ant problem
- Thread starter mwindman
- Start date
- Status
Here are a few ant remedies that I have saved:
Several Home-made Ant Remedies
1 – Boric Acid
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon of Boric Acid, 1 tsp of Sugar, 4 oz water, Cotton Balls.
Mix Boric Acid and Sugar in a bowl. This can be poured over a cotton wad in a small dish or bottle cap. Keep this from drying out for continued effectiveness. Place Cotton balls in path of Ants. If the ants are drawn to sugar, if you make a solution of boric acid and sugar, not too much boric acid initially, the ants will eat it up take it to their young and feed it to them. This method will kill the entire nest in about two weeks. The solution should initially be weak because you don't want them to taste the boric acid and you don't want to kill the ants before they feed the rest of the nest. If they are protein eating ants mix the boric acid in broth.
2 – Another Boric Acid
>> 1 teaspoon boric acid (avalable at any drug store,, $2.99 for 4 oz) 6 tablespoons sugar
>> 2 cups water
>> mix together in a jar till all disolved,, label and store safely.
>>Soak a few cotton balls with it, then put them in a small, covered plastic >container (margerine or <?>) with a few small openings in it for the ants to >get in, (I also put a brick on top so other curious creatures could not get >in)and then freshen it 1-2 times a week.
>> This is a slow acting 1 percent solution to get them to take some back to
>> the nest and even feed the queen :>
>>after a few weeks changing to a 1/2 percent solution should keep them gone.
3 - bacon grease
....in a margarine tub which is sunk into the ground level. The ants here can smell animal fat from what seems like a mile away...Around the outside of the margarine tub I place a big circle of boric acid...and cover it with a rock. The ants have to walk through the boric acid to get to the bacon grease, then back through it on the way out. If they get back to the nest carrying it on their legs, it kills whatever it comes into contact with. We have 4or 5 species of ants here...two of which are lethal!
4 - Found this in Jerry Bakers stuff
Ant Ambrosia
4-5 tbsp. of cornmeal
3 tbsp. of bacon grease
3 tbsp. of baking powder
3 packages of baker's yeast
Mix the cornmeal and bacon grease into a paste, then add the baking powder and yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the sides of jar lids, and set them near the anthills. The pesky critters will love it to death!!""
5 - If you can't find Everclear, liquify orange peels and pour it around the ant hills. You may get fruit flies, but you won't have any trouble with ants!
6 - I have a friend that put a circle of diatomaceous earth around her aviaries and
effectively kept the ants out that way. She also uses it to directly attack any hills in the area.
7 - I believe that the "new age chalk" is a combination of diatomaceous earth and boric acid. Boric acid is the major component in "Roach Proof" and is a fairly benign and very effective means of insect control.
8 - Amdro is another effective treatment, but it is an actual poison, but safer than others. Both Amdro and Logic are baits that the ants pick up and take into the mound so that the queen eats it.
Several Home-made Ant Remedies
1 – Boric Acid
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon of Boric Acid, 1 tsp of Sugar, 4 oz water, Cotton Balls.
Mix Boric Acid and Sugar in a bowl. This can be poured over a cotton wad in a small dish or bottle cap. Keep this from drying out for continued effectiveness. Place Cotton balls in path of Ants. If the ants are drawn to sugar, if you make a solution of boric acid and sugar, not too much boric acid initially, the ants will eat it up take it to their young and feed it to them. This method will kill the entire nest in about two weeks. The solution should initially be weak because you don't want them to taste the boric acid and you don't want to kill the ants before they feed the rest of the nest. If they are protein eating ants mix the boric acid in broth.
2 – Another Boric Acid
>> 1 teaspoon boric acid (avalable at any drug store,, $2.99 for 4 oz) 6 tablespoons sugar
>> 2 cups water
>> mix together in a jar till all disolved,, label and store safely.
>>Soak a few cotton balls with it, then put them in a small, covered plastic >container (margerine or <?>) with a few small openings in it for the ants to >get in, (I also put a brick on top so other curious creatures could not get >in)and then freshen it 1-2 times a week.
>> This is a slow acting 1 percent solution to get them to take some back to
>> the nest and even feed the queen :>
>>after a few weeks changing to a 1/2 percent solution should keep them gone.
