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'Way OT: Ant control

I read that ants use pheromones to create trails and communicate with each other. I figured I could discourage them by interfering with their communications.

So I hacked an old EPROM eraser and exposed portions of an ant trail to hard UV. I found that:

1) The ants would avoid the area of the lamp.

2) Placing the lamp on top of the trail wasn't effective because the ants detoured around it.

3) Spacing the lamp ~0.36 m (~14") above the trail (inside a large cardboard carton) appeared to degrade the pheromones sufficiently that the ants all disappeared within a day, after a couple hours of exposure. Several days later, the ants have not reappeared.

Obviously, if I had kids or pets, I would *not* leave a hard UV source running like that, but I found this little experiment interesting nonetheless.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston
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Maybe the Hard UV caused them to get a bad sunburn and they are at home, feet up on the sofa slathering on sunburn creme.

Gunner

"A conservative who doesn't believe? in God simply doesn't pray; a godless liberal wants no one to pray. A conservative who doesn't like guns doesn't buy one; a liberal gun-hater wants to disarm us all. A gay conservative has sex his own way; a gay liberal requires us all to watch and accept his perversion and have it taught to children. A conservative who is offended by a radio show changes the station; an offended liberal wants it banned, prosecuted and persecuted." Bobby XD9

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Well, it sounds interesting, but we have ants in southwest Arizona too. We got all the UV you want. I could send you some, but it keeps running out of the box.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Please let me know when you get that particular 'engineering opportunity' solved, Bob.

:)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

You wouldn't have this problem if you had an aardvark.

Reply to
Denis G.

(...)

It wants too much personal information.

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:)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

"Denis G." wrote in news:230dbac6-804d-47f6-a0e5- snipped-for-privacy@l32g2000prn.googlegroups.com:

A little aardvark never hurt anybody...

Doug White

Reply to
Doug White

Moderation is the key to enjoying an aardvark responsibly.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

... and it builds character.

Reply to
Denis G.

When aardvarks are outlawed, only outlaws will have aardvarks.

David

Reply to
David R.Birch

This is your brain on aardvarks.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Doug White on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:38:21 GMT typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Aardvarks don't scare me. I can lay down and go to sleep right next to them.

pyotr

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

Indeed.

The only thing we have to fear is aardvark itself.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Aardvark or helmet?

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

How do ants hide from aardvarks? They disguise themselves as uncles!

Reply to
cavelamb

This guy?

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Used to work for him. Ah, good times.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

OW! :)

Veni, vidi, Thoomp!

"I came, I saw, I ate an ant."

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

If you want to try a different approach. Log onto

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and buy liquid ant bait.

Years ago, I had carpenter ants. The Orkin people wanted to perform several treatments at $175 per treatment. To spray the trees, since ants come in through the ceiling. (I'm not kidding). Someone reccomended ant bait, and now I havn't seen a carpenter ant in ages.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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looks familiar.

I used to prepare a boric acid mixture as a sweet liquid and as 'spiked meat' bait for grease- centric ants. (It is effective and really inexpensive but a bit of a pain to prepare and it tends to become unattractive fairly quickly.)

I find that within a couple months of killing off one nest, I would get a visit by another of the 11,880 species. I now have visits from neighborhood cats, who apparently walk away with the little bait containers, too.

Thus my search for something easier, quicker and more effective. I'll stick with the UV for now.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

"Stormin Mormon" on Wed, 4 Aug 2010

09:59:28 -0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Some years ago, I did not get the cap back on the Maple Syrup, and when I returned a week later, there were ants in my syrup. "Dumb". So, pour the syrup outside, wash and toss the bottle, and mopped the floor with ammonia. That did take care of that, as well as making sure no food was left out _ at all. And that includes crumbs. For an ant - crumbs are "huge".

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

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