Problems with Ants

Not sure if anyone else has this problem. There are alot of ants in my kitchen and hall. These small red ants are very hardy and not easy to destroy. Even I crushed them between my fingers, they still lived. These ants avoid eating ant poison. I tried to outsmart them by coating the ant killer pellets with sweet stuff and still they wouldn't fall for the trap. They sniffed and stayed away. Now the ants have multiplied. Some have crawled to the rooms. Short of spraying shelltox (which I want to avoid for health reasons), I don't know what else will work. I would appreciate if someone could share his knowledge on how to get rid of this species of ants.