Getting Rid Of Ants

[cimplexsound]

I live in my 30 foot Fleetwood Flair in my winter home of Pahrump, Nevada. About 3 weeks ago I noticed ants in my RV. They especially liked to visit the kitchen area of my RV. I went to Home Depot and got the ant hotels and put them all throughout the RV. The ants didn't take the bait. I went back and got an electronic rodent repeller for about $7 bucks and plugged it in. It actually seems to have worked!!! I haven't seen a single ant on my kitchen counter for almost a week. It makes me wonder maybe the repeller did work, at least for now. Any feedback here??? What things has anyone else done to rid their RV of ants or any other pests for that matter???

[l1v3fr33ord1]

cimplexsound-

Ants:
Outside: Ortho Home Defense
Inside (non-toxic, due to cat): Orange Guard spray
Best fix: Plug the holes. In our case, were entering by falling from the trees onto the roof and awnings, then getting in through the roof/sidewall joints. Caulked the joints (helped with water intrusion, too)

Rodents:
Snap traps, followed by
Fresh Cab repellent bags
Best fix: Plug the holes (will do next Summer, as there are a lot of them to inspect)

[Clay L]

I have had good luck with the dual bait cans. There are two types of ants - grease eating and sugar eating. It takes a few days for them to work.

[RKins]

Try this - I use it on my S&B every 3 months and no bugs at all. You focus on the perimeter and also spray the interior along the walls. It leaves a residue that when a bug crawls across the spray line it gets on the legs and kills them. Once you have killed what's inside and controlled them from getting inside, focus only on the exterior only. I would guess this should work well for you guys that stay in one place for a while.
https://www.amazon.com/Demand-Cs-car...ords=cs+demand

[camperkids]

I had the carpenter ants in my Class C and ended up using a latex based bug bomb to get rid of those suckers nothing else worked. It took care of all the insects.

[WendyG]

If possible, I try to find the entry point, some seemed to come up the cord and thruough my electric bay, so I used an insecticidal dust (sevin) there. It worked for now. Next time caulk gun is out, I will inspect that bay to try to seal any passage I can find, but ants being tiny it might be a tiny, hard to see hole. The dusts tend to attach to insect bodies so they carry it back to nest, hopefully killing queen, not just workers.

[WendyG]

Originally Posted by camperkids

I had the carpenter ants in my Class C and ended up using a latex based bug bomb to get rid of those suckers nothing else worked.

Maybe you should look very carefully for leaks. Carpenter ants nest in wet wood. The ants may be gone, but the damp might still be damaging your rig.

[EZDZIT]

Spectracide Bug Stop is another good product for stopping and killing ants. We spray around tires, sewer and water hoses and electrical cord. We also spray around the tires while in dry storage. The stuff works, is economical and is said to keep on killing ants for a year!

[530ktm]

There is another thread regarding ants and some people have good results with this stuff.

[Lt Dan]

If you are not living in the motor home, then insect foggers like Raid in the basement and the living areas will work well. I had to use some after our return from South Dakota this year with a stink bug infestation. Just be sure to kill all electric and any pilot lights.

[saddlesore]

I have mixed powdered (confectioners) sugar 50/50 with baking soda for sugar ants. the ants cannot pass gas and cannot tell the difference between sugar and soda, so they take it back to their nest for all to "enjoy".

[theroc]

We too spend some winters in the motorhome on our property in Pahrump and have had the exact ant problem you describe. They were the really, really tiny ones that crawl all over the walls by the hundreds in the bathroom and kitchen ...they are not carpenter ants which are much, much larger.

There have been some good suggestions so far.

What we did and it solved the problem was two parts. As has been mentioned, to prevent ants from entering, we used a perimeter spray. The one recommended to us by more than one Pahrumpian was the Bayer product but I'm sure that the Ortho and Specracide products that have been mentioned in this and other threads are designed to do the same thing. I know we've purchased the Bayer product at Home Depot there in Pahrump and I believe they also carry the two other brands:

Bayer Advanced Home Pest Control

Ortho Home Defense

Specracide Bug Stop Home Barrier

They are all purportedly 12-month control but we usually spray more often. You can also use all three indoor and outdoors. I spray the base of the jacks, around the tires, cords, or anywhere else that I figure could be an entry point. These tiny ants do not need large openings to enter so I don't really try to completely seal the motorhome as that would be an impossible task (although, of course, you'd want to seal any obvious places that mice, etc. may use to enter).

As a cheap suggestion that was told to me by an exterminator years ago is to sprinkle Ajax or Comet cleanser in strategic places. Ants are attracted to these cleansers and take it back to the nest where it kills the nest.

Another cheap solution he suggested to make ants stay away is to disrupt their scent trail by spraying a solution of vinegar and water in those places where you've seen them before. Others from the nest will stay away as you've disrupted the scent trail that the predecessors left.

[powderman]

In most of the products sold (Terro and Ortho ) being two of them, the active ingredient is Borax. I found twenty mule team borax soap to do an excellent job. Also it is safe to use around animals. Cheap,safe, and if any is left over,you can wash your laundry.

I had ants get into the ceiling one year. I took an ear syringe and after drilling a small hole in the closet ceiling, I used it to spray some into the void. Couple days later and all was well.

[tcg]

Terro Liquid Ant Bait for the inside.

TERRO® Liquid Ant Baits | Model BT300

And Terro Granules for the outside.

TERRO® Ant Killer Plus | Ant Granules for Your Home

Here's the thing though, when you first put out the bait inside you will see a steady stream of ants coming for it. Resit the urge to kill them, let them take the bait back to their nest.

After several days you will no longer have a problem.

But as someone said, if they are carpenter ants you will get rid of them but there is some damp wood somewhere in the rv or nearby outside.

We had carpenter ants in our home, they would come and go. I used the terro stuff and would get rid of them every year. I finally found their nest outside in some old pressure treated deck stairs. I got rid of the stairs and haven't seen ants in over a year.

We have five cats, the Terro stuff is perfectly safe.