Ants

[askolover]

Enoz ant bate

These work better for me than Terro or any other liquid bate.  I'll cut one open, tape it down with blue masking tape to keep curious purr-balls from messing with it.  I think they can smell it because it's only seconds until one goes in to sample the buffet and then comes running out to tell his friend.  Soon it's a whole family reunion. 

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Tried the cornmeal idea, then cinnamon, of which you can see, neither worked:

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

OH, GOD! WE'VE GOT ANTS! WHAT DO WE DO?

Okay, a very happy ending to my problem, and No More Aints!

That is, in short, Terro to the rescue! (Although long ago, when I worked at Walmart there was a gal named Tera, that maybe when I was introduced to the product there, I only needed a picture of her to scare the ants away, but, really, she was a good lookin' gal!)...

You should also notice that this location my one,--yes, ONE--ant bait is placed is in the corner at the base of that counter, not in that hazardly close proximity to my food preparation (and due to lack of space on my counter, the eating of my food)...

So, as I have said, and y'all, as well, they are all gotten rid of!!!!

-- Dave

 

[askolover]

Don't be surprised if more show up in a couple of weeks.  Eventually they will be less and less until the whole colony is dead.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

'N MORE "Aints"...

Yes, they are not yet gone without a trace... I swept under the counter, just to find a number of 'em still alive 'n kickin'...

-- Dave

 

[tomturbomatic]

I bought some Terro.  Of course, klutz that I am, I spilled a drop of it on the counter while placing the little container. It was so funny the little black ants surrounded the little oval puddle looking like cows around a pond, heads in the puddle and bodies extending back without a gap. They drank their fill and left and after that, the number steadily diminished. I have not seen any more at the little plastic bottles that hold the liquid, but they are not around. I did go outside and spray the SLA spray with cedar oil. that probably helped, too.

 

[sudsmaster]

Ants come in from outside. The bait that has worked best for me is Combat outdoor granules. They contain Hydramethylnon. I sprinkle it around the outside of the perimeter foundation, esp near the vents. Since I started using Combat, no more ants in house.

However the Combat granules may no longer be available. This Amdro Ant Block has the same active ingredient.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/AMDRO-24-oz-Ant-Block-Home-Perimeter-Ant-Bait-100522802/100598633

https://www.homedepot.com/p/AMDRO-24-oz-Ant-Block-Home-Perimeter-Ant-Bait-100522802/100598633

 

[tomturbomatic]

Thank you.

When I first lived in my present house, we had a very hot, dry couple of months and those insects that look like they have pinchers on their butts were showing up inside. I got some granules made by Bayer (Still Killing Living Things) and it stopped the foolishness.  I had forgotten about the product.  Thank you.

 

[abcomatic]

Terro is what I use, no more ants.

 

[twintubdexter]

Tomturbomatic...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">You mean earwigs? They're ugly little things. They were an outside problem in the SF Bay Area but they don't live here in the desert heat. Scorpions do, but I've never seen one although a friend found one in his ironing room. It was very small, the kind of you see in California mountain areas. </span>

 

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Of course there are the larger variety that live deep in the desert.</span>

 

[circlew]

Speaking of scorpions

In July 1972, my mom, sister and I spent the night at the Royal Inn of Needles, CA. We went into the room we were assigned, and my mom soon went into the bathroom. She promptly came back out, and said we weren't staying in that room because there was a scorpion in the tub. We went to the office, and they gave us another room on the other side. We inspected that one, and it luckily was free of any such pests.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Earwigs, exactly!  Thank you, Joe.  I have not seen one in a long time, but am going to get some of those granules that I sprinkled around the house years ago and give the premises another treatment.

 

[sudsmaster]

The ants in California are known as Argentine ants. Supposedly because they were accidentally imported on produce or plants from South America.

These ants are a bit unusual because their nests can have multiple queens, and I've seen opinions that in fact the Argentine ants in California are part of a vast continuous multi-queen nest from one end of the state to another. That's why it's impossible to eliminate these ants permanently. The best one can do is just keep them at bay for a while. Foundation perimeter ant poison seems to work best.

 

[tomturbomatic]

That's frightening; like something out of a sci-fi story.

 

[sudsmaster]

BTW, the Argentine ants are those little brown ones. Supposedly they give off an unusual odor (greasy?) when crushed, but I've never detected it.

I was in Home Depot yesterday and saw they have the good Combat granules with Hydromethylnon. I'll probably go back to replenish my supply.

On a slightly unrelated note... we have a mouse/rat problem here. Perhaps because home and condo owners have let the ivy grow out of control on fences. Plus there's a huge storm drain near my property on the other side of a fence.

In the past I've had good results with dCon mouse/rat bait, the stuff with a Warfarin analog called Brodifacoum. But for the past few years California has banned it, due to concerns residual poison would affect other wildlife. The problem is the substitute, Bromethalin. a neurotoxin, seems relatively ineffective, and a danger to pets because there is no known antidote. I note also that even that one has been discontinued, replaced with Vitamin D3, cholecalciferol, which rodents cannot handle, but is relatively non-toxic to humans. I suppose eventually I'll have to try the D3 variety as my supply of the "good stuff" runs out.

I understand the effective anti-coagulant type baits are still available to licensed pest control persons.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread but it's somewhat related.

 

[iowabear]

Outdoor chipmunks are a real problem around my place (sorry Alvin fans, but in real life they are just rats with racing stripes.)

 

I keep their numbers under control with common rat snap traps.  In some past years there have been indoor/outdoor cats that patrolled and kept them in check without effort on my part.