Posted on 04/21/2018 9:00:54 PM PDT by SamAdams76
It's the beginning of spring and this is when ants try to get into the houses. Not sure why now and not middle of winter when it is cold.
Stepping on them and killing them when you see them makes you feel good for a minute or two but it does not solve the overall ant problem. For there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of ants from where they came from, all intent on servicing the QUEEN at all costs.
Normally I just tolerate the springtime ants, content to step on them when I see them and flush their dead bodies down the toilet. But this spring, I'm putting my house up for sale and do not want prospective owners seeing ants crawling across the floor. For that might make them want to offer me less money for my otherwise pristine home.
So I went out to the Home Depot and purchased some liquid ant traps (six to a carton!). You just rip off one end of it and set it down on the floor. This liquid - actually the consistency of sugary syrup - is like crack cocaine for ants!
Within an hour of setting the traps, those ants were swarming bigtime. The traps actually brought MORE ants into my home and the wife was reduced to using the guest bathroom because she was really freaked out.
As for me, I was loving it. I like to see ants swarm, especially when I know they are unwittingly committing suicide because that sweet syrup contained a poison called BORAX.
Yes, borax is fatal to ants but not right away. It eventually eats away at their digestive system but takes a couple days or so. In the meantime, they are taking that poison to the QUEEN and eventually the Queen Ant dies. Not even God can save her at this point. Like I said, that Borax is FATAL to all the ants, and especially the Queen.
So after about 3 or 4 days, the ants slowed to a trickle and even those ants were moving rather sluggishly, like they were totally drunk after having a night on the town at various dive bars.
Within a week of laying those liquid traps, there were no ants at all! All of them were dead. They done went up to ant heaven.
What I'm trying to say here was these liquid ant traps really work. That sugary syrup laced with Borax was like a holocaust for ants.
For the anthills outside, spread Quaker Oats grits mix...ants eat it up, the mix bloats - and they blow up...
Try putting some of the liquid on kettle corn. Double ant trouble.
They used to come into my kitchen-—I read about strewing cucumber skins along the baseboards and counters-——it worked.
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Those traps work great. Kills the colony. We use ‘em every year!
~W
It is a bait to kill the colony.
Read the Label.
It’s no matter. The end result is that all ants are dead.
They also sell a bottle of liquid. Just put a little blob on some small pieces of cardboard. Very effective. And I think the active ingredient is boric acid, so relatively non-toxic, although maybe you need to be careful with pets.
What about the uncles?
Wonder if they make one for libs. I’m really tired of Queen Hillary.
bttt
I don't know about the type of any you are talking about, but my fire ants seemed to thrive off of Quaker Oats.
If you run across some really large black ants with bent antennas, carpenter ants, the borax baits don’t work very well as they don’t go for sweets very often. They are meat and grease eaters that are in the walls of your home.
About the best to get them is to have a company come in and do a drill and treat. This is where they will drill a small hole into the walls every 13 inches and shoot a wet able powder into the wall. It hits as a liquid and dries to a powder which the worker ants consume and carry back to the nest where they vomit up a lot of what they ate and give it to the adult ants. This kills them and the newborns don’t have any adults to help them.
Best I’ve seen is dursban. But many states make this a controlled chemical that you have to have an applicators license to purchase and treat. The advantage to a wetable powder is that it won’t wash away with rain as it is inside your walls. And there it is not dangerous to pets or children like an outdoor or indoor spray that will have to be resprayed after rain or about once a month.
And carpenter ants are smart. They will go across telephone lines or up bushes and trellises to get to openings. So keep plants a few inches off the walls to help slow their entry. The do not eat wood, but they mine in it to establish nest and egging areas and will do a lot of damage in time to your foundation support. Money!
rwood
Make your own sugar/borax trap - https://www.mashupmom.com/yes-borax-got-rid-of-the-ants/
One exterminator told me that, when a nest population is dwindling, they tend to go for protein-based bait and will bypass the sweetly Terro or Pic borax liquids.
I bought one bait trap that was supposed to have 3 or 4 different types of baits. The ants would not even go near it.
I do keep some Terro/Pic cards on the kitchen windowsill for when they show up. I usually have 2-3 infestations about every 2 years.
Yep! First sign of those buggers set them out. They gorge on it and bring it back to the colony.
LOVE me some Terro. It’s been a lifesaver more than once!
The tiny ants made their yearly appearance in my kitchen last night. I had been waiting to welcome them and now they are busy busy suckin’ down the liquid Terro. Kind of fun and interesting to observe them. For a day or two then RIP.
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