We are in a rental house .. weatherboard, in Auckland, set into the hill so one storey at front, two at back, wooden floors upstairs (but with cracks between floorboards) and the downstairs is carpeted.
When we moved in we noticed a few ants .. not a army load you know .. so we bought a spray from the supermarket and did the sills and skirtings. Then someone recommended a little bait trap - plastic box filled with an oozy liquid that they eat and then take back to their home therefore killing the nest. I put them in the 3 areas most affected. One of them was immediately overrun with ants and it freaked me out, it was in my daughter's bedroom and they were coming in from outside between the weatherboard through the bottom of a sliding door on the balcony .. so I put the bait trap on the balcony instead .. then they stopped visiting it - dead? Not sure. The other one in the house had a mountain of visitors for 5 days (it was only supposed to take 2/3) and then none. Dead? I thought so .. but now they are coming back. The last one I put in the garage - not a lot of activity.
We now find them in the sink - just a few every morning, in the wardrobe - again just one or two everytime I go in there, in my iron! (of all places) - funnily enough they are NEVER in the kitchen. My daughter left a piece of orange peel in her bin overnight and they had party on that one. But the point at which I decided this has to stop is when I felt one crawling over me in bed.
Now - I would like any help you can give .. advice from a terminator would be good. I am more than happy to pay to get someone in but I don't want to pay for someone to do what I have already done .. which has failed.
Has anyone else had a similar problem - have we taken on a problem property? I'm starting to think the things live in the floors, ceilings, electrical points and plumbing system. I have seen more than one emerge from a plug point. HELP
Dawn