and floors your first inclination is to smash every ant in sight. Smashing alone is not an effective solution. When you smash twenty on sight, there are more ant troops to come. Once you get over your initial ant killing spree, you can use any remaining ants to act as trojan horses to carry poison back to the nest to kill the rest. Before going the expensive route of getting a professional exterminator or messy ant killing solutions, here is a simple thing to try first -- ant killing bait stations laced with poisonous solutions.

Do Ant Sprays Work?
Many aerosol ant spray solutions work as perimeter barriers. Some simply deter ants with smells they don't like but you have to spray every possible route into the house. Otherwise ants are persistent enough that they will find a way back in especially if it is hot, cold or if they are in search of food or water. Other sprays work by killing ants either on direct contact or with residual spray that remains toxic for months when ants come in contact with the solution. However, these sprays only work as ants come in contact with the spray which means that they are ineffective at getting to the eggs and ants which continue to hatch regularly.

How Ant Bait Stations Like Terro Ant Killer Bait & Grants Ants Bait Stations Work
A more effective solution is to use ant killer bait stations where ants carry back poison to the nest killing other ants and newly hatched ants effectively wiping out the colony in a few days to weeks. The only downside to this solution is that you have to be patient and let the ants live and let live for a few days to a week. You know the bait stations are working when you see a decline of the ant population within about a week. You cannot use perimeter barrier sprays at this time because you need the ants to safely return back to the nest. However, if you have aerosol sprays you have already purchased, within a couple of weeks once you have determined the majority of ants have been killed, you can use the spray as a preventative measure. If however you are hosting a party or have guests, you may prefer instead to use the sprays instead to immediately kill ants and if you notice ants returning, try bait stations for a more longer term extermination approach.

Which Ant Killer Bait Stations Should I Use?
You are probably familiar with various brands of little metal tins which can be set inside or outside. These are easy to use. However, as someone who has worked in the garden department of a hardware store, I would highly recommend Terro Liquid Ant Baits. I have had customers repeatedly tell me this has solved their persistent ant problems. In the summertime, I find that ants find their way in the house and love to start feeding around my cat's food and water bowls and by placing these bait stations inside and outside where I suspect they are entering the house, I find one package lasts through the fall. By winter, ants seem to be killed by the cold. Often I have leftover bait stations which seem to be just fine to use again next year.

What if You've Used Terro & Find It Doesn't Work
I have however, had some people say Terro does not work for them and when I went to a hardware trade show, the folks at Grant's Ants advised me that it is because Terro Liquid Ant Baits are appealing to sweet ants attracted to sugary type solutions in which case Terro is highly effective and appealing. Because you can't always ask ants if they feel like honey and donut crumbs, I also set out Grant's Kills Ants Bait Stations. Grant's has a combination of attractants which is the equivalent of inviting ants to feast on the pickings from a barbecue.

Can They Be Used Outside?
The way both Terro Liquid Ant Baits and Grant's Kills Ants Bait Stations house their poisonous solutions, it is not an issue to place inside or outside. You can buy Terro in a liquid bottle where you place drops on pieces of cardboard but I prefer the plastic prefilled stations which you just easily set out and use inside and outside. You can get Grant's Kills Ants as a bait station attached to a plastic stake which can easily be inserted into the ground outside and laid flat inside OR get the Grant's bait stations. Depending on how large your ant problem is, you will probably only need to replace the Terro Liquid Ant Baits every 2-3 months or when the solution is used up. Grant's Kills Ants Bait Stations recommend replacing every 6 weeks outside and suggest replacing every 3 months inside.

Is It Safe for Pets & Children?
Terro Liquid Ant Bait reports it is "similar to pancake syrup combined with Borax" which "is a common active ingredient that is used in soap products... The product kills ants but will not harm people or pets... 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." As for Grant's Kills Ants Bait Station, it is housed in fairly sturdy casing and it is unlikely pets and children will be able to access the casing it is housed in.

Organic Ant Killing Solutions
The web offers a plethora of organic solutions. Lifehacker has solutions which include "Getting Rid of Ants with Baby Powder". Scroll down to the comments where people offer useful solutions like half icing sugar/half borax, using cinnamon, lemon pledge, windex and other scent barrier solutions. ""Enjoy a Pest-Free Patio", from Patio Garden explains why Borax is an inexpensive solution.

Sources:
"Getting Rid of Ants With Baby Powder", Lifehacker
"Enjoy a Pest-Free Patio", Tammara Nelson, Patio Garden, March 7, 2007
"Ant Problem?", Ant Control Products, Terro.com
"Ant Control Products and Ant Killer Products, Grant's Kills Ants,