The ants crawl in, the ants crawl out....

Totally Judy

Totally Judy

Joined
Dec 3, 2000
Messages
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Does anyone else believe that ants have their own world? Like the "Who's" in Horton's life? I think there are underground freeways and shopping malls and huge hotels for their annual vacations or during the cold winter season - I guess they would be "snow ants?"

I hate ants. Well, I don't hate ants if they stay on the designated 2 acres I set aside for them. But when they cross the fence line into the yard where my little long haired munchkins are, I become very unhappy.

I especially hate those teeny tiny little fire ants that I can't see and don't realize they are there until after they have crawled on my naked feet and I feel painful "fire" spots. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch. The little *#(&$(&(#$^. I hate it when I then find out that I am standing in a patch of them. Sheesh....:mad:

Surely there is someone who knows different ways to rid a yard of ants. I am looking for two methods - one that is safe for inside the yard where the munchkins lay. And another method for attacking their homeland mounds on the outside of the fenced yard.

Suggestions?

TJ
 
Sorry Judy, none of the chemicals I used to use are available anymore, and the new replacements have failed to impress me. If you contact a professional exterminator, they may have something that works, but it will probably be a restricted use pesticide.
 
boric acid...its cheap, comes in a powdered form. I believe its safe to pets ( I use it my pets are fine ) and it kills them dead and keeps them away...

you can find it at any hardware store..
 
If you're feeling young I hear gasoline and a lighter works wonders.
 
Some of the people who've been around Bladeforums a long time might remember a thread "What's the Best Knife for Fire Ant Defense?" All those old threads were purged, but as best I recall we never did agree on what was the best knife anyway....
 
Totally Judy said:
Ren, where do you place it for best kill factor?
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Diatomaceous earth is often used in place of boric acid. It sucks moisture from critters with exoskeletons and is okay to use around pets. It is actually sometimes used to deworm dogs and humans and small amounts of food/medical grade DE can be placed in containers of grains to control insects with no ill effects on humans whenst consumed. Stay away from the pool stuff though. I buy DE from the local feed store here in Rosamond. I've placed it around doors, widow sills, cabinet counters, and anywhere the little buggers crawl.

Boric acid can be mixed with sugar to make it attractive to ants and roaches and placed in cotton balls in places where they enter. The boric acid is carried back to their nesting spots where the poison continues to take effect.



Where the hell are you getting fire ants??? I left Texas to get away from the little bastards and was told the composition of the Mojave soils was not to their liking. If them pustule producing pricks are here, it's gonna be all out war. Gasoline hell....these six-legged scum deserve flamethrowers, DDT, and any other form of hot chemical death within or without Geneva protocols! Kill the bastards at any cost!!!!!





j
 
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java said:
Where the hell are you getting fire ants???
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I don't have the GIGANTO fire ants like you probably had in Texas and like they have in Orange County, or so I hear.

I call them fire ants - don't know what else to call them. They are teeny tiny little red suckers and as soon as they crawl on my feet and bite, my feet are on fire! A large regular sized red ant can crawl across my foot and keeps on crawling it's way to off my foot and on the ground with no bite and no pain. But not with these little red guys - they are either biting because they are just a PITA, or maybe there is something on their feet that causes the burn.
 
One year while sitting on the back steps I saw a little black ant go walking on the sidewalk to the front of the house. Then another... and another... until I got up and followed one of the little varmits! They were walking from the back steps of the house to the front steps at a regular interval (about every 30 seconds). I bought a pack of those little round ant 'food' thingies. They're supposed to carry the 'food' back to the nest, feed the queen and themselves and die! It must have worked... I haven't noticed them 'marching' around the house in years. I placed the tins (they had a couple of small holes in the side) just out of the dog's territory and never had a problem.
 
Learned long ago that household bleach works wonders on ant bites (if it stings or bites. . . .the spousal unit is allergic to it). We keep small spray bottles outside. . . .filled with Clorox. ;)
 
GigOne said:
Learned long ago that household bleach works wonders on ant bites (if it stings or bites. . . .the spousal unit is allergic to it). We keep small spray bottles outside. . . .filled with Clorox. ;)
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Bingo on the Clorox, but in a different capacity.

We had an ant invasion for weeks one time. I traced them to the expansion crack between our concrete patio and the house. On a tip from my mom, who once worked as a secretary at Orkin, I took a small bottle of Clorox and poured it all down that crack.

No more ants in the house.
 
Teeny tiny little red suckers not GIGANTO fire ants. Those aren't fire ants. They are Martian invaders. Scouts actually. We've been sending so many Mars explorers they are getting annoyed, so they sent their scouts down to bug us back.

I know all this because I've picked up their telepathic reports home. I can't tune in on the instructions from Mars Base to Earth, though, so I'm not sure what they are planning. I don't think they'll be satisfied with just biting feet forever though.

They were talking about "moving on up". Maybe that was just the Martian yuppies.
 
Totally Judy said:
Surely there is someone who knows different ways to rid a yard of ants. I am looking for two methods - one that is safe for inside the yard where the munchkins lay. And another method for attacking their homeland mounds on the outside of the fenced yard.

Suggestions?

TJ
Click to expand...
I stumbled onto a method this year. My yard was suddenly infested. ~30 ant beds on an acre lot. I got eaten alive two weeks in a row cutting grass in sandals. At one point I looked down and couldn't even see my right foot, it was so covered in ants. Dozens of bites, some of which formed hard knots that ended up taking several weeks to go way.
I was in Wal-Mart, scratching my leg, and happened to think that I needed something for the ants. Not knowing one ant killer from the other, I bought a 7lb. bag of Eliminator "Fire Ant Killer Plus GranuleII" or something. That week, when I went to apply the ant killer, all the ant beds had dried up, and I couldn't even find one that was occupied.
Must have scared them all away. It's been sitting in my basement for the last three weeks. I have no ants. I haven't even opened the bag.
Must be some pretty bad stuff...:confused:
 
OwenM said:
I got eaten alive two weeks in a row cutting grass in sandals. At one point I looked down and couldn't even see my right foot, it was so covered in ants. Dozens of bites, some of which formed hard knots that ended up taking several weeks to go way.

[...]

Must be some pretty bad stuff...:confused:
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They got so sick from two weeks of feasting on your feet, they decided to go someplace else so they wouldn't have to dine on junk food anymore! :D
 
Judy, this is the only stuff I have found that will absolutely wipe out a fire ant mound and it does it fast.
I take a stick and run it through the top of the mound to get the ants mad and to get more of em up at the top of the mound. Then I just sprinkle some Talstar on the mound and around it, about 8 or 10 inches around, and watch the little buggers grab the granules and carry it down the glory hole.
Go back the next morning or in a couple hours and all you'll see is dead little bodies laying every where!!!! Hehehehehehehehe!!!
Talstar is a commercial bug killer so you might want to look online to find someplace that sells it. Here's a link that tells about it.
http://www.pestproducts.com/talstar1.htm
 
when im camping and find an ant hole, we pour a little gasoline or white fuel in the hole and light the sucker.

most of the fuel goes in to the hole so there is actually very little flame above ground.
 
This will work. I promise. as long as you do it correctly.
It will kill all insects including roaches and ants.

mix 1 cup of boric acid
one cup of house hold white flour
one cup of milk powder

mix well with water and make marble sized balls. When they dry, distribute everywhere. Under sinks, sofas, in cracks etc.

For ants, if you know the nest, just puff boric acid and it will kill em
:)
 
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