Why won't house ants go away no matter what I spray?
Store-bought sprays like permethrin and common baits fail because they only kill surface ants while the underlying colony keeps reproducing and sending out new waves from hidden entry points. This endless cycle leaves homes overrun and makes it nearly impossible to clear the infestation without harming local pets or wildlife outside.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using diatomaceous earth
- 2Using Terro liquid bait
- 3Applying Advion gel in corners
- 4Spraying Permethrin around the house
- 5Spraying permethrin daily
- 6Getting a flock of chickens for pest control
- 7Calling a pest control company
- 8spray by the landlord
- 9squashing multiple of them and leaving their dead bodies
- 10Tried baits and sprays
- 11plugging holes with painters tape
- 12using HotShot Ant Killer Bait
- 13making a borax and sugar mix
- 14spraying the outside perimeter of the home with insecticide
- 15using Terro ant baits inside and stakes outside
- 16spraying Alpine WSG along baseboards
- 17cleaning up the dead ants around the stations
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Hey all so we came home from a trip to a hole in our baseboard and ants crawling out in droves.”source ↗
“ive had these ants for over 4 years and from what i know theyre impossible to get rid of.”source ↗
“they are literally ruining my life its all i think about and all i see.”source ↗
“is it hopeless and do i have to accept that i just live with these things now or is there any thing at all i can do?”source ↗
“I have been trying to stop ants invading my house for over 3 months and starting to give up. Tried all solutions including Terro liquid bait for outdoor and indoor, Advion gel all over the corners and spraying constantly with Permethrin around the house but they keep coming back from every corner of the house.”source ↗
“ive had pharaoh ants in my familys flat for about a year now and honestly theyve been draining my life out of me cuz they get everywhere”source ↗
“i bought a bait from a store called protect but i havent even used it and theres already ants running on the packaging so i dont trust it”source ↗
“Howdy, I’m located in south Texas and dealing with a pharaoh ant infestation. I’ve been baiting them the last two weeks with Advion bait stations and they’ve been swarming each one as soon as I put it out. However, a large percentage of the ants reaching the bait stations seem to be dying in or around them before they can carry anything back to the nest.”source ↗
“Ive sprayed permethrin everyday for the last week and I don’t know what these ants are made of but they won’t stop showing up.”source ↗
“It’s to the point where you can’t step anywhere without stepping on these crawling ants. Millions of them.”source ↗
“I want to get rid of them but the ones in the front yard I’m not sure how because I don’t have a fence and I’m worried if I put some kinda bait out that a non-ant critter will find it and eat it.”source ↗
“I’m done using permethrin too because it’s clearly not doing anything to these things”source ↗
Where this came up
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