TERRO Liquid Ant Killer ll

I've been using this product for ages, and doubt I'll find a better attractant out there to completely eliminate ants in a few days. The best part is it's very safe around children and pets. For indoors I recommend getting the bottle, and instead of using the little pieces of coated exterior packaging to put a drop or 3 on, use a water bottle or juice cap or piece of foil that won't absorb product after a few days. For outside I recommend the little plastic trays that are weatherproof.This is super efficient stuff, a few drops will solve most invasions in a week or less. One thing I found out recently, it does seem to have a shelf life. I had my typical springtime infestation, and started treatment. A month and a half passed, and it seemed all I was doing was feeding them. Now, the active ingredient is Borax, and that doesn't go bad. The product seemed to be fine, it stayed liquid like so the consistency wasn't a red flag. Since this was the first time in decades I had an issue, I bought a new bottle. In 3 days they were gone. So, it seems even if stored in a cool dark place, replacement after 2 years might be recommended if you don't get results within 2 weeks. I had 2 points of entry and they're gone!Pros:- Inexpensive- Easy to use- Odorless- Safe- EffectiveCons- Sticky if spilled- Does seem to have shelf life (2 years?)Bottom line, throw away sprays and stakes. This product attracts sweet and grease eating ants like crazy. So when winter or spring rolls around and you get those tiny black ants randomly wandering around in your kitchen or bath, just put a couple of drops near the point of entry (or wherever you might see an outside trail) and kiss them goodbye in a few days. 5 star product if there ever was one!

How you use this stuff is important.My abbreviated guidance:1) More small puddles are better than one giant puddle of TERRO stuff2) Don't kill, wipe up, or disturb the ants. Use their process to help your process. Find their trails.3) Trust that this stuff works.4) You want a good trap at SOURCE, plus a trap or two along their trail you can watch5) If after you've given it a whirl, but you keep seeing ants, you didn't do your homework correctly. : )6) FIND the SOURCE and place your best trap there.7) Use the stuff WISELY, not WILDLY!! About 30-40 drops of the stuff will kill HUNDREDS of ants!!Now... for a bit more verbose how-to:=================================Instructions on the package and in the product description here say to place drop puddles of the stuff for ants to come and FEED off... I agree with that.. But rather than making ONE GIANT puddle (the size of a coin, for instance, ~20-25mm 3/4" to 1"), I have found that it's much more effective to make MULTIPLE SMALL puddles (the size of a hole punch... 5-7mm or ~1/4 in" MAX) with that same distance between puddles... So instead of one big puddle, I'd fit in about 4 to 6 smaller ones in the same space... using less liquid but attracting more ants!When there's one giant puddle, you can only feed as many ants as can fit around its circumference; but with lots of little puddles, you can feed a whole lot more, because they arrange themselves around the circumference of every smaller puddle, and they eat a lot more efficiently. So... it takes less time for the TERRO to do its thing and get the stuff carried back to their nest.My recommendation is NOT to go wild stomping on or swooping in to wipe up ants when you find them... LEAVE THEM IN PLACE and find their trails. This stuff is effective, so they'll get "got", but if you interrupt their flow, you may never really know if you're placing your traps in reasonable places. So when you see ants, get a powerful flashlight and trace the ant trails back to a WALL or WINDOW or a HEAT VENT or a HOLE in the FLOOR... or wherever they gained entry.Ants are very intelligent and ingenious creatures. There is a logical order to how they got from your window to your desk or bed or table or whatever... but it might take some detective work on your part to find that trail. They often won't choose the straight line because they don't want to get steppped on and smashed. They know better. So they'll go around the edge, or maybe crawl up a table leg, even across the bottom of the table, then back down again at the other side if that's their best perceived route.Until you find the full trail, from ENTRY SOURCE to the final CRUMB COLLECTION they're nibbling on, you won't be able to trap them so well along the way. Be patient and mimic their process. I've even gone so far as to take a couple extra days to even start "killing them" because I can't find how they're getting from one place to another. So I might lay white paper down on top of carpet or dark-tile floor to let them use it as a "freeway" and speed their transit so I can better find and see their trail! Then, once I have a better idea how they got from one place to another seeming illogical place I found them... I set about to trapping them and poisoning this little freeway trail I just laid for them.We also don't use the little cardboard squares; we use post-it notes with the non-stick edge folder up as a little handle to lift it back up after all is finished. Just be careful not to place puddles too near the edges (of cardboard or post-it notes). Else, you may have some difficulty cleaning up the sticky stuff left over when the ants finish up.Then plan to place your traps at each end, and a couple test places along the trail, so you get them all. Concentrate the best collection of puddles of the stuff as near as possible to the ENTRY point. Sometimes that may take a few days to get right. But once you think you've found their ENTRY point, and have placed the puddle trap... keep an eye on it every day, and drip a few more drops on if they eat it all up.This stuff WORKs, and it WORKS WELL and fairly QUICKLY. (I've never had it take the two weeks it says to wait... Usually the way we do it, leaving three or four post-its by the discovered point of entry and several feet apart along their favorite trail... it's all over within 3-4 days or so, max)I really kind of hate to have to poison these super intelligent creatures. But I also don't like them taking over my living space, if one of us does something stupid like drop crumbs or sticky sweets somewhere, and the ants show up and illuminate our folly. So, I have to resort to TERRO to take back my space, and then educate the offending crumb-dropper to try and ensure it doesn't happen again.Still, tho, I'm always fascinated by their persistence and drive to survive! : )