Yikes I've got ANTS

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Orange oil works very well.............

1 ounce of this diluted in 2 quarts of warm water will totally obliterate ants. We use this in Texas for Fire Ants, which have become resistant to nearly everything. As it was explained to me by a 'master gardener', the orange oil actually melts the exoskeleton of the little ant bodies. I guess I just have a cruel streak.
 
What did the Pink Panther say, when he stepped on an anthill?

"DEAD-ANT, DEAD-ANT, DEAD-ANT DEAD-ANT DEAD-ANT,

DEAD-ANT DEAD-ANT, DE-DE-DE-DE-DA....."

*ducks and runs*
 
Whirlcool,

I've never met anyone who's blown an electrical outlet, and lived to tell about it... :-)...

But that's a really good idea. Compressed air would probably work too, esp for those without cannister type vacuum cleaners with a directable exhaust feature.

In fact, it occurs to me that using an air-driven sand blaster gun, using boric acid and/or diatomaceous earth instead of sand, would also work well for fumigating behind walls...
 
What I did with the electrical outlet was to unscrew it out of the box and move it out of the way before dumping in the Boric Acid. That way I wasn't risking a shock.
I think a hairdryer with a powerful motor would work too, and probably be safer with a plastric nozzle rather than a metal wand. Anything that could move the air around in the space and get the Boric Acid to turn into a cloud in the wall space would probably work well. But it does work great!
 
Cockroaches down under

Hi Oxydolfan,
Yes I am afraid that there is no escape from the little horrors they even found there way down here.
I must admit though, I personally don't have a real problem with them at home , I learnt after 1 or 2 experiences with "professional??"pest exterminators,that I can get good effective control by spraying with "Raid" brand surface spray with eggstoppers and placing Raid Maxikill baits in the necessary spots in the home.
I like the Raid brand as it's fragrance is not as overpowering as Baygon or Mortein sprays ,although I guess effectiveness wise they would all be about the same.
Cheers.
Steve.
 
Friends in Florida had a terrible time with fire ants crawling into almost anything electrical, timer boxes, junction boxes, outlets inside and out. SLA mothproofing spray contains cedar oil which lingers behind after the rest of the spray dries and ants, spiders, etc. don't like the smell of cedar oil. It kept them out of the electrical stuff for about a year or so before retreatment was needed.
 
Here in the northwest, one rarely sees roaches in the home. Now earwigs are a different story! They are almost like the roach of the west. The most effective thing I've found is Lilly Earwig Bait. Sprikle it around the foudation and the next day, you'll have the earwig version of Jonestown.
 
The scourge in California (and probably all along the West Coast up to Alaska) is the so-called Argentine ant. It's theorized that it's all one giant colony, with multiple queens. So different nests don't fight with each other, and the ants push out navie species.

I have develeped a particularly diabolical way of getting even with the ants. I have a lot of potted plants around the outside of the house. Periodically I find that the ants have moved into one and started nesting there. My solution is to fill a big barrel (a 16 gallon muck bucket works well) with water, and then place the infested pot in it. As the ant swarm out to try to escape, I hit them with a suitable insecticide (I prefer the cedar oil and/or mint oil based "safe" sprays). If there are queens and brood in the plant pot, it really does seem to put a dent in the ant activity, at least for a little while. But in reality, the war with the myrmicidian terrorists is one that can never be won. We win little battles, maybe keep our homes mostly ant-free most of the time, but barring some devastating ant disease or natural predator, the Argentines will always bounce back.
 
carpenter ants

I had an invasion of carpenter ants get into a restroom at the campground I stay at during the summer. During the day, they were none to be found. At night though, they would be all over the place. I'm not sure why they were so interested in the restroom, there was no food or wood in there (it is a concrete block building) There was plenty of moisture, so I guess that's all that counts.

Carpenter ants are HUGE black ants, some almoste 1/2 inch long! They were making "highays" all over the restroom, making it easier to stomp them out. Even after eradicating many of them in this fashion, they continued to invade the place. They never gave anybody any trouble, except making the ladies scream when they noticed them. Still, to this day, I can't seem to figure out why they liked that restroom so much!
 
I had the "mini" suger ants in my kitchen and the large carpenter ants crawling around my place during the summer-boy did they make a mistake of tramping around a place that has a VACUUM CLEANER collection-picked up LOTS of ants-now don't see them-but wait until summer!Will the vacuums have a feast again?Now if I can find that slug or snail that crawls around my den?The vacs are waiting!
 

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