Well, he's from Missouri. Just t'aint the real south there and it's a good way to use them instant sorts up when your Idaho born hubby comes back with a 5 lb sack of the pestiferous things and looks confused when you issue a few 'southernisms at his head'. I reckon they make the instant type to kill ants and yankees. Didn't kill the yankees (tough critters) but kept 'em away from the real stuff so the price is low. Hehehe they H'aint be knowin what they be missin!
"Why, them's Griyuts, Honey"
Griyuts: What no Southern breakfast would be complete without -- grits. "Ah like griyuts with butter and sawt on 'em, but Ah purely love 'em with red-eye gravy."
Sorry, I was born in New Orleans and I think grits are cat box filler. Yech! Don't think all southerners eat that crap, 'cause we don't.
I have good luck with Amdro, but that's me and that's here. May not where you are. It is spendy. Finally got the wife to quit using it like powdered sugar after she went and bought some. "You know what this stuff costs?", she asked. "Yeah, why do you think I've been telling you to use the small holes in the shaker instead of the one BIG one?" A few grains per hill, but like you said, new ones just move in. Isn't the ant thing seasonal, with them starting new colonies at certain times of the year, or do they do that all the time. If they do it seasonally, hit them good right before they lay eggs, and get the whole colony. You might not clear up Missouri, but you might clean up your little part of the universe.
HTH
Steve
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A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
Me eat heap big plate of Maze gritz.
Let me be the first to ask the dumb question ......... what does boric acid do to ants?
Steve
Damn, I knew someone would finally find a use for grits! Thanks. I'm going to buy a box next time I go to the store.
Steve
visit my blog at
A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
Not dumb!
It _burns_ (acid) the exoskeleton, when they walk on it. Same with killin' cockroaches. Dust with it like a Sevin dust around a home perimeter.
The mixtures used in a bottle cap type bait (jelly for one) will attract them, when you cannot "dust" an area.
You must like hominy grits. Yuck!
Nuttin like a pot of bawlt grits -- Dixie Lily brand..
Me plonk you
That may be part of our problem here. We have a 12 month season. There is no dormant period so things evolve faster here. I actually got rid of all my fire ants quite a while ago and white foot ants moved in. They are particularly nasty since they can throw multiple queens and other things that makes killing the colony harder. They also figured out we have ants that will take in workers from other colonies when their queen dies. When you add that to ants that maintain a couple different food streams and abandon one if it starts killing them you can see why baits are a tough thing to make in any quantity and expect it to keep working. Baits are certainly the way to go but if the ants start adapting, be ready to change the bait.
It is a slow acting poison if you use a small dose.
I don't think it is as much a matter of tolerace to the bait/insecticide as a balance between different insects that are predators...termites and carpenter ants seem to alternate (studying our palm trees :o) and fire ants feed on lots of other larvae. Carpenter ants and fire ants both seem to nest under pavement...dryer? Gopher crickets eat anything and everything :o) My husband and I spent about two years full-time rehabbing our condo sprinkler system and lawn. It was bloody awful until we discovered Amdro....you can have a swarm of fire ants on you and you don't feel it until they begin to bite in unison. I once knelt on a mound and moved might fast when I felt a bite ... had over 100 bites on my leg. I did nature photography when I first moved to Florida and it seemed to be a perfect viewpoint when I had my tripod right on top of a f.a. mound....ouch!
It also works to keep flea eggs from hatching...that from our vet when our cat had an awful case of fleas and just before topical treatment was available.
The trick with fire ants is not to hurt them. Jump in the pool or gently try to knock them off. If you crush one and he releases his pheromone, the rest immediately bite.
One of my friends used to own a flea treatment service that he sold for 6 figures. The secret of his success was treating carpets and furniture with a combination of boric acid and diotomaceus earth (mentioned by another poster). Both are unregulated and available in bulk from a place like Lesco. He made an applicator out of a PVC pipe with holes drilled in it that worked like a roller depositing spots of the mix that they worked into the fibers with a broom. As a bonus it also did a number on just about all the other creapy crawlies we have here.
Not here...they are on you in a swarm and bite in unison it seems. No warning, no creepy-crawly feeling, just sudden multiple stings.
I bet you killed one right before they all decided to bite. It can be an accident, just move the wrong way and crush one and the rest are on the war path.
Nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
My tolerance to ant bites has diminished greatly since my heart surgery, and I think it is from the blood thinner coumadin. The other day, I had to go to my cabin. I had to get under it to get some stuff out. My left leg has no feeling zones due to vein harvesting for the heart bypasses. I had a fire ant bite me, and I could not feel it. Apparently, he was there for quite a while. I got a 3/4" nice red mound on my shin that oozed clear liquid for three days, like a spider's bite. It finally scabbed over. Another on my forearm, and another on my face. I cannot imagine getting hit by a bunch of them like I knew in the South. I got hit by five yellow jackets on my leg last summer, and that was no fun. Big welts with clear oozing fluid for three or four days. The good thing was that I couldn't feel three of them. Since then, I have heard WD40 and ammonia are good emergency treatments.
I've been away for about five weeks, and things around the ranchita here have gotten way out of hand. Foxtails up the wazoo, and lots of ant mounds. I'll probably be dispensing Amdro tomorrow. I do want to go buy some grits, though, and do an experiment on two sides of the house. I have two acres to experiment.
Steve
visit my blog at
A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
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