Ant problems? A close look at ant traps/baits

Does anyone hate the sight of ants crawling all over the wall? Previously, I didn't mind a few ants exploring my house.. I'd normally scoop them up and put them outside. Well, that was the case till they started to invite their friends in and gosh.. do they have a lot of them.

Hungry ants

I guess it was my fault as sometimes leaving food out in the open tends to temp them too much. Ok, so I'll change my habits and store food in containers whenever I can. Worked great, ants stopped bothering me.. well.. for a while anyway. It is not till then till I found out that ants actually get thirsty. Which means, they started pouring into my bathroom and water containers. Some ants smell when they die. I can't describe it. Its terrible.

Thirsty ants

Well, thats when I started to think of a way to get rid of them. I looked on the internet for some solutions, ranging from using cinnamon powder to vinegar to confuse their trails. Didn't really work for me though. So I thought I'd try using ant baits.

The Ant Baits

Before we start, I'd like to say that I had a lot of trouble trying to ant killers such as these ant baits. I bought them from Singapore, Australia and Malaysia. Reason being is that I found it really hard to find good or even any ant baits in Malaysia (Well in Sabah anyway). Ok, here is what I have collected.


The Combat team

Some other products I picked up

A Malaysian made ant trap
The first bait I bought was the basic combat
So what have I tried?

• Combat Ant mini
• Combat Ant killer
• Combat Ant Kill Gel
• Mortein Nest Kill
• Baygon Double Control Ant Baits
• Grant's Ant Baits
• Hovex liquid baits (not pictured above)
• King Kong Ant Killer

The first baits I tried was the Combat Ant Mini and Combat Ant Killer. The Combat Ant Mini worked for a while, then the ants started coming back. After a while, the ants just walked around the baits not bothering to check the contents anymore. Yes.. I did take a peak inside to see if there are still any baits inside.


Combat dry baits in action

Disappointed with the results, I looked harder for more products. I went to every supermarket and looked for any different brands. I found Mortein Nest Kill, Baygon Double Control baits and King Kong Ant Killer. Excited by these two well known brands, I quickly layed them out in strategic spots. This time I'll try them outside, where there are more ants lurking. The results were mixed. Baygon did not attract any ants and it stayed empty for a whole week. King Kong did attract ants but not many. Mortein Nest Kill started to work right away. I left it for a few days and the ants kept munching away at the mortein baits. After a while, the ants did disappear.


Mortein outdoors

One day, I got a small parcel in the mail, to my delight, an aunt had sent over an ant bait from Australia after hearing my plight. Its a Hovex liquid ant bait, thats the first time I heard of that. I wondered to myself how much more effective liquid ant baits would be. Well I put it along an ant path and WOW! they ants started munching away at it. After a few minutes, the ants where having a party there. Two days later not an ant to be seen. Bad thing was.. this is an Australian product and I never saw that selling here.


Hovex Liquid Baits

Motivated by the effectiveness of liquid based ant baits, I went over to Singapore (well, I didn't go there just for the baits, went there for a seminar and in my free time looked for the baits) I got the Combat Ant Kill Gel and Grant's Ant Baitssince I heard a lot of great reviews about it on Amazon, so I decided to purchase it too.

After I got back home, I tried both of them. The interesting thing is that Combat Ant Kill Gelcomes in a syringe form, which means I can easily press out the liquid bait on a wall or on almost any surface. Let's take a look at how well it performed:

After 2 minutes


After 8 minutes

Well looks pretty impressive. I let the ants eat all the gell and found that after a couple of hours they start to move slower or just become stationary. Either their too full or the bait is starting to take effect. By the next day, no ant in sight.

Chemicals
So whats in these traps? Hovex and Mortein traps contains Borax, Combat traps contain Fipronil, Hydramenthylnon, Baygon contains Avermectin and Grant's traps contains Arsenic Trioxide. My dog did accidently eat the Combat gel one day, but she's still ok. I will be more careful next time, just a caution for pet owners :)

Conclusion
In conclusion, I have a new found favourite for Combat Ant Kill Gel, as it has a simple delivery form and is very effective. Just drop a small gel along the ant path and it gets to work almost immediately. I've also read some great reviews about Terro ant baits. I couldn't find any here in Malaysia or Singapore, so if anyone knows where to find it, please tell me :)

There are a lot of brands of ant traps out there. You can find more here.