Ants in my kettle

[nickmanchester2]

Every morning, same rigmarole of opening my kettle and seeing all the ants in there having a drink. Last night, I decided to empty out all the water and leave the kettle upside down, and today, no more ants hurrah! Thats about 10 seconds of my life back every day at least (and a lot less dead ants in my sink).

Anymore top thailand tips please?

[apetley]

Got rid of ants in our Thai kitchen with some borax powder mixed with either syrup or used cooking oil.

Good thing about it is that the ants don't die straight away, make it back to their nest where they die and are eaten by the rest who then die.

Works a treat :-)

[daveAustin]

Yes, borax mixed with sweet stuff will do the trick, and better any commercially available tripe plus it's also non-toxic to us. Leave a smidge wherever their trails are and it'll obliterate them all inside a day. Don't be tempted to kill them while they're eating... as above they take back to nest and share with the others, including queenie.

Borax will also take out termites the same way

[nickmanchester2]

And where do I get this Borax from? and will Thai people in the shop understand when I say Borax?

[apetley]

I bought mine on eBay very cheaply.

Heard that it may be available in Makro or BigC.

Or try a pharmacy, ask for Borax Decahydrate.

[NeverSure]

Got rid of ants in our Thai kitchen with some borax powder mixed with either syrup or used cooking oil.

Good thing about it is that the ants don't die straight away, make it back to their nest where they die and are eaten by the rest who then die.

Works a treat :-)

Some ants like sweets and some like grease. If I didn't know what I had I'd put out some of both. I put it on little squares of non corrugated cardboard.

You're right though, it'll kill off the whole nest and they'll be gone.

[arthurwait]

And where do I get this Borax from? and will Thai people in the shop understand when I say Borax?

Pattaya would be my guess.

[chrisinth]

I seem to get the ant problem with the water heater every time the weather cools down a bit. Doesn't seem to matter if the kitchen appears to be ant-free, the little blighters seem to seek out the warmth.

If you're like me and leave the water heater on all night, drain about half a cup of hot water before you make your first coffee in the morning..................

It gets rid of most of them.

[ryanhull]

I found Borax gel in foodland, I mixed it up with a bit of redbull say 80% borax gel 20% rebull (ants love redbull), dot it around your place in drink bottle caps and in a week or so they are defeated!

Shame really, I used to quite enjoy turning my tostie maker on and watching them all scramble!

[ATF]

Just remove them with a teaspoon after you've made a cup of tea. They won't kill you.

[planemad]

There is quite a long running thread in the Real Estate section which strongly advocates the Borax solution. I was about to try this method myself, however, whilst visiting the local market at Wat Sing, we met a seller who’s cart was filled with all sorts of potions and poisons. On his recomendation, we bought a small puffer type plastic container with a white powder inside. When we got home, our first application of the stuff was along a dual carriageway of ants circling the kitchen along the top of the tiles, a small squirt of the stuff at either end of the trail and 5 minutes later, no traffic at all and they have not returned! I also tried it on a quite large ants nest, with a slightly larger application and again, 10 minutes later, no activity at all.

What is this stuff called? SHANJIA BRAND INSECTICIDE POWDER, there are no ingredients detailed, so haven’t a clue as to its chemical make-up, but it works QUICKLY and of course from a Thai market, is very cheap as well.

[ozsamurai]

Borax and honey does work and I use it myself.

HOWEVER, ants communicate a 'target' with scent trails, by simply wiping away these trails they won't find the water again and may head off to the toilet to get it next time...

Killing a colony of ants isn't always the solution.

and in case you actually care..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wKbj3ZDmvdU

Oz