Aussie man's shocking find in kitchen pantry: 'Time to move house'

An Aussie TikToker has gone viral online after sharing the moment he discovered thousands of ants living inside his kitchen pantry. In a video that has been viewed nearly 100,000 times by the TikTok account @doanro94, the man explained that he had used Ant-Rid – a common ant control product found at supermarkets – the night prior to help remove the colony.

Considering there were only a few ants gathered around the spots of Ant-Rid on the pantry’s surface in the video, he assumed that the ants “were gone”. But he spoke too soon. When the creator panned the camera, you could see thousands of ants crawling up the walls of a higher shelf.

“They just went to the f***ing penthouse,” he joked.

People reacting to the video were quick to share their collective shock at the man’s discovery in the video’s comments section.

“I gasped when I saw the penthouse,” one person wrote. “I'm having trouble with ants too but not to that extent.” “Was not expecting so many,” another person said.

“Time to move house,” a third chimed in. “When I tell you my jaw DROPPED!” another commenter wrote.

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Does Ant-Rid actually work?

It’s important to note that Ant-Rid only works after the ‘worker’ ants take the bait back to the nest and pass it on, in turn destroying the ‘queen’ ant and the nest. The instructions for the bait state that “ant activity may increase initially” but would ease once the bait reaches the nest.

However, ABC Pest Control director Warren Bailey told Yahoo Lifestyle that Ant-Rid does not always work as intended, particularly if you’re dealing with a large colony like in the video.

“They’ve got a major infestation behind that wall,” Bailey explained. “It’s best to call a pest manager (in that case), as we have access to other products the public don’t have access to. Ant-Rid is less likely to work with a big infestation – that’s what happens when you buy products from the supermarket, you get what you pay for.”

In saying that, there were also plenty of commenters who shared their own suggestions for at-home remedies to remove the ants that had worked better for them in the past compared to supermarket bait. One common suggestion was to use cinnamon powder.

Home remedies for ant infestation

“Cinnamon!” one of several people suggested. “Sprinkle it everywhere, it disrupts their pheromones and they get confused and leave. I had an infestation in my first ever car. We tried everything including ant rid…months later we tried cinnamon – they left and never came back.”

Other suggestions included vinegar, bay leaves, coffee and wiping the shelves with peppermint oil. Plus if you live in Western Australia, one commenter recommended the Amdro granular ant bait which allegedly works well for a specific ant species local to Perth and wider WA.

“Make a mix of equal parts Borax and sugar, add just enough water to make it a paste, soak cotton balls in it then leave the balls where the ants are,” another person shared. “They’ll take it back to the nest to eat, and it kills the whole nest.”

“You need to clean the whole cupboard out, put some orange cleaner, and put everything in proper containers and packaging,” another viewer commented.

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The creator of the video later posted a follow-up clip demonstrating his effort to spray the ant colony with fresh lemon juice. He later commented on his original video saying, “lemon and bay leaves! Did the trick! No chemicals involved”.

Of course if you’re dealing with a similar infestation and home remedies didn’t work for you – it’s probably time to call pest control.

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