Any invasion urgent

[Bogertophis]

Ugh! I HATE ant invasions! They'rs so relentless! and when I lived in the desert, they even killed one of my geckos! They traveled up a tall cabinet to that
cage mostly to eat the gecko's mealworms, but they also killed the gecko with only a few apparent bites.

Helps to figure out what they're looking for: doesn't sound like they're after food at all (some like sweets, some greasy foods), but maybe dry ground? That's
the only time I've had ants invade my house here, after lots of rain...they're looking to move to higher ground & you have to convince them otherwise. Here,
they travel along pipes under my house & pop up in bathrooms & then the kitchen. I finally trained them to go & stay gone using these:

Various things to try- diatomaceous earth*, or boric acid powder, or even Ajax cleanser, sprinkled on the floor trails will discourage them (& the powder on their
feet supposedly messes up their ability to follow the previous ant's trails).

I'm not a big fan of those ant bait things that they supposedly take back, eat & all die: too many keep coming & they don't seem to get the word back at home?
Plus, if they're not after food to begin with, there's no point to using them at all. I'm also not a fan of pesticides...too toxic for pets & me too, & overkill.

Around sinks & tile, I spray a mix of Dawn (dish soap that helps solution stick to them), bleach & water...this does kill them, & they do NOT like it!

There WAS a pet-safe spray I used years ago (in CA) that KILLED ants fast and offended them into leaving & not coming back...safe to use in kitchens too: it
had rosemary oil in it, also wintergreen oil (it smelled good to me but not to ants, lol)...I forget what else was in it, but you could maybe mix up your own to try,
or search for a similar product (I can't recall the name, they quit making that version, but I think I saw a similar spray in Walmart...read labels carefully though.)

*BTW, DE is also sold in health food stores, people consume it for ???- and that's where I got mine, lol...