The great ant invasion of 2008

[Mitch]

I get ants every spring, no big deal. But WOW! I've never seen them totally devour every speck of Terro and still keep coming!

[John]

Same here in St. Charles Mo, 30 miles west of St. Louis. All the rain we have had I hink drove them in the house. The neighbors have the same problem.

----- John

DIY Driveway repair and sealing.

[gfretwell]

I suspect the ones that keep coming are not eating the terro.

I haven't seen an ant that would eat sugar around my house for 5 years. Because of all the different baits I have thrown at them they don't really seem to eat anything I can find, but they are still here.

[Darrel]

That must be my problem. I put down some of the Terro baits a few days ago and am still killing ants. I threw away a coffee pot last week because there was a bunch of ants in there.

[cshenk]

wrote

Try dry grits on the mounds in dry weather. Kills the ants and wont harm anything else.

[Oren]

Ants carry the dry grits into the mound. Moisture causes the grits too swell. It kills them.

Waste of a good grit!

*What's a grit?* (G)

[salty]

Terro takes a few days, but it works. Some of the ants take it back to the nest. There may even be an increase in ants when you first put it out, because it attracts them. Be patient.

[Mitch]

OMG! I found a chocolate chip cookie in the utility closet. Covered with about a trillion ants.

Life with a 2-year-old.

[Dottie]

If you are using Terro that you bought last year, it won't work. I have found that I have to buy a fresh supply every year.

[Norminn]

I had a springtime invasion long ago - three kids who made their own snacks, imperfect housekeeping. I got a bottle of Terro - first time I had tried it. The ants were really awful - like the army ants in a movie I saw once - marching across my kitchen toward the sandwich-making counter. When I put down some Terro, near where they were coming in, it was like the general blew a whistle and sounded retreat. It was only a few minutes before they all started moving the other way. Pretty amazing. Interesting critters :o)

[Norminn]

When I have used it, the ants surround the drop of Terro like cattle around a cow tank.

[gfretwell]

Those will be the same ants that cover a lump of sugar. There are lots of ants that don't eat sugar. The ones I have these days don't seem to eat anything I can determine because I make a bait with whatever I find them eating. They do leave the dog food alone now and that was my biggest problem with them.

[salty]

Exactly! They love the stuff. They carry some back to the nest and share it, which is how it wipes out the whole colony.

[dicko]

For those ants that dont eat sugar, this stuff works well:

I'm battling them too and they snarf this down quick.

-dickm

[Mitch]

They're starting to taper off, finally.

[salty]

Are you planning to attend the wake? :')

[Stormin Mormon]

Years ago, I had good results with liquid ant bait from

but this year, there are much smaller ants. And less interested in the blue liquid. Not sure what to do.

[HeyBub]

You can probably get a few Horned Toads mail order.

Called the "Texas Ant-Eater," they live out of the way and gobble ants like mad.

Scary looking critters, though. (About the size of a frog)

[Mitch]

The how will we handle the Horned Toad explosion? :-)

I watched a documentary about the Kane Toad crisis in Australia. Scary stuff.

[Mitch]

Are they sweet-eating?