ANTS: Good News Vs Bad News

Many | Aug 24, 2014 | Yosemitest

[Yosemitest]

ANTS: Good News Vs Bad News How many of you are familiar with Fire Ants?
How many of you wished they would go away?

THE GOOD NEWS:
Fire Ants are leaving.
THE BAD NEWS:
“Rasberry Crazy Ants” (in honor of the Texas exterminator that discovered them), a.k.a. "Tawny crazy ants" , and scientifically know as Nylanderia fulva as driving them out.

"I want my Fire Ants back!" is being said by many across Mississippi.
Because these Rasberry crazy ants are much harder to control, and they get into everything.

They get into the insulation in your home, into your electronics, into your wiring.
They will drive you CRAZY!
Here's an excerpt on controlling them.
Management: What can you do for them?

Many of the typical control tactics for other ants do not provide adequate control of the tawny crazy ant.
Because colonies predominantly nest outdoors, reliance on indoor treatments (see Rasberry Crazy Ant Fact Sheet or YouTube Video) to control these ants foraging inside structures is not effective.

Cultural control: At the foundation of any IPM strategy are cultural control methods beginning with the removal of harborage
such as fallen limbs, rocks, leaf litter, and just about anything sitting on the ground that isn't absolutely necessary.
Cultural methods can also include altering the moisture conditions in a landscape.
Crazy ants prefer humid, wet conditions so reducing the amount of irrigation, repairing leaks, and improving drainage should help.

Avoid spreading this species to new locations: Anything being moved from an infested area should be inspected for ants and treated before transferring it to a new site.
Food sources should be eliminated or managed.
Specifically honeydew producing hemipterans should be managed.
Often, products containing the active ingredient imidaloprid or other systemic neonicotinoid are a good option for hempiterans.

Chemical control: Effective products involved with the treatments are not readily available to the consumer**.
If you suspect your house or property is infested with these ants, call a professional pest control provider.
After treatment, or when making multiple applications over time, piles of dead ants must be swept or moved out of the area in order to treat the surface(s) underneath.

Tawny crazy ant workers are not attracted to most bait products (see B-6099, "Broadcast Baits for Fire Ant Control")
and the most attractive product they are attracted to (Whitmire Advance Carpenter Ant Bait formulation containing abamectin (Label and MSDS),
see E-412 "Carpenter Ants") does not offer enough control as a standalone treatment, and should be used in conjunction with contact insecticides.
Maxforce® Granular Insect Bait is also highly attractive but has yet to be tested in the field.

There are treatments available for this ant that offer temporary "buffer zones" using contact insecticides applied to surfaces,
such as those containing acephate, pyrethroid insecticides (bifenthrin, cypermethrin, cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothin, permethrin, s-fenvalerate, and others) or fipronil.
These treatments are often breeched within 2-3 months post application.

PCOs need access to an entire infestation in order to achieve an acceptable level of management.
Otherwise, the population will rebound from surrounding, untreated sites within a month.


**Note for Professional Pest Management Personnel: According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the following products have received expanded use approval through Section 18 Quarantine Exemption from the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the control of these ants.
These are only available for use in counties with confirmed infestations of the tawny crazy ant.
See product labels and supplemental labels for specific use directions: This exemption will expire on November 1, 2015.
Termidor® Section 18 Label

Talstar® Section 18 Label

[Yosemitest]

Good luck with keeping these pest away.
Short of tearing my house apart and replacing all the insulation, I don't know what I'm going to do, here in rural Mississippi.

[Yosemitest]

Ping.

[Cold Heart]

Look up diatomaceous earth/ants

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, here in rural Mississippi.”

Drink 4 to 6 Guiness Stouts. Then relieve yourself on the nest. They’ll levee pronto!

[Theoria]

Unforutalety it’s the house. So ya can’t use the Kill it with fire™ method.

[Theoria]

unfortunately...clown

[ClearCase_guy]

I, for one, welcome our new overlords.

[Yosemitest]

I did.
"The Rasberry crazy ant or tawny crazy ant, Nylanderia fulva, is an ant originating from South America."

Boric Acid Argentine Ants

... A more effective way to deliver boric acid to Argentine ants is in ant bait.
Ant bait is made from a food that the ants will accept.
The bait has a small amount of boric acid mixed into it.
The workers take the bait back to the nest and share it with all of the other ants.

The first step in controlling Argentine ants is to inspect carefully.
Follow the trails of workers to find the nests.
Argentine ants often make satellite nests, so it is important to find as many of their locations as possible.
Put the ant bait beside the trails so the workers can find it easily.
Make sure that children and pets cannot reach the ant bait.

Because the Argentine ant colonies are very large, it is important to use plenty of ant bait.
If any of the queens survive the treatment, they will produce enough eggs that the ant population will be back to the original size in a short time.

After all of the ant activity has ceased, boric acid dust can be applied into the weep holes and the voids of exterior walls.
This can help prevent future Argentine ants from entering the home.
Put firewood up on a rack and store it away from the foundation.
Rake mulch and dead leaves away from the foundation to make a clear space that is 12″ to 24″ wide.
This will help discourage Argentine ants from nesting next to the foundation and entering the home.

It ain't much help, but it's better than nothing.

[Ken H]

Many families have them locked in their closets.

[Yosemitest]

The nests are in the insulation of the house, under the floor and in the walls and in the roof.
I don't want to "relieve" myself there.

[Yosemitest]

I wonder if fire would be the cheapest way to solve it, but then they'd just return.
The woods are full of them.

[DJlaysitup]

Many families have them locked in their closets.

Haha!...we really need a "Like" button.

(and emicons - "smiley faces" - wouldn't hurt either...I post on a local sports board run by a kid out of his Mom's basement and it has emicons and a like button).

What is this 1988?

[Aria]

Is this true?

LOL

I say more to the Pacific Northwest. We have fewer icky creepy crawly things. We do have slugs...but you can eat those. El Slug Burrito....YUM YUM!

[Aria]

oops...I meant MOVE to the Pacific Northwest.

Why doesn’t this keyboard know what I’m thinking?

[djf]

Neonicotinoids are primarily responsible for honeybee CCD.

[Slambat]

Have you tried chloramine vapor?

[DJ MacWoW]

Where Would You Go Without FR.......

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate

[toothfairy86]

Mix baking soda with powdered sugar. It reacts with the formic acid that ants produce. They eat it and explode.

[null and void]

Today I had my cell phone “correct” ‘Seems’ to ‘Semmelweis’!

[PistolPaknMama]

Neonicotinoids are primarily responsible for honeybee CCD.

What does that mean?