'Way OT: Ant control

If you are familiar with at species, you should know that there are only a few that are problematic. The rest can actually do good for a lawn.

Whatever, good luck and have fun.

amdro

That'll be the thing I learned today. Thanks!

You too, John. :)

--Winston

Isn't it possible to make some simple thing, like sugar water and borax?

I know they _hate_ nicotine - I know that when I drag the hot end of my cigarette across their trail, they don't go there any more. ;-)

Thanks, Rich

KILL! KILL!

I hate fire ants. I trust the technology, the shortest distance between here and their death. They formulate ant bait like Amdro probably so that the workers have enough time to feed it to the Queen. Besides getting workers to poison their own queen, ant bait relies on the fact that when the Queen dies, all of the worker ants die. That makes it very effective. But, again, sometimes it takes more than one application.

I actually like most ants, and studied them a bit. More recently, I noticed some stuff about Bullet ants. About 1 inch long, they are the most painful insect bite. Also, read that ants descended from wasps.

You can also take a piece of aluminum flat bar and smack it.

Yup. I have an old family recipe that works fine if I could just convince the neighborhood cats to leave the capped containers in place. I've used the hard UV method once more since my original posting and it appears effective as well. (It is a lot cheaper, faster and easier to implement than the boric - acid trick.)

--Winston

Have you ever heard of those things that advertise "100% guaranteed cockroach killer! - use as directed."

What it is is two wood blocks, labeled "A" and "B". The instructions say, "Place cockroach on block A. Strike smartly with block B, killing cockroach."

Cheers! Rich

The Definitive Way to Remove Crabs

----------------------------------

Using a safety razor, carefully shave off all the pubic hairs from one side of your body. Rinse and dry.

Now pour lighter fluid on the remaining hair.

Ignite it with a match or Bic.

Now, when the crabs come running out to avoid the fire, quickly stab them with an icepick.

You are now crab-free!

I like the other one better: Go to the show and get a really salty box of popcorn and pour it down the front of your pants. When the crabs leave to get a drink of water, change seats.

This works only if the seat you get wasn't previously used by someone else using this technique.

Another fun technique was to pour Run and sand down your shorts and the drunken rock fights would achieve a similar purpose.

After a tour of duty at Ramey A.F.B in Puerto Rico, I thought that we had developed and tried all of the above techniques plus several that I have forgotten.

Hello Winston,

What's the tried and true recipe? Where I am the cats aren't an issue but I have an invasion of ants (the little black ones which form trails to food). I'm about to run around with the local poison, but I am worrying about it degrading in the sun, and the kids getting poison through their feet (high traffic area - hence the food the ants come for)

Just a thought - can you use a brick for your bait stations? Stuff the bait in the holes - the ants get in, but any cat which can carry away a brick is one I'd rather not meet.

Des

When I was a kid, the folks used to put the bottle caps the ant bait came in well under things where little fingers couldn't get at it. Ants still found it, they didn't HAVE to be right on a trail. Never used boric acid on ants, for roaches, it works. Gets in their joints and cuts them up. Strictly a mechanical thing. Has to be put down where they run, not good for pets, either.

Stan

When I was a kid, the folks used to put the bottle caps the ant bait came in well under things where little fingers couldn't get at it. Ants still found it, they didn't HAVE to be right on a trail. Never used boric acid on ants, for roaches, it works. Gets in their joints and cuts them up. Strictly a mechanical thing. Has to be put down where they run, not good for pets, either.

Stan One method that has had some success is the use of corn meal. Evidently they eat it but can't digest it. Hopefully they share with the queen. We have used it to some success, however, pouring gasolene down the hole and lighting it has also worked.

snipped-for-privacy@prolynx.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@j8g2000yqd.googlegroups.com:

MIT used to have a big problem with roaches in their animal labs. They use a 50/50 mix of boric acid & plaster of Paris. If the boric acid didn't get them, apparently they'd ingest enough that the plaster would fossilize them. They called it "Croakroach".

Doug White

Hi Des,

This recipe works great for 'sweet centric' ants straight and can be mixed with tiny dried beef chunks for both 'sweet centric' and 'protein centric' ants.

Place ~8 ml (1/2 tablespoon) of 99% Boric Acid in a

Don't make a large batch because it does break down and ants will avoid it after a few weeks. Store in a cool, dry place. Pour into a shallow container like a tuna can. Place it so that it cannot be found by kids and / or other pets. On warm summer days, the mixture will lose water and become viscous. You can recover by topping up the mixture or cutting it with a little hot water.

Do not re-use your milk jug for subsequent batches because the ants avoid bait tainted with spoiled ingredients. Don't panic when you see strips of floating gunge in stored bait. I think it is a chemical byproduct of the mixture and does not affect the effectiveness of the bait if the jug is less than a few days old.

black ones which form trails to food). I'm about to run around with the local poison, but I am worrying about it degrading in the sun, and the kids getting poison through their feet (high traffic area - hence the food the

the holes - the ants get in, but any cat which can carry away a brick is one I'd rather not meet.

Think *wet*. Ants can smell the bait only if some of it can volatilize; dry ingredients don't mix with air nearly as efficiently as do wet ingredients.

The brick will cause the bait to dry out instantly so consider how you will incorporate a vented waterproof container inside the brick, perhaps.

--Winston

Doug White wrote: Never

I happened on an effective bait for eliminating roaches - a 50-50 mix of powdered sugar and baking powder, and after putting out a few mayo-jar lids of it around in the kitchen and the 'home-brew room', within about a week or so I never saw another roach. I Wwnder if it would be appealing to ants at all...

Mike

(...)

Heh!

Did the raw boric acid powder not do the trick?

Possible, though I doubt it.

From:

I conjecture that you'd want to include an attractively smelly ingredient.

--Winston

Hey Winston,

first I've got to correct myself here, sorry about that:

That should read 'baking soda', I don't know if bp (there's those initials again) would work...

That was the mid eighties, no where local to get it; besides, I had powdered sugar and baking soda on hand and was easy enough to try.

Interesting article, thanks.

Not sure I want to go there, seems that would kind of spoil the beauty of the 50-50 ps-bs mix, in that its presence is for the most part innocuous and unobtrusive, at least for animals that are able to burp. Next time I see some ants in the house I'll try putting some in their path.

Mike

Hey Mike,

(...)

Wow! I wonder how that works? That is 'way more convenient than running to the hardware store for the boric acid. I suppose the alkalinity of the baking soda is as harmful to the little darlings as the acid in the boric.

Who knew?

(...)

Ah! Is that the mechanism? Ewww.

I am interested your findings.

:)

--Winston