Killer ants

[Bones]

We have a really bad ant problem at our new house. Normally I would hate to kill ants and just let them be as long as they are staying out of the pet food but at this new house the ants are super aggressive and just killed one of my 2 week old Pigeon chicks and were even attacking the adult pigeons. My pigeons are housed in my bedroom until we get their coop built. I pulled the ants off the remaining chick and put some DE around their cage but I need a more Permanente way to keep the ants at bay and I also need to be able to keep them out of my rabbit pen, chick brooder, Cockatiel cage and rodent cages. 

[MoveDiagonally]

Here are some no kill ant control tips from PETA:
http://www.peta.org/living/home-and-garden/tips-for-humane-nontoxic-ant-control.aspx

Here are some more that include kill methods:
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/980528a.cfm#.UYIhPbVJP4s

[Bones]

I am going to try some of those ideas.

[Velvet]

I read somewhere ants HATE vinegar, so spray it around liberally

[Eucalyptus]

WOW. I did not know that ants would attack large things like that. Are they the same ants that you typically see? Just the common “ant.” That makes me fear them even more ….. I’m somewhat traumatized from past ant infestations in previous apartments with my mom. I would wake up with an ant on my face every 30 minutes for the entire summer because they were coming from my bedroom ceiling and would eventually get on my bed – even when I pulled it from the wall. In the carpet, EVERYWHERE. I would have a plate on the counter for like 1 min, walk back, ANTS EVERYWHERE. Ugh, I actually get nightmares sometimes.

I don’t know what it’s called (boyfriend recommends it and he’s passed out right now), but there’s this goo stuff that you put on your ceiling or wall or somewhere that pets can’t access (but still close enough to the area with the ants). It’s supposed to be extremely attracting to the ants, and it’s a very harsh poison that they’ll all get a little of and bring back to the nest. It should end up being distributed to all the ants back “home” and even get to the queen.

I’ve never used it, but my boyfriend said anytime they had an ant problem they would use that, and basically you’d see a horrible thick mass of black around it and a thick black trail leading to it because there’s so many. It would get really bad at first, then drastically diminish in a couple of days. He swears by it, though. I’ll get the name of the product from him later, but maybe you’ll be able to make use of that.

[Bones]

 I am going to try the vinegar thing. I just looked up the kind of ant I have and they are fire ants .  I don’t want to use baits inside because I am worried that or of my rodents will eat a ant that has a piece of it.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Yeah fireants are VERY aggressive they seek out to bite and sting. In Texas they were so bad and then I moved to Delaware and they don’t have fireants. They have ants, but they aren’t aggressive. I love that I can work outside in the garden and not have to worry about getting attacked by ants. But now I kind of wish we had fireants over here because the ticks are just SOOOO bad. I have never seen so many ticks in my life. I walked my dogs in the park in a wooded area and there were hundreds crawling up my legs. When I looked down more closely iI can see the ground just crawling with them!

But, yes fireants are very aggressive and can easily kill small birds and animals with no issues. Definitely get them under control as soon as you can.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

The only way to rid them is to get to the queen ant. The only way to get to the queen ant is if one of her workers bring her some food. As in a bait food that’s been poisoned. You can’t rid the problem without killing the queen ant. And she never comes out. She stays hidden deep in their home just making lots and lots of babies…

[Bones]

Now that I know that they are fire ants I have no problem with killing them since they kill the native harvester ants. I am going to make a borax, sugar & water mixture to put under the house.

[Eucalyptus]

Okay, the stuff called Grants. You take like a toothpick and swirl it around to get the goo, and then put it somewhere out of reach of children or pets. Just put it in an obscure part of the house that they’ll get to because they will SWARM.

Assuming that fire ants will have just as much interest as regular ants (are those the harvester ants?), this should still be an effective way to get poison to the queen. Like others said, the queen is always hidden and protected by warrior ants, so that’s pretty much the only way to get to her unless you happen to break into the wall or floor or wherever the nest is, which is unlikely.

What rodents are going to get them? You might want to just keep everyone in their enclosures (and only out under supervision) until this is solved. The faster and more efficiently you get rid of them, the better. You don’t want to be lax about it and have them attack your buns and other pets, or even yourself. I would just recommend doing everything you can because these aren’t just annoying pests like regular ants, they’re actually aggressively going for your family.

[Bones]

I put a mix of Borax, water & sugar in 2 spots under the house and if this does not work I will try to find the Grants ant killer and put that under the house. I have a lot of mice & rats and I am worried that if I put poisons indoors then if a ant with the poison crawls into one of the cages and gets eaten then the critter will get sick. The harvester ants are big red ants that stay outside.