3 - bacon grease
....in a margarine tub which is sunk into the ground level. The ants here can smell animal fat from what seems like a mile away...Around the outside of the margarine tub I place a big circle of boric acid...and cover it with a rock. The ants have to walk through the boric acid to get to the bacon grease, then back through it on the way out. If they get back to the nest carrying it on their legs, it kills whatever it comes into contact with. We have 4or 5 species of ants here...two of which are lethal!
4 - Found this in Jerry Bakers stuff
Ant Ambrosia
4-5 tbsp. of cornmeal
3 tbsp. of bacon grease
3 tbsp. of baking powder
3 packages of baker's yeast
Mix the cornmeal and bacon grease into a paste, then add the baking powder and yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the sides of jar lids, and set them near the anthills. The pesky critters will love it to death!!""
5 - If you can't find Everclear, liquify orange peels and pour it around the ant hills. You may get fruit flies, but you won't have any trouble with ants!
6 - I have a friend that put a circle of diatomaceous earth around her aviaries and
effectively kept the ants out that way. She also uses it to directly attack any hills in the area.
7 - I believe that the "new age chalk" is a combination of diatomaceous earth and boric acid. Boric acid is the major component in "Roach Proof" and is a fairly benign and very effective means of insect control.
8 - Amdro is another effective treatment, but it is an actual poison, but safer than others. Both Amdro and Logic are baits that the ants pick up and take into the mound so that the queen eats it.
I've heard quite a bit of good about the boric acid/sugar treatment. You just have to weight down the container so the tortoises can't get into it.
Yvonne
Yvonne
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2009
- Messages
- 692
It depends on what type of ant you have. The Argentinian ants that are invading CA are not going for boric acid/sugar. I tried it w/Jam. Nothing. They go for fatty stuff and they bite people, too. TERRO was the only thing that helped reduce the #s for these ants dramatically here at my house and we're going for the 2nd round this week. It's not safe for torts though you can put them right outside the pens. You can pick TERRO up at HomeDepot.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I've also heard the Terro used in combination with Amdro works better than the two of them on their own. Also, for ants that don't go for sugar, you can use grease, broth or liquified cat food in place of the sugar.
Yvonne
Yvonne
Thank you all for the suggestions; I have put amdro around his pen along with diametaceus earth; and I also mixed with D earth with his soil to help maybe inside the pen along with killing scorpions; Do torti's have reaction to ant bites; Morris seemed sick one night with diarrhea but is still eating; He seems fine today and we went out and bought some sod since the birds and the sun play havock on grass seed;
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2009
- Messages
- 692
Maggie posted a pix of Queenie eating ants--extra protein, I suppose. If they have poison in their system, now I think that's probably a problem but toxicity might be very low in such small body.
My Penelope seems oblivious to ants and other bugs in general but I'm sure she won't like it if they bite her.
My Penelope seems oblivious to ants and other bugs in general but I'm sure she won't like it if they bite her.
In another thread people have suggested using corn starch, but I do not remember how to use it. I use boric acid outside my torts area and if I need to use it in my torts area I use chalk on the bricks and on the bottom. works good for me.
I have never seen corn starch used for ants but I have seen corn meal used. here is a site that will help you ID your ant.
http://www.pestproducts.com/pissant.htm
http://www.pestproducts.com/pissant.htm
Crazy1 said:
Thanks for the site I think we have argentine ants but still trying to find a way to keep them from biting Morris; We live out in the desert;
dmmj said:
Just regular chalk? His enclosure is made of landscaping timber with bricks sunk into the ground;
I use regular chalk it is something about the chalk they don't cross or it kills them, they sell insect chalk with pesticides in it but I don't use that. I grind it up and put a layer of it around my pen. it works great for me.
M
Maggie Cummings
Guest
For me what worked best was pouring boiling water over them. I moved Queenie to a different tort table and soaked hers with boiling water. It took 3 treatments before they left. You can also use Ambo and you put a glop of it on a small paper and it attracts the ants to it and poisons them. But I'm afraid to use that so close to Queenie because she eats any ants she sees...
I have used that treatment away from her in the house and it worked really well.
I have used that treatment away from her in the house and it worked really well.
- Status
