Ants in 5th wheel

[Nightrainzzz]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Garden-Sa...b-Bag/44827687

Cheap, effective, same stuff as flea powder. Pet friendly.
Put it in a ketchup squirt bottle from dollar store.
Put around tires, jacks, cords and hoses.

[Donbren]

Originally Posted by mustardjim

Some camp grounds we stayed in last summer had tiny, tiny ants. They would walk up the power cord by the thousands and find there way in there. Camp ground gave us powdered ajax to put around all contact point. That worked very well.

You can break there trail by placing a small film of grease around the power cord just before entry.Ants will not cross the grease.

[camp2day]

Originally Posted by ramblin

As a newbie still learning lots of stuff. Latest is ants in 5th wheel. Can not find the trail. We have a cat and need something to spray for the ants thats safe for our cat. Looking for suggestion and method to keep these things outside where they belong.

As a few others have said, Terro PCO stations inside. Keep them out of reach of kids and the cat. Cabinets are usually a good place. Outside perimeter and all ground contact points use Bifen IT or any insecticide with bifenthrin as the active ingredient. Follow the instructions on the labels. Also Bifen can be mixed to spot treat inside and should be safe as long as people and pets are out until it dries but I'd give the Terro bait a chance to work first. Results may vary depending on the type of ant but this procedure should work well on most small ants. There are other ways but as someone that does pest control for a living this is what I'd try first if I were treating it for one of our customers. Good luck and happy camping.

[ADVtraveller]

Been using orange oil and peppermint extract mix for years. So there are no ants in my yard at my house, let alone in the trailer. Use a little cayenne pepper extract as a bonus.
Mix 1 oz orange oil, a few drops peppermint extract in a spray bottle with a scoosh of dish washing soap and the rest water. Cayenne extract if you've got it. Shake it good. Spray your jacks and tires. Spray your yard, entry doors and under the cabinets at your house too.
Kills the bugs good, and keeps them away. Safe for animals.
I also use Pledge orange oil on the cabinets in the trailer as a wood preservate, twice a year. Ants hate orange oil. It degrades their exoskeleton and they die.
Diatamatious earth does too Natural, safe, effective. Use diatamatious earth under your house, under cabinets. Kills ants, roaches,... All bugs.

[NHHorseman]

It's my experience that ants come in and out of the camper. I can't say enough about a spray product called Home Defense. I get it at Home Depot. Spray around anything that touches the ground and No Ants. Park somewhere where you see an ant hill, spray home defense and the whole n'est is gone within an hour. Don't know about pet safety since I was never concerned about that.

[Tweety4me]

Originally Posted by KWhite2018

We found them crawling up our electrical cord because we stay plugged in. I buy food grade Diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it over the cord that touches the ground. I use it around my tortoises pens as well. It is safe because it’s food grade. You can buy it at any feed store or online.
It stops working when wet.
I also sprinkle it in the RV in small piles where I see them and then vacuum it up a few days later.
It suffocates them as they walk thru the DE.

[Arkansas Windjammer]

I use a product I called Demon WP. I spray it around the edges of the bottom of my camper. It forms a chalky barrrier. We have a dog and a cat. Never any problem. The last I bought on eBay but I have also found it on amazon.

[PuppyDogMom]

Cream of Wheat...sprinkle it around. Ants pick it up and take it home. You don't see them again. Of course, the best use is on the outside of the camper.

[Barefoot68]

Use Ortho home defense. Kills ants spiders and several others. Works good on brown recluse spiders to I use in camper, outside camper and everywhere at home. Always have a spare gallons around. We have a toy poodle and doesn’t bother her at all.

[Barefoot68]

Use Ortho home defense it will kill most any bug including brown recluse spiders. We have a toy poodle and it doesn’t bother her.

[Jan Gerstner.]

ditto: 007matman.


We've had ants twice in our class C and used Terro ant bait. Wiped them out in one night.

For your pets, just put the containers under something like a hat to discourage them. We have a MOST inquisitive parrot who leaves NOTHING uninvestigated. She doesn't get to the Terro.


I prefer the small rectangular containers that you twist the end off, to pouring a dab on a cardboard patch, but either works.

[FreeWheeler]

I've used Terro at my home in Maryland with good results, but just 2 hours in a parking lot in Georgia and we had an army of tiny ants invade our 5er.



I bought a few Terro ant traps and some Raid spray and went on the assault.


The Raid killed on contact and I sprayed the trails I saw coming in, but the Terro traps caught ZERO ants. I was surprised, but it might have something to do with what they use to attract them into the trap. These tiny ants (locals said they were sugar ants) marched right past them.

[Reverse_snowbird]

There are so many types of ants out there, it's almost impossible to identify them. We even have 'Argentinian ants' in Texas. I think they recommended putting something like Ajax powder around the wheels.

Personally, I've found a diluted Lysol solution effective when sprayed inside and poured around the tires. It doesn't seem to care what kind of ants you hav

Food grade DIATOMACEOUS EARTH kills crawling critters while being safe for the environment. It loses its effectiveness when wet.

[Jan Gerstner.]

Terro ant traps

There are two common types of "traps" that I see. One is circular and the user pokes several small pieces into it, creating the openings. I have never seen an ant go near any of those.

The other, such as made by Terro, is a small tray, about 5cm by 2cm by .5 high. It is used by twisting off the end. I used these when I saw very tiny red ants in the RV, and slightly larger ones and medium-size black ants raiding our parrot's cage. I put out the Terro twist-to-open and the ants were all gone within two days, max.

Two months later we saw the small red ones again, and I set out the Terro. Gone in one day.

Reading Terro's literature, they specify that this borax-based poison is primarily for "sweet-eating" ants, the implication being it may not be effective against others. This has been our experience with very tiny ants we've seen on our kitchen counter at home. Only rigorous cleaning and packaging of foods caused them to look elsewhere.
The arsenic-based poisons were the best, killing all ants except carpenter ants. Unfortunately for us, this is no longer available.

[Jan Gerstner.]

This past weekend (12 August) we saw the tiny red ants in our parrot's cage again, after a three-month respite. I put out one Terro liquid "trap". By Tuesday they were gone.
I'm a believer.

[rracer5]

Ortho Home Defense. We've been full time for 4 years now & only had ants once when we first started. I now spray the Home Defense everywhere outside the RV. Landing gear, stabilizers, around & on the tires, along the frame, under all the slides where the seal meets the slide floor and sometimes if I see ants on the RV, I'll spray all the seals also. We don't have animals (although we babysit our childrens fur babies from time to time), so I do spray the entire perimeter inside the RV especially under the slides & slide corners. Home Defense is safe & non-staining for carpets, floors, walls etc. & if I remember correctly, safe for animals once it dries but, read the label to be sure. and is good for 12 months inside. Outside, I re-apply on all the ground contact points after every rain.

We spend most of our time in the south in fire ant country and haven't had a invasion since using the Ortho Home Defense.