[Stickerbunny]

http://www.hayneedle.com/product/terrooutdoorliquidantbaits.cfm?source=pla&tid=OIN438&adtype=pla&kw=&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=OIN438&gclid=CLyhsqGW-LYCFYRM4AodhFoAtA

Terro is the BEST ant killer I know of, I had ants so badly that they broke our air conditioner, were all over the yard (every blade of grass) and had even made a nest in our mail box. I hate killing anything, but they had to go. I put that outside around my house, 2 boxes of 3 traps to line the perimeter and the next week all were gone. They never came back, I refresh the traps once a year around the start of the warm season. The active ingredient in terro is borax, it’s safe to use around dogs and cats since there isn’t enough (unless they actually eat the bait station amount of poison) to kill them if they eat an ant, but I am not sure with the smaller pets. If you can find their mound, it is best to bait that specifically… fire ants where I am from always build a dirt mound.

Fire ants WILL attack rodents and small pets such as rabbits. I lived in Florida and they attacked and nearly blinded one of our ducks, also were attacking our rabbit.

My mother buys granules specifically for fire ants, but granules will be dragged around and pose more of a health risk for other animals. I prefer the liquid.

[Eucalyptus]

^ Wow, I would seriously just move out and nuke the house. Completely. I hate ants so much, I have nightmares about them being in my place every once in a while. I hate killing things too, but the way I see it is, if you’re invading my territory, it’s fair game. If one of us went into a bear cave, it would be threatened and kill us, too. It’s natural. So I don’t feel nearly as bad about it. I will do my best to harmlessly remove spiders and bugs, but ants … NO. I draw the line there, you can’t just remove them, you have to destroy them all. D:

The way I see it is … if the ants are killing your pets, you need to take serious measures. One ant with poison getting in a cage and being eaten is a lot less likely than the ants getting worse and higher in number and going for your pets. I totally understand the fear, so go ahead and try the other option first. But just remember that you need to work fast before it gets too bad.

I wish you luck, seriously. I totally know how it feels to have ants and I would DIE if we had fire ants that bad.

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By Eucalyptus on 05/02/2013 06:12 PM

^ Wow, I would seriously just move out and nuke the house. Completely. I hate ants so much, I have nightmares about them being in my place every once in a while. I hate killing things too, but the way I see it is, if you’re invading my territory, it’s fair game. If one of us went into a bear cave, it would be threatened and kill us, too. It’s natural. So I don’t feel nearly as bad about it. I will do my best to harmlessly remove spiders and bugs, but ants … NO. I draw the line there, you can’t just remove them, you have to destroy them all. D:

The way I see it is … if the ants are killing your pets, you need to take serious measures. One ant with poison getting in a cage and being eaten is a lot less likely than the ants getting worse and higher in number and going for your pets. I totally understand the fear, so go ahead and try the other option first. But just remember that you need to work fast before it gets too bad.

I wish you luck, seriously. I totally know how it feels to have ants and I would DIE if we had fire ants that bad.

 

We had just moved in lol I don’t think our land lord would have liked us nuking his place. :&#160

[Bones]

I think I will pick up one of those Terro stations for if I find their mound. I was looking for ant mounds today and I found a lot of ant holes but none were fire ant mounds. I found the hole that they were coming in from and plugged that with a pepper and water mix. I also found a soda can sitting in a window sill with fire ants going after the soda so since the ants were only coming about 4 inches into the house put the borax mix in the can and the ants are going after it so hopefully they will be gone soon.

[Stickerbunny]

You don’t have to find the mound to use the terro – anywhere within their range works and they carry it back to the nest. They come in 3-6 packs at stores and you are supposed to place them around your home. Baiting a mound works best for fire ants, but they are attracted by the terro as much as a soda can (its very syrupy), so within 10ft or so works too. For tips on finding the mound, in high traffic areas it may just be a patch of dirt with a hole in it, if they have had time to build one up it looks like a small pile of dirt on top of grass. They will also make tunnels inside sandy areas, such as a septic tank. Good luck.

[Velvet]

If they are sweet eating ants thay make Terro liquit ant killer. It’s a clear sweet tasting liquid. You put a few drops od like an old plastic margerine container lid, or like that and place it where the ants are running. They will leave scents to follaw for the other ants to find the food they located. Lay out a few drops of the Terro poison along that trail and if they’re sugar ants you will have a line of ants like never befotre eating this sweet poison. Then just keep the Terro drops full and watcth the “fun” those buggers will fill up and take a stomach full back to the nest, leaving a trail for the other worker ants to follow to the sweet poison. Plus, they will take the stmach full back and feed it to the queen, once she dies thats the end of the colony. We use it every spring and works everytime. Just hoping fire ants like sweet things! John

 

More on subject:   http://www.fireant.tv/

[Bones]

I think the Borax stuff I made worked because I have not seen any fire ants for 2 days.

[Eucalyptus]

That’s great! I’m so happy for you. I would continue using that stuff all over the vicinity if possible, just in case.

[Author]

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