How to Get Rid of Ants in Your Home: Terro vs. Amdro Liquid Ant Bait
One of these products worked better than a professional exterminator for us.
We had a bad ant problem. It got to the point where if a crumb fell on the floor, in thirty minutes there would be an ant trail going to it.
We tried some of those ultrasonic insect repellents. They either didn’t work at all, or didn’t work well enough. The ants kept coming.
The next thing I did was call a professional exterminator to spray the perimeter of our condo, figuring the ants were coming in from the outside. No difference. It was possible the ants were living inside our walls.
The Solution: Liquid Ant Bait
We took a trip to our local home improvement store and found a lot of liquid ant bait products. Seems like this was the popular new way to deal with ants. These were relatively non-toxic, which was great, so we picked two prominently-featured brands, Terro and Amdro.
These work on the same principle. Basically they are plastic containers filled with 5.4% Borax clear liquid. They are supposed to allow ants to “survive long enough to deliver a dose to the rest of the colony” according to the Terro box notes. Then, they die and kill the colony. Each box contains six ant bait stations.
We liked the fact that we’re not spraying toxic chemicals around our home.
The only downside of these products is that if they are working properly, you basically have a little ant farm in your home until the colony is killed. You don’t want to disturb them or else they won’t get a chance to take the poison back to their colony. So, it’s best to place these close to where the ants are coming from to avoid a long line of ants.
We bought one six-pack of each type for testing.
The Experiment: Terro vs. Amdro
We distributed six of each type throughout our condo, especially in areas where we had seen ants like the kitchen.
After a day or two, two of the Terro traps struck paydirt. Ants were lining up to get in, and some were dying inside. No activity for the Amdro bait.
After a few more days, we had a full-on party in one of the Terro traps. There was a trail going to it and lots of dead ants inside. That made us wonder whether they were really bringing the bait back to the colony, but we let it sit.
Still no takers for the Amdro bait. I moved one right next to the active Terro trap. Still nothing.
Eventually, I did see some ants going for the Amdro bait outside. But it seems that when presented withe the “Pepsi Challenge” of Amdro vs. Terro side-byside, the ants preferred Terro.
The Winner?
We’ve left both brands lying around, and eventually bought more of the Terro after we threw out some of the old traps which were full of ants. When all was said and done, four of the Terro traps attracted and killed ants, whereas only two of the Amdro traps did.
This is far from a scientific test, but from our experience, Terro traps resulted in more visible dead ants. To be fair, it is possible that the Amdro traps killed ants, but it just took them longer to die and they died elsewhere, where we couldn’t see them.
We still see an occasional ant, but the problem is 99% solved. Even if we leave food out for hours, no ant trail!
These liquid ant baits solved our ant problem even after a professional exterminator was unable to! These might solve your ant problems if you don’t mind a temporary ant farm going on in your home. – Brian
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2022 Update
After using Terro ant bait for the last four years, we’ve been really happy with it. Recently though, there was an ant invasion but we found out why: our Terro bait was “full”!
Replacing it with a fresh trap solved the problem! Obviously, we’re still a strong believer in Terro!
Please Leave a Question or Comment
I try to answer each one! - Brian
The outdoor version of the Terro product works great as well and might be more beneficial for a single family home owner.
My wife and I began having the unpleasant experience of having ants invade the inside of our home 2 or 3 years after we moved in. I wanted to use something that was environmentally friendly and found the outdoor Terro ant baits at Home Depot or Lowes (can’t remember now). When Home Depot or Lowes began having problems keeping the product in stock, I found an online pest control vendor that has always had them in stock year round.
Since using the Terro outdoor ant baits, I’ve not experienced much of an issue with ants coming into our home. Once in awhile I’ll see a stray single ant, but that’s it. Some summers I never see an ant at all.
Based on the photos in your post, those type ants very well could have been living within your walls or walls close by. Those look like the same type ants that have came into our home. If it’s the same type of ant that I’ve seen in and around our home,they are a type of carpenter ant in that they build their nests in wood.
One day I was outside working in the yard and I happend to look at a faux pillar on one corner of the house and noticed wood particles falling from it. Small ants were chewing into exposed 2x4s (yeah, really bad design and construction quality, but that’s another story), probably building a nest.
Before caulking the gap that existed between the faux pillar and the brick wall, I sprayed bug spray heavily to saturate the exposed 2x4s. The gap allowed moisture to penetrate the exposed ends of the 2x4s and the result (weathered wood) probably attracted the ants.
Thanks for sharing Kurt! I didn’t know about the outdoor version of Terro. Will check it out.
Brian