I have good luck with baits.  The most effective was a bluish gell in a
small squeeze bottle.

Take up the food dishes right after they finish, and put a small amount of
the bait on a platter where the ants expect food. Should take care of the
problem in a few days.
If you fear your owner will eat the bail, they sell little covered bait
stations also which will work.

The point is, you now have to break their cycle, and that means picking up
the food dishes after use, at least until they have moved on.

I had this problem in Thailand.  First I used ant chalk to draw a box
around the food bowl so they couldn't cross it.  But after a few years
they turned into mutant ants who could cross the chalk line.  So I used
a dinner plate with water on it to put under the food bowl.  This way
the ants can't get at the food.

we use bowls that are stainless steel that sit in a holder, we live in the
middle of cornfields, so critters of all sorts are always an issue.  I keep
the bowls set in a baking dish with some water in the bottom so the ants
can't get to the food.  It doesn't get rid of the ants but it does keep them
away from the food.  good luck, Lee

"Jane" <ladyjane@smart.net> wrote in news:1176728770.369200.313890
@n76g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

I used to get tiny tiny ants in the kitchen every August and read about
washing the counters with white vinegar. So I start in July and wipe them
every couple of days with vinegar, and for 2 years now have not had any
ants. Mine used to come in around the sink and counter.

Bobble

'Tis the season...  If you can find their trail (made with formic
acid), wipe it up as often as possible with vinegar/water mix, or at
least soapy water. Also, if the food must be left out, put the food
bowl in a larger water bowl, and put a little dish soap in the water
to break the surface tension, the ants should drown.  There is also at
least one food dish made to foil crawling bugs, can't remember the
name.
Covered ant traps may also help for the ones that get away from you.
I would also notify your landlord or building management, so they can
spray outside.

Good luck, they are a nuisance.
Caroline s.

Oh yes, I get those teeny-tiny ants every sprint and into the
summer.  On Sat morning I opened the dishwasher to find the
bottom full of them.  I ran them through the rinse cycle.
I also use ant baits, which helps some.  They will stop coming
if you vacuum the floor everyday around the food bowls
and put the bowls into a shallow dish of water.

Bobbie suggested cleaning counters with white vinegar.
I'm going to try that and see if it helps.

Debbie

Sprinkle cinnamon liberally anywhere you see them.  It's a
bit messy, because you have to leave it in place for a
while, but it does the trick.  (Ants don't like it, so
simply go away - leaving no poisoned ant corpses for the
cats to ingest, either.)

What's worked for me:

Grant's stakes. They're meant to be stuck into the ground, but you can
put them on the floor, on windowsills, etc. They have a tiny hole in the
top that ants can crawl into, but pets can't get at what's in there. The
bait has food that's attractive to ants, laced with a poison which they
bring back to their colony. In spite of the fact that cats can't really
get into the bait, just to be extra safe I usually put the baits under
furniture that my cats can't fit underneath, away from the edges so kitty
paws can't reach it, either. I suppose if the cats started batting it
around, it could spill some of the poison out, so I don't want to take
chances.

Obsessive cleaning. Not fun, but it does work. Make sure the floor is
swept and is clean of any spilled cat food. Don't leave dirty dishes
around. Take up bowls or plates that had cat food in them. Make sure
counters are clean. Basically, bore the ants to death, and they'll leave. :)

I bought a bowl that has a base with a "moat" for water, so ants can't
climb up to the dry food. However, my cats are forever dropping little
pieces of kibble *into* the moat, where they expand and form a nifty
land bridge for the ants. I fault the design of the bowl. If the top of
the bowl were only *wider* than the bottom where the moat is, they would
not be able to drop kibble into it. But if your cats don't do this, then
this could work fine for you.

Joyce

One thing I would suggest is to feed them somewhere else for a while - say,
in the bathroom or a bedroom.  If the ants can't find the food, that should
cut down on the number of them in your kitchen.  I'd also try some of the
other things suggested, like the vinegar.  However, first I would move the
food.

Joy

I had a major invasion of those tiny ants earlier this Spring.  I noticed
TuTu staring intently at the floor for a long time.  The ants were almost
too tiny for me to see --- they were on and in my hall carpet.  They then
moved to the bathroom and kitchen.  I got out all of my vacuums and
vacuumed several times a day for many days.  I also used three different
types of ant traps.   If ants are outside, Clorox will make them disappear
but I was wary about using too much indoors.  

This condo is one level with a crawl space.  I have a theory that the
building settled a little after a very heavy rain storm thus disturbing an
ant nest.   I still have ant traps under and in back of things and the
ants seem to be gone.  Keeping fingers and toes crossed.   MLB

Try and find out where they are getting in and shake some talcum powder
around there.  It really works.

Tweed

You can wipe out the nest by putting a few drops of Tero (sp?) ant
poison where they come in.  It's 5% borax in sugar syrup so it isn't
interesting to the cats.  I make my own version with borax and honey -
that seems to work even better.  The ants die in the nest, and I've
never known a cat to show the slightest interest in the poison.

Jane, my DH is a beekeeper and naturally has to be careful with what
he uses
around the hives so not to contaminate the honey. Beekeepers use
cinnamon
sprinkled around the hives to kill ants. It seems to work. (But then,
you'd have
cinnamon on the floor to deal with, which would look just like dirt!)

Sherry