I guess the ants gave up

[bradley]

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/fireants.asp

They haven't given up, merely just regrouping. Another home remedy is boric acid and sugar, which sort of works. Except in the right concentrations ants won't touch it, too low and they survive.

I laid down boric bait only a year later to find ants wandering my home with a distinct boric acid smell on them.

This is the only stuff that truly works in a wide variety of situations...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/AMDRO-24-oz-Ant-Block-Home-Perimeter-Ant-Bait-8150490/100598633

 

[kinev]

I've had good results with TERRO Liquid Ant Killer for getting rid of sugar ants in the house. It's a pre-mixed boric acid/sugar gel that works well.

 

[rh71]

They learn. I had bait that was working well for awhile, but they quit eating it. I haven't gotten my ants yet this year. I have some boric aid I'm gonna use to make treats for them if they show up.

I just wish they weren't such assholes, and only stuck with the stuff I dropped. I could happily live with them in that case. When they start getting into my closeted food is when I start having a problem.

I'm curious about them learning. I bought some Terro liquid in a bottle. The tray Terro had worked well for me in the old house. This time in a new house it was outside so I dripped it on the tiny cardboard like it says, in 3 areas. 1 area the ants started piling up sand on the stuff to cover it up. Within a few hours the circle of liquid was completely covered up. Amazing. How did they know it was bad for them? I hadn't dealt with this colony at all in the past and obviously they were all new ants. In the 2 other areas it didn't look touched at all, but strange enough, I haven't seen ANY ants at all today. Not 1 in any of the areas. Maybe they took the bait after all, and only intended to cover it up for later?

I had also read they are around for only 2 weeks... maybe I just caught the tail end of their season? Too much of a coincidence...

 

[eng2d2]

I put some amdro on an ant trail and they avoided it. They never even came to sniff it.

 

[rh71]

Well I was wrong - the ants are in full force this morning. Thing is the cardboard no longer has sand or the old Terro on it but the ants are still crawling over it. I think now they've gotten used to the fact that it's among their environment so I've added more Terro and instantly they're making pitstops on it again looking like they're drinking.

Part of me just wants to Raid these MF'ers. Residual spray should keep them from coming back for quite a while no?

 

[notposting]

Been reading up on this lately since we bought a house this spring. Has some moisture issues we are correcting, and some carpenter ants.

Their appetite varies. Sometimes they want sweets, and other times they are on a protein kick. You can actually make your own version of the Terro liquid stuff (which works great, they will swarm swarm swarm and you keep putting baits out until they stop). You switch from honey to peanut butter in the ingredients to offer a protein shake for their little body building binges.

Oh the secret ingredient in the Terro stuff is borax.

 

[mrjminer]

Take off your roof and ceilings, then get out the magnifying glass.

 

[BoomerD]

Well I was wrong - the ants are in full force this morning. Thing is the cardboard no longer has sand or the old Terro on it but the ants are still crawling over it. I think now they've gotten used to the fact that it's among their environment so I've added more Terro and instantly they're making pitstops on it again looking like they're drinking.

Part of me just wants to Raid these MF'ers. Residual spray should keep them from coming back for quite a while no?

told ya...:whiste:

 

[bradley]

Been reading up on this lately since we bought a house this spring. Has some moisture issues we are correcting, and some carpenter ants.

Their appetite varies. Sometimes they want sweets, and other times they are on a protein kick. You can actually make your own version of the Terro liquid stuff (which works great, they will swarm swarm swarm and you keep putting baits out until they stop). You switch from honey to peanut butter in the ingredients to offer a protein shake for their little body building binges.

Oh the secret ingredient in the Terro stuff is borax.

Borax is sodium borate. The ants don't have the necessary HCL to convert it to boric acid, which is what you want in the 'right' concentrations. I'd personally put the Terro by the mounds, and disperse the Amdro around the entire outside/inside house perimeter. Double whammy.

 

[EliteRetard]

Like I said earlier, fill the mound with molten metal (or thermite).
Makes some interesting artwork too...

Or buy some large blocks of wax and set it up in a trench around your house to create a wall of fire.

Ants don't like fire...or "lava".

 

[notposting]

Like I said earlier, fill the mound with molten metal (or thermite).
Makes some interesting artwork too...

Or buy some large blocks of wax and set it up in a trench around your house to create a wall of fire.

Ants don't like fire...or "lava".

Not the best idea if the nest is carpenter ant in your wood house...:whiste:

 

[EliteRetard]

Not the best idea if the nest is carpenter ant in your wood house...:whiste:

Did you check the video? Filling those voids in your wood house with sturdy metal wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[rh71]

why won't Raid work if I can spray it down the holes? Wouldn't the fumes be enough to nuke 'em over time?

 

[Howard]

Dude...prepare the nuk-u-leer option...you're severely outnumbered...

http://topics.info.com/How-many-ants-are-there-for-every-one-person-on-earth_452

That's the stupidest analogy/explanation I've ever heard.

 

[BladeVenom]

Have some Borax handy just in case.

Saw an interesting story in the news today. An artificial sweetener that may work as an insecticide. http://news.yahoo.com/artificial-sweetener-could-used-safer-insecticide-214425578.html

 

[rh71]

^ Never even heard of Truvia. Who has it in their home already? Gotta go out and spend money just the same.