I learned a lot about combating ants while I was in africa and Italy where they are annoyingly super aggressive(along with termites, there is a reason they don't build wooden frame houses over there) so I thought I would share a few tidbits.
Understanding the nature of ants will help combat them as well. While many poisons work ants can go for days without food. They however need water daily to survive or they quickly Dehydrate. If they are in your tub/sink areas there is a reason for that. This is the best place to concentrate baits and poisons. Diatomaceous Earth is good for combating all ants but Pharoh ants. This is from a gardening website.
"Diatomaceous earth (DE) is not only inexpensive and effective; it's non-toxic to kids, birds, and pets. And yet it destroys ants, earwigs, slugs, beetles, ticks, fleas, cockroaches, and bed bugs. As these pasts move across the powder, it sticks to their feet and legs only to get into their joints and exoskeleton.
DE is made up of crushed fossilized skeletons of diatoms and algae. Some people claim that the DE jagged and sharp so it works like little pieces of broken glass and scratches up the insects' bodies then dries up their fluids. But I've also heard it said that instead of scrathing up their bodies, the DE is absorbed into the bug's breathing tubes as well as their joints, eyes, etc. I'm not sure I care about exactly how it works - just that the bugs quit eating and death isn't far behind."
Pharoh ants however need to be baited but if not done properly all you will do is split the colonies into spliter goups and they will come back with a vengence. Once you know you have pharoh ants bait the hell out of them and keep the bait coming to ensure that once they are down and out that they are actually dead as a colony.
Garrett
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TGarrett wrote: I learned a lot about combating ants while I was in africa and Italy where they are annoyingly super aggressive(along with termites, there is a reason they don't build wooden frame houses over there) so I thought I would share a few tidbits.
Understanding the nature of ants will help combat them as well. While many poisons work ants can go for days without food. They however need water daily to survive or they quickly Dehydrate. If they are in your tub/sink areas there is a reason for that. This is the best place to concentrate baits and poisons. Diatomaceous Earth is good for combating all ants but Pharoh ants. This is from a gardening website.
"Diatomaceous earth (DE) is not only inexpensive and effective; it's non-toxic to kids, birds, and pets. And yet it destroys ants, earwigs, slugs, beetles, ticks, fleas, cockroaches, and bed bugs. As these pasts move across the powder, it sticks to their feet and legs only to get into their joints and exoskeleton.
DE is made up of crushed fossilized skeletons of diatoms and algae. Some people claim that the DE jagged and sharp so it works like little pieces of broken glass and scratches up the insects' bodies then dries up their fluids. But I've also heard it said that instead of scrathing up their bodies, the DE is absorbed into the bug's breathing tubes as well as their joints, eyes, etc. I'm not sure I care about exactly how it works - just that the bugs quit eating and death isn't far behind."
Pharoh ants however need to be baited but if not done properly all you will do is split the colonies into spliter goups and they will come back with a vengence. Once you know you have pharoh ants bait the hell out of them and keep the bait coming to ensure that once they are down and out that they are actually dead as a colony.
Excellent article, but how do you know what Pharoh ants look like v.s. other ants?
It says they can't live in most of the US. However they also said when Fire Ants first showed up in Charleston, SC that they would never survive past Columbia, SC. So much for that theory.
Yee Haw - looks like I won! Several days now and no sign of the dirty little bleepers.
I did, however, find an ant of a different variety on my kitchen counter today. One of those creepy big black things. But it is not of the same colony. This was a stray from outside. This place is crawling with those big black boogers. Ugh!
I gave him a name. Dead Meat. Then I flicked him into my kitchen sink and turned on the hot water, which works very well I might add, compliments of my nice new DSI HWT I installed a few months back. There's a thread back there in my history about that one!
Anyhow, "dead meat" went swimming in hot water before I committed him to the abyss of my grey tank! Bye Bye little enemy!!
Stay away you dirty little ********'s
I gotta watch carefully for new intruders.
Maybe I should do some preventative around my tires and shore power cable. Best not forget the hitch too.
BobsYourUncle wrote: Yee Haw - looks like I won! Several days now and no sign of the dirty little bleepers.
I did, however, find an ant of a different variety on my kitchen counter today. One of those creepy big black things. But it is not of the same colony. This was a stray from outside. This place is crawling with those big black boogers. Ugh!
I gave him a name. Dead Meat. Then I flicked him into my kitchen sink and turned on the hot water, which works very well I might add, compliments of my nice new DSI HWT I installed a few months back. There's a thread back there in my history about that one!
Anyhow, "dead meat" went swimming in hot water before I committed him to the abyss of my grey tank! Bye Bye little enemy!!
Ah! Hot tub for ants. Interesting invention.
Stay away you dirty little ********'s
I gotta watch carefully for new intruders.
Maybe I should do some preventative around my tires and shore power cable. Best not forget the hitch too.
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