Holy Moly Batman! This last weekend was downright goofy with one small calamity after another taking place with all being highlighted with this scary little fact: The Hot Shot® MaxAttrax® Ant Bait my peanut allergic son bought and placed in his room is peanut butter based! He has no strong smell point of reference and after he placed it out, he called me over to sniff it. It smelled like peanut butter, so I removed the packets and emailed the company. This morning they confirmed that yes, the Ant Bait is peanut butter based. Per labeling laws, non-food products do not need to carry warning labels. What made this little item dangerous is that my peanut allergic son might get exposed to the peanut butter from the ants spreading it around and from an emotional standpoint of knowing your life threatening toxin is in your room. The concept is for the ants to go onto the trap and take the ant poison back to their nests.
After I removed the packets, I went to the company website and submitted my question, which they promptly answered first thing Monday morning (today). I have replied asking them to label for the peanut butter. The ant problem has been resolved with a combination or Lysol® spray, apple cider vinegar and peppermint oil (ants hate these smells) and dishwashing soap. Not only did I panic when I realized he was handling the bait, he was tempting asthmatic fate by using Lysol in his room. Thankfully, we have a super fantastic Catalytic Pure Air Filter that has a light that shines bright red when toxins are found in the room. So, he got the hint quickly that his room was no longer asthma friendly and stopped using the Lysol spray.
Lesson: ants must like peanut butter and it is best to call companies regarding insect and rodent bait before using! Ants are dangerous! My daughter’s attempt to kill an ant ended up with her being flung out of the rolling chair at my desk straight into my desk’s edge. On our way to the dentist this morning since her tooth is now shorter and to see what damaged has been caused other than her bruises and swollen lip. Who knew a little tiny ant could cause so much trouble? I guess this is just like food allergies: a little thing can trigger huge problems to one’s health and well being.
Update: Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) posted about bait: Questions from FARE’s Mailbag: Allergens in non-food items
as well as OneSpot Allergy :Most Ant Traps Contain Peanut
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One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
So thankful that you caught this- thanks for always having our backs 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
I remembered reading about this a few years ago, Elizabeth Goldenberg suggested other strategies for dealing with ants: http://blog.onespotallergy.com/2011/05/most-ant-traps-contain-peanuts/
I think roach traps may be similar as well.
Homa, this really brought up more life lessons for Cyrus too, as he prepares for college in a little over a year! Apple Cider Vinegar really repelled the ants!
If you want to avoid Lysol, I have had great success with simply placing peppermint oil along the door area they seemed to be entering – no sprays, non-toxic!
We addressed this question in one of our mailbag posts last year! http://blog.foodallergy.org/2014/07/11/questions-from-fares-mailbag-allergens-in-non-food-items/
Thanks FARE! I’ll add your link to this post too!
The peanut butter based baits fall into the “protein” based category. There are some that are sugar/sweet based that I think of as “carbs” – yes, the little boogers must be trying various diets also.
The Terro liquid ant baits are a clear syrup/borax based combo, presumably no peanuts in them – you can actually make a home made version as well with borax.
Depends on what the ants are craving at the moment – two years ago the sweets worked great, this year evidently I need to try mixing up some peanut butter and borax baits…
This is either really late or spot-on, since it’s still June 22.
Good post, never would have thought about ant baits this way!
Thanks for weighing in! The ants have started visiting again. I will look into the Terro liqui and the making our own combo. Your timing could not have been better.