In the process of trying to exterminate ants, a tenant in Missouri claims to have created an “infinite ant buffet” for them. Using Terro’s Ant Killer, Reddit user Guessirs says he’s been fighting this battle against the colony for not days, not weeks, but over a month. What’s worse is that his windowsill is rotting, but his landlord apparently couldn’t care less, giving the ants quite the environment to thrive in.
While more ants might seem bad, that isn’t necessarily the case with Terro’s ant bait formula. The point is that ants collect it as food and carry it back to the colony, eventually killing off the entire horde. The issue for Guessirs is that this slow process, which allegedly took him days before, has now passed Day 30 and is trying his patience.
A Month Is Long Time to Take Down a Colony with Ant Bait, But It Could Take Longer In Some Cases
“Usually Terro works wonders, and the ants are gone within a few days. This time it’s been a month, and they won’t stop,” he remarked. According to the official instructions, the ant bait can take up to two weeks, and it will most certainly attract a large number of ants before they gradually die off. In other words, Guessirs’s endless ant buffet is a hopeful sign that it’s working, though a month is still significantly longer than two weeks.
According to the University of Minnesota Extension, baiting can take several months. Still, factors that hinder the pesticide’s effectiveness include multiple colonies, insufficient bait, other food sources the ants might choose, or ants avoiding the bait altogether because of contamination. Considering Guessirs’s open ant restaurant is allegedly still going strong after a month, that could mean he’s not used enough bait, or he’s actually battling multiple colonies, among other things.
It’s also crucial to mention that different types of ants have different needs and preferences. Even in its instructions, Terro Ant Killer explains which ants it’s effective at controlling, with several other types being less effective against. Since OP didn’t ID the ants swarming his home, it’s hard to say whether his bait is most effective against his ants.
Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, it could take weeks to months to take down a colony of thousands of ants. And even longer time might be needed for Guessirs, if he really is dealing with an empire of multiple colonies.
