My apartment has red ants in a few places and I think I ate a couple by mistake (in my food). Should I be concerned?

 

I feel fine but I am a little concerned.

 

Also, how to get rid of these things?

 

I bought ant poison (little plastics containers) and have several of them around. It seem to only be making a small difference.

 

Thanks in advance.

probably only begin to worry. 

 when you begin to think you are now eating poisoned ants that were still crawling... very slowly

So you got a little protein in your diet today. Good for you. I hear they taste like chicken. How to get rid of them is something I cannot help you with. Wipe everything with bleach. You need to remove their trail. Lots of poison, and a few freelance geckos can help.

 

I am unsure whether to move this topic to the Health forum for medical help; the DIY forum for pest control or the Thai Food forum for advice on seasonings.

3 hours ago, scoutman360 said:

So you got a little protein in your diet today. Good for you. I hear they taste like chicken. How to get rid of them is something I cannot help you with. Wipe everything with bleach. You need to remove their trail. Lots of poison, and a few freelance geckos can help.

I sprayed some powerful glass cleaner on an infestation of critters recently. A few days of this treatment and they were gone. Very clean surface after that too, 555.

Remove left over food, tiny parts too and they will be gone.

9 hours ago, AlphaCanadian said:

I ate a couple by mistake (in my food). Should I be concerned?

Yes, they would have been much tastier with a little pepper.

(I got tired scraping them out of my butter (small ants) so I gave up trying, just spread them on to my heart's content....never hurt me).

My former Thai GF ate them all the time. She said they were "bee ow" or sour.

You should check your will and ensure your family affairs and documentation  is all in order.

27 minutes ago, quandow said:

My former Thai GF ate them all the time. She said they were "bee ow" or sour.

"pre ow"

Ants are food too. Thai eat them, or at least their eggs...

You don't sound very "Alpha" worried about eating a few ants. From experience I'd be more worried about them climbing up my leg. Little bastards...

 

Nothing worse than following your mates through the undergrowth and hearing a guy up front yell in an exited voice, "Mot Daeng"  

There is an “ant chalk” available at most Chinese goods shops in Bangkok for about 10 baht. Trace around where walls meets floors, door jams and the like. Be creative. Neither ants nor cockroaches will cross the line. Ever. You’re welcome. 

44 minutes ago, csabo said:

"pre ow"

she doesn't pronounce the r - like most Thais.

35 minutes ago, Songlaw said:

There is an “ant chalk” available at most Chinese goods shops in Bangkok for about 10 baht. Trace around where walls meets floors, door jams and the like. Be creative. Neither ants nor cockroaches will cross the line. Ever. You’re welcome. 

Note that this has warning:

Keep out of reach of children and old men.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2Pcs-Insecticide-Chalk-7-5cm-Anti-Cockroach-Killing-Bait-Miraculous-Insecticide-Chalk-Pest-Cockroach-fleas-ants/32870648172.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_10059_10340_10341_306_10696_100031_10084_10083_10103_10618_10624_10307_10623_10622_10621_10620-10152,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=7e01bc81-ef80-4d98-a4e7-e26b2737a351-14&algo_pvid=7e01bc81-ef80-4d98-a4e7-e26b2737a351&priceBeautifyAB=0

11 hours ago, scoutman360 said:

So you got a little protein in your diet today. Good for you. I hear they taste like chicken. How to get rid of them is something I cannot help you with. Wipe everything with bleach. You need to remove their trail. Lots of poison, and a few freelance geckos can help.

Red ants are on the menu in many places in Thailand! Delicious? as for getting rid of ants mix borax and baking soda and put in something like a screw cap off a bottle in different places you see the ants within a week they should have disappeared. If needs be keep topping up the mix.

Eat them all. Good protein source 

 

 

I definitely wouldn't be concerned about it:

 

 

 

Bayer Quantum in a little tube works very good.  Just put a drop on the trail the ants are using.  At first you will have more ants showing up and then later they will be gone.  I know you can buy it at Homepro and Tops.

 

I have not read the entire thread.

 

To get rid of ants google boric acid for getting rid of ants.

 

Very effective.

I have eaten a lot of ants and not by mistake, when I pour a cup of coffee in the morning I am not always very alert (therefore the coffee!) and often times there are ants in my coffee cup, I am most certainly not going to waste an otherwise perfectly good cup of java just because there are ants in it, I am also tired of spending the time to fish the little buggers out...so if there are tons of them I just stick the cup of coffee in the microwave and nuke 'em a bit for good measure....then down they go!

 

 When I first read your post and you were taking about ant killer, I was worried you were thinking about sending it down after them, but be assured that your stomach acid is probably much more potent so there is no need for the ant killer.

10 hours ago, blackcab said:

I am unsure whether to move this topic to the Health forum for medical help; the DIY forum for pest control or the Thai Food forum for advice on seasonings.

Isn't there a hypochondriacs thread?

Isn't there a hypochondriacs thread?

Hypochondria is the Only thing I've never had..

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Don't eat the poisoned ones and take antacid tablets.?

6 hours ago, SymS said:

Ants are food too. Thai eat them, or at least their eggs...

They eat ants as well. Can buy them in our local market. They are actually very tasty and make a change from all the other bugs and grubs that we eat

10 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Note that this has warning:

Keep out of reach of children and old men.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2Pcs-Insecticide-Chalk-7-5cm-Anti-Cockroach-Killing-Bait-Miraculous-Insecticide-Chalk-Pest-Cockroach-fleas-ants/32870648172.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_10059_10340_10341_306_10696_100031_10084_10083_10103_10618_10624_10307_10623_10622_10621_10620-10152,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=7e01bc81-ef80-4d98-a4e7-e26b2737a351-14&algo_pvid=7e01bc81-ef80-4d98-a4e7-e26b2737a351&priceBeautifyAB=0

Yeah, big deal. This is like the tag on your mattress that says do not remove. The stuff is boric acid, harmless to mammals, unless you eat a pound of it. It's used in ear treatments. Also comes in a powder form, which I blast directly into their nests. I find the powder more effective than a squiggly line of chalk. Available at your local general store.

8 hours ago, lanng khao said:

Hypochondria is the Only thing I've never had..

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 

Don't catch it mate, it'll kill you dead.

 

21 minutes ago, LawrenceN said:

Yeah, big deal. This is like the tag on your mattress that says do not remove. The stuff is boric acid, harmless to mammals, unless you eat a pound of it. It's used in ear treatments. Also comes in a powder form, which I blast directly into their nests. I find the powder more effective than a squiggly line of chalk. Available at your local general store.

The insecticide chalk is NOT simply boric acid.  It typically contains deltamethrin and/or cypermethrin.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltamethrin

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypermethrin

The chalk works and so do the little houses with poisoned food that they bring back to their nests and kill the whole colony. The houses usually get rid of them for quite a while. Maybe better to avoid both if you have pets though.