Posted on 11/13/2016 1:48:53 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
How does one kill crazy ants in a do-it-yourself way? We've put down Boric Acid and flea spray, both of which kill them. But, they keep coming back by the thousands. Any ideas?
lol but reading my mind can be an ugly thing at times.. :o)
See if you can find out where they are entering the house by following their trail back to the source.
Get some Vaseline or Mentholatum and smear it around the hole where the come in and down their trail for a short way. Your problem will end.
Post # 12 is correct:
“TERRO Liquid Ant Baits” works very well for the little Florida ants. They will dry out over time, but I’ve found that you can put a few drops of water in them, and they ‘go active’ again!
Pure Clorox Bleach, straight out of the container. Pour a circle around the nest, then pour an X over the circle. Works every time... they can’t handle the Clorox gas that’s produced, it doesn’t hurt the environment, it’s short lived and its inexpensive.
Diatomaceous earth
I second this suggestion. Harmless to everything but bugs.
Try dry corn meal. They eat it, and their digestive moisture should explode them from the inside. This works for fire ants which are just as bad in this part of Texas.
Sprinkle some grains around the ant hill and await their fate.
To control them....
Sig-Sauer
When you care enough to send the very best.....
Thanks!
Be aware the fire dept may be called due to the smoke/fire and noise if you are in a populated area. LOL
Just go to Lowes or Home Depot, in the pesticide section look for the Ortho fire ant killer, it granular and you just spread some on the hill, couple days, they are gone.
I would think Amdro would do the trick. Works with fire ants.
The more emotionally satisfying way is to pour a quart or so of gasoline on the mound, wait a couple minutes, then throw a match on it (or, if it’s a really big mound, stand back and shoot a bottle rocket at it). Nice satisfying kaboom, ants turn to ashes. Kills the grass, though.
Some people inadvertently blow up their septic systems doing that with underground yellow jacket nests. There are multiple entrances and the underground tunnels can be quite extensive in a large nest. Igniting gasoline after pouring it into such a nest can be more than you bargained for.
You need a non-repulsing bait system. The ants pick up the bait, carry it back to the nest and the rest of the ants eat the poison. The nest can be gone in 3-4 days.
I bought a couple different bait types online at a do-it-yourself pest control website...an oily kind and a sweet kind. I'm not sure the site below is the one I used for ants, but have bought from them in the past for general bug treatment. But, you can get a lot of info from this type of site.
It worked for us.
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Diatomaceous earth is quite effective.
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At first, I used Terro and it seemed to work well, a few years ago. The past 2 or 3 years we’ve had the small brown ants getting into the kitchen, I’ve tried Terro, no workie. Tried mixing boric acid with a little jelly, no workie. finally tried some Raid ant baits, little black plastic things, they finally got rid of the ants, or maybe it was a combination of everything I could think of all at once...
For fire ants, a big problem here in Texas, I use powdered laundry detergent. Mix about a cup with a gallon of hot water, just at dark when they all go back to the nest, pour it on the nest and cover with a 5 gallon bucket. Ammonia used the same way works pretty well. You might have a yellow spot for a while but it will grow back.
I might try the diatmaceous earth for fire ants, but don’t know where the brown ants are nesting.
What I need is something for a rat. One has taken over the RV I’m in, chewing everything in sight and carried off a lot of stuff. I’ve kept a rat trap baited for 3 months, it’s been sprung a dozen times, no good. Peanut butter is the best bait I’ve ever used for mice, used it with rats several times with good results too, this time nothing. I’ve also tried pieces of a candy bar, sunflower seeds, the rat got all of them except the one lodged under the bait tab...even got a mouse bait trap, opened it up and used the poison block inside, no good. First one I put out it carried off the whole block, second one was used as bait in the rat trap, so far nothing...I’m almost ready to load the .22 with pellet shot and sit there and wait...or try a live trap...
I was reading in a Science Journal that crazy ants emit a chemical that chases-off fire ants. Pick your poison!
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