marla:
There is most likely a trail leading them from their colony to their food source. Find out where the food source is and get rid of it. Or find out how they are getting in, and plug the hole. That happened in my house--it turned out they had an alternate hole, so I had to plug that one, too, but I used that steel putty you can find in plumbing sections, and they haven't been back. Good luck! I hate killing the little guys, too.
