So I look at my stove...

[Roureem Egas]

I've got an ant problem. There's a bunch of ants crawling over the gas stove, and I'm not even sure what they're after since I don't see any food. Normally, I'd just wipe the area with some chemical or other but for now, I'm afraid it'll cause a fire. Help me please? 

[GabrielsThoughts]

Boric Acid and Seven Dust, it takes a few weeks but the dust sticks to the roaches and spreads everywhere and it irritates them, when they finally try to lick it off is where the fun begind snd they explode inside out its actually kind of cool to watch. It will probably work with ants too.

[Roureem Egas]

I have an *ant* problem, Gabriel.

[GabrielsThoughts]

 depending on the type of ants yo are luring  ants you might want to mix  cat food with the boric acid  or honey catfood and boric acid to attract them... ants.

[xHaZxMaTx]

He wants to get rid of them, not make a mess.

I also have an ant problem.

[Damaris]

raid, and bay leaves in your cupboards.

[Alan Garou]

Just turn on the oven. Burn them. Burn them all! 

[Melpomene]

Agreed with Garou!

[xHaZxMaTx]

There's a difference between a stove and an oven.

[Valynth]

There's a difference between a stove and an oven.

Actually they do the same thing, one just focuses the heat and the other doesn't.

[Kasarn]

Relatedly,


I have no actual suggestion though...

[xHaZxMaTx]

Well, a stove is a combination of the range or stove top and the oven.  I'm sure the range is what the ants were crawling on, and not inside the oven, so turning the oven on probably wouldn't do much to the ants.

[Brunhidden]

my background of livin in a swamp in a family who had yet to figure out the compelxities of things such as tupperware, airtight cannisters, or even plastic bags has led me to have a knowledge of all things anty. vermin infestation can be quite serious when half your food is kept in a 'root cellar' and its literally produce sitting around in bushel baskets waiting for someone to have a conipption of who was dumb enough to let moles into the house and freak out that the bitemarks in your tomatoes are the size of a 50 cent piece.

ive found the following solutions work well against ants, better then those little hotel style baits.

- tarro (or terro, i forget which, but NOT karo. karo is corn syrup and will get you MORE ants...ive seen people mistake them and its really sad) is a brand name of ant poison, and they have many products. however the only one thats in the least bit effective is the syrup. its a sticky clear liquid that comes in a teeny tiny bottle, and has some cardboard with it. supposedly you set out two or three squares of cardboard with syrup on it and the ants cluster like swine at a trough to guzzle down enough poison to take down a dog. what ive found is that this does not work, what you need to do is set out about a dozzen of theese squares and make sure thiere ant friendly places (corners under fridges, behind stoves, anywhere laden with crumbs, and especially next to doors and windows near infestation areas) so that the bulk of ants from any nearby colonys rush to this new food source. whereas two or three of theese traps will lessen your ants a dozzen of them loaded as much as you can will make sure that any ant colony sending scouts to your kitchen is now too cripled to feed itself.

- visit a serious minded home and garden store such as a fleet farm/farm fleet or a steins garden center. halfway between normal inceticides and the lawn fertilizer should be big bags or medium cans of a ganulated poison. the purpose of this poison is you scatter it around the outside of your house as a kind of moat. the varieties found in huge bags probably need to be spread with the same kind of device used to spread grass seed (the tiny handheld kind, usually red plastic with a crappy hand crank) and you surround your whole house with a moat of slow release poison a few feet wide. the kind you find in plastic canisters you merely scatter around any windows or other problem areas you suspect the ants are comming in through, you can just scatter it from the canister like you were salting something bland. both theese methods usually require you thoroughly moisten the poison immediately and allow it to dry, this starts the time release of the actual insecticides. dont worry, this granule moat is both effective and safe for pets and children....so long as your pets and children dont spend an hour every day grazing.

- above all keep track of any food item that crumbles or leaves residue, even after useing the above methods ants will march across legions of thier own dead to lick a butter spill or grab a sandwitch crust. the obvious ones are things like crumbs from breads, cookies, and cakes, but the residue is harder to spot. lets say you use your stove like i do- your pans often contain cooking oils and every time you make  eggs or bacon you sear your chest and forearms with grease spray. even if you dont theres the subtle buildup of vaporised food that clings to every flat surface. you blipped a bit of pancake batter last week and wiped it up with your finger? theyre after whats left behind even if you cant see it. you made fettuchini and the alfredo sause boiled over while you were watching a shirtless guy on TV? theyre after what fell below the burner, even if you had the sense of mind to wipe it up. you set some meat on the coutner to cut it up, theyre dumb enough to go after the stain even if you had spent five minutes with a spoge and pinesol.

use the above methods and you should see a drastic reduction in ants, if not kiss them goodbye for the season. however nothing ive ever experienced other then a heavy boot works against moles, and the chipmonks arent falling for the rattraps with peanut butter anymore. do not ask me about earwigs or cockroaches, nothing works against the first and ive never seen the second. also i strongly suggest avoiding storing food in anything that resembles a root cellar, and forwarn anyone who ever wishes to live near a wetlands.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

[Reese Tora]

argh, ants!  (every year, they come into my house en-masse atleast once)

As for why they are coming?  ever cooked stuff on your stove? fried meat? spilled stuff? unless you're meticulous in keeping the stove spotless, there'll be food residue that can attract them.

What we use is a chemical ant spray, applied to the ant trail at the point where it enters the wall, door, or window (or enters the house from outside... careful if the any hill is under your house!)

the spray kills what ants are sprayed, and repels any ants from crossing the area sprayed thereafter.  I think the kind we here use also disrupts the chemical signature that forms the trail, but I'm not certain.  the ants in the room will then disperse, though they probably leave ant corpses lying around... for prevention, we use sprincled diazanon in areas we think they will try to enter from, it's fairly effective.

If you're worried about an explosion, you must have a gas stove with pilot lights... under the stove should be a valve for shutting off the gas. you can turn off the gas and wait for the lights to die, then spray the area you want to effect.  give a few minutes (10 to 15 if you're really worried) then turn the gas back on and re-light the pilot lights.
You probably don't ahve to worry, most sprays are primarilyw ater, and shouldn't ignight (exceptions might include areosol sprays, or any chemical that specifically has a warning on the side that says flamable ro explosive)

I'll get back with the brand we use tonight... point if your'e worried about poisoning yourself, you'd need to down a sizable portion of any poison to cause yourself harm, and the residue from spraying isn't nearly that much... still, never hurts to wash any stray spray off of your hands.

[Zorro]

TERRO ant bait is what you need to use.  The poison in the bait is Borax;  basically soap and barely a toxin to mammals.

http://www.terro.com/products.php?product=liquid_ant_killer

It is the most effective thing short of Arsenic based baits and it is FAR safer than arsenic.

[Netami]

Woo their queen and become leader of the Ant people.

[Zedd]

What if the queen was "bug" ugly

[ilpalazzo]

Let me ask me dad (he's a pest technician)