Conference misery::feline_v1

    Ants leave trails, so removing the food they can get to, like enclosing
    stuff in mason jars, etc. and then scrubbing the area to remove
    the trails they follow will help.  If you can find where they are
    coming in, you can then possibly caulk over the opening.  Look for
    clear caulk in the hardware store.
    

    Apparently there are two kinds of ants:  sweet (sugar) ants and
    grease ants. For sweet ants I have great success with a syrup
    called Taro. Be CAREFUL -- do not let your pets or children near
    this -- it is quite toxic.

    Place a few drops of the syrup on a flat small object in the area
    the ants are appearing.  The ants carry it back to the nest and
    the entire colony is wiped out after 3-4 days.  I also have
    success mixing a little with soft butter for grease ants. 

    I use a flat, small canning cover which is put under a heavy
    glass cover and place this whole arrangement behind my canisters
    so that my cats can't reach it.  After four days I carefully
    dispose of what is left. 
    	
    I would have to review to bottle to be sure of the poison, but I 
    believe it is arsenic.
				Julie

My exterminator uses sprays that are not toxic to cats.  Maybe you could
ask the people at your complex for the name of their exterminator and talk
over your concerns with the exterminator.  

I get carpenter ants sometime each spring.  The way I know this is I see my
cats playing with them.  My exterminator is really good and she usually
gets them the first time.  She's located in Waltham, Mass.  If you want
her name, let me know.

Pam

    Carpenter ants are a common Spring occurrance in our house because
    we heat with wood and have a wholing room for the worrd right under
    our house.  We also have severe chemical allergies so professional
    spraying is dangerous for us.
    
    We have found that when the ant first start coming up they arrive
    in my kitchen.  Since ant society sends scouts out first then go
    back and tell the colony we found a good one, we keep a vacumn cleaner
    in the middle of our kittchen floor and everytime the colony sends
    scouts we suck them up so they don't return to the nest.  Ants being
    very smart soon get the message that that house is not a good to
    go to and they quite coming.  It takes about 5 days to send the
    message but for us it beats chemicals.
    
    Now if we could just fingure out a similar methods for fleas.
    
    Mary Ann

    Re:  1186.2 - Taro syrup 

    Opps, I spelled it incorrectly.  Here is the correct information:

        Terro Ant Killer
        Senoret Chemical Company
        631 Leffingwell
        St. Louis, MO  63122

        Sodium Arsenate ........ 2.27%
        Total Arsenic   ........ 0.91%  (as metallic arsenic)

    			Julie

    I have had ants and was concerned for the health and safety of my
    cats as well.  At the local hardware store I discovered Ant Traps.
    They come three to a package; they are discs 2 or 3 inches in diameter
    and they contain poison that the ants take back to the nest.  In
    three days all my ants were gone and the cats protected.  I did
    have to tape the bottom of the trap to the floor to keep the "kids"
    from bowling with them.
    

Re 6:

The stuff in those ant traps is poisonous to cats.  So one does have to
be very careful to make sure they don't tip over, like you say you did.

Pam

Small plastic discs containing ant bait and a slow acting poison
work back at the ant hill and they are not something a cat can lick and
get poison from.  I use these with great success....called "ant bait"
or something.  I bought them at the grocery store and then just throw
them into corners of cabinets or under the sink.

    I use the ant cups sold in packages of 3 too and find they work
    great.  I don't leave these where my cats can get them.  Instead
    I put them in the pantry in the floor cabinets, in back of coffee/
    sugar cannisters, and behind breadbox.  When I no longer see them
    in house, I dispose of "empty" ant cups.
    
    Good luck.
    

    Can you get these ant discs in the UK at all?
    
    I've been looking for a way of getting rid of ants, that won't harm
    the cats, but can only find sprays and goos, that I've got to position
    very carefully.
    
    Ali

I've used ant stakes (what they are called around here) with the gel centers 
in the home near anywhere ants pass.  They are effective for all grease or
sweet eating ants.  My cats have never evinced any interest in the chemicals
and therefore, the stakes or traps are safe for the cats and dogs.  I would
be concerned, however, about small children getting to them. Curiosity
being what it is, I suspect they would be prone to taste, whereas a cat
will only taste what "smells" good to the cat.