Help with ants

[Miltonchix]

When it comes to fire ants I use AMDRO. But only as needed. I don't spread it everywhere but put a small amount on the mound. This has worked VERY well. I don't try to kill every ant around. They are quite beneficial and help keep things "clean". I've created a defensible zone (appox 100yds) around my house. Outside that area the ants have free reign. I've watched them closely over the years and it appears that they set a population limit for their area.

 

[seismic wonder2]

Are they FIRE ANTS or just red ants?

Red ants are no problem, the chickens will eat them.
Fire ants, on the other hand, can take down a large animal(or people) if they disturb the mound.

Unfortunately, You'l never really get rid of fire ants, they just move around. The queen is WAY underground, and if they loose her they just choose another one.
If you kill the mound they just move to your neighbors and in a few months they will come back.
Persistant buggars

 

[thornberryvillage]

Well, I'm NOT an entimologist, but I AM a redneck raised in S GA, the capitol of fire ant territory, and I've been dealing with fire ants for 43 of my 53 years, even now that I'm up here in the N GA mountains, and I speak from expirience...the grits thing works and works well. The bonuses are it's chemical free and lots cheaper that Amdro or Seven Dust.

BB

 

[floridachick]

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions ! I'm gonna try the girts also ... Thanks Bob !!

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
Different remedies work for different ants and it's all about finding the one for the specific problem.

I love using Borox jelly mix for my itty bitty house ants - it works like a charm - but it wouldn't have any effect on a fire ant mound. I've never used the grits method because it won't work on my house ants, just like you said, they're more interested in sugary stuff.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Well, I am (well ok, was, before 'retiring' to be a mommy

) an aquatic invertebrate ecologist -- I did much of my work with aquatic insects, and am not entirely ignorant of their land-dwelling relatives

Because I don't know if ants eat grits and drink water like other animals. I've not seen ants carrying away the individual grit grains as if they plan to eat them, and I think that even if they did, it would be to chew even tinier bits off of them. Grits are grain and the ants I've observed seem to prefer sugary foods or flesh.

Different kinds of ants have different menus but most of them eat at least some grains. For many, it's a staple food. They do not eat big chunky objects, though, they nip wee bits off to eat. I do not know whether grits expand enough in an ant's stomach to kill it -- I am *highly* doubtful, since ants make a living eating grains like that, but could not say for sure <shrug>

Also I don't know how ants get hydrated, do they really sip water or do they get the moisture they need from their food?

When their food provides insufficient water, they do drink from dew drops etc, really truly, go figure, it's pretty cool

Honestly I do NOT think that anything other than serious toxic chemicals is going to make much of a lasting dent in a fire ant problem. That is *why* people use the serious toxic chemicals, in large part -- because they have TRIED the down home remedies and had no luck.

Getting rid of various 'regular ole' ants is not necessarily as difficult as fire ants, but even so, there is a strong tendency for the colony to just relocate six feet to the left if you annoy it enough, and even if you kill the queen chances are Real Good some new ants will move in in a week or two and you'll be right back to square one. For those whose experiences differ from this description, let me tell you, you don't live anywhere with a serious ant problem

Good luck to the original poster, and here's hoping the ants are just some plain ol' lil' red ants and not actual fire ants,

Pat​

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

MANY YEARS AGO we moved to South Fla. We had a dog and 2 young children at the time, I can still remember how thrilled I was to be moving into our home It had a huge double lot on a corner of a very nice looking and well kept comunity. 2 weeks before we moved in Hubby took us to the property to walk around and within 5 minutes the dog was going crazy and the kids were crying, they were totally covered in those little biting monsters. I called an exterminator the next day and had the whold property sprayed, as a mother I did not want the pesticides but knew this was more than I could deal with alone.
"I ALSO SAW A TOAD THAT HAD TICKS ON IT" What was the deal with that I thought toads were cold blooded"

I did not have to much of a hard time controlling the red ants after that Once a week I would walk the lawn and look for signs the ants were moving in, And when I saw aome I used the Boiling water. It killed them but also killed the lawn. I did not care I just kept a bg of grass seeds on hand for touch ups.

 

[puckbunny87]

This may be because my dad has a little redneck in him, or because I grew up in Norco, buuut.... anyone ever tried gasoline?

When my sister was two or so, she sat on a fire ant hill in the front yard... needless to say, mom was freaked out and dad was angry. But I remember whenever we'd get an ant hill, he'd rake everything (weeds, twigs...and thing too flammable) away from it, pour a small amount of gas directly on the hill, wait maybe 30 seconds, pour a little more on...and light that sucker up.

The trick (or so he says) is to keep the fire going for a few minutes, by adding little bits of gas if you have to, so that it gets really hot deep down into the ant hill. This successfully killed them off for us.

Obviously, if anyone is going to try this, keep a bucket of dirt handy to dump on the fire if it gets out of control...and also, a hose. Keep all the family pyros away, and don't do it if there's a chance that anything near by will catch.

 

[posey]

This week I tried shaking baking soda over small starter fire ant mounds. I completely covered them with the soda. Then I poured apple cider vinegar all over it.

How fun to watch the foaming and bubbling reaction of the soda and vinegar.

It took out the mounds. No activity even after a heavy rain, which always brings them to the surface to start building again.

They may have moved but I see no evidence yet. I'll just keep moving them off the property. No neighbors just fields.

Amdro works so does Orthene but the soda/vinegar mix looks promising

 

[babalubird]

There is a wonderful organic solution for fire ants. I would think it would work for red ants too, but you will have to check on that.

We had major fire ant infestation on our 16 acres. We bought nemotodes that are specifically ant predatorsl. We got ours from a very large feed store in the Fort Worth area, but I'm sure you can order them from several mail order companies that specialize in natural pest control such as Arbico. I've bought other things from Arbico and think highly of the company.

We were very happy with the major decline in those nasty ants now.

It takes a while after treatment for them to disappear but I think it is a great solution and one that perpetuates itself for quite a while.

Connie