Killing ants HELP!

They cant stand AJAX....

 

How big are the ants, or what kind are they, if you know?

 

Pete you live in mountainous territory, are they the big red or black ants?
Formica obscuriventris

usually a poison bait works so they take it to the queen b-word.

 

There are all kinds of sprays, I don't mean aerosol, but 'pump' sprays, I know Beyer makes one I use and it works.
But for a powder, try Borax.

And, of course, you need to do a Google Search, it's ALL there...

 

I've had luck with Terro liquid ant baits. Stick several traps close to the ant trail. The Grants kills ants don't seem that effective.

I've sprayed the entire foundation with Ortho's Home Defense. Next day ants are crossing the sprayed area. Great protection! (sarcastically). Although I did spray over our fence into some weeds. Quickly swarmed by hundreds of dying crickets, sorta like a locust plague. Wierd.

 

By far, Terro is the best that I have ever tried.

 

I've had good results spraying them and the area with a solution of water and dishwashing soap.

 

+1 poison baits that they can take back to the rest of their colonies.

Also, as a side note, my #1 hobby is myrmecology(study of ants), and have over 25 colonies(with queens) in my house and have over 10 different species. If anyone ever needs identification or has questions about my strange, but cool, hobby. Let me know.

Identifying what kind of species it is can help to combat them...

RacerX_GTO: Formica obscuriventris, and almost all species of Formica are rarely invasive to people's homes.

Without knowing anything about the terrain/elevation/geography of where you live - my guess is that it is the Argentine ant - Linepithema humile. The college i went to (U of Illinois) had an ant lab that specialized in invasive species of ants - and Andy Suarez there - is perhaps the leading scientist that studies these nasty creatures. The reason why this ant is such a huge pest is that, unlike other ants, colonies do not fight amongst themselves and compete for the same resources. So opposing colonies - instead of killing one another - will team up and form supercolonies. The problem with killing them is that over the strech of 25' x 25' land, there could be several hundred queens. Just killing one will not even dent the super colony as a whole. One queen dies and there are 99 others that will take it's place. Even worse, these supercolonies have been known to span several hundred and maybe even a thousand square miles and will not fight amongst one another. Also, since they are from a area of the world (equator) where natural competition is much more fierce...these ants can reproduce and kill our own native species with ease.

The argentine ant does not survive well in California's natural environment, but thrive in urban areas due to lawn watering and irration that fosters a more humid underground which they like.

The 100% effective way to erradicate them would be to change your landscape to something more barren and natural that doesn't require watering. Since that is probably not practical for most people - then constantly having bait traps around - even after you have killed most of them off will be the only thing that will neutralize their presence. This will, however, need to continue for them to stay gone or they will come right back.

Hope this helps. For this species though...sprays will do nothing but kill the 50 or so that you see in front of you. Not much good when there is 15million more back at the nest. Bait works well with a lot of species who are single queened colonies. Once the queen is fed and dies - egg production stops and the colony dies rather quickly (ants typically do not live long when they have no queen or purpose). With the argentines? Even if you bait them and they feed the bait to a few queens...you are only killing off at most 5% of the total colony population...and with 15-20million ants...that isn't very effective.

I saw someone mention that your location is mountainous and that would slightly lead me away from guessing argentine ants (which is a good thing) so..

Other possibilities include Tapinoma sessile - the odorous house ant, and Tetramorium type E (formerly known as Tetramorium caespitum). T. sessile can be difficult to get rid of because it can have several queens like the argentine ant, but are not nearly as massive in size because they, unlike the argentine ant, cannot form supercolonies and will fight and kill eachother. Tetramorium type E should be very easy to get rid of as it is single queened.

There are a couple of other possibilities but these seem to be the most likely.

Probably way too much info but it is rare that I can be of this much help to this board
Good luck.

 

Good Gawd!

Bounty, don't take offense, o.k.?

 

I would guess, and I qualify that as "guess", that they are of the small pi**ant size. Good luck. I used everything and they disappear for a while but come back again. Outside I use Amdro and they seem to pick it up like ice cream and carry it into the mound. Within two days the mound has no activity............

Oh, and Bounty", can you use this knowledge in real life???? Just a question. Did I tell you about my rattlesnake collection I keep in the house?

 

Woah!, fascinating. Bounty's post was like a mini-Discovery Channel episode!

In glass cases, I assume

 

Tarantella with hobnail boots?

 

James,

There are a few people who have used this sort of knowledge to support themselves - mostly in the academic field. E.O. Wilson and Bert Holldobler won a pulitzer prize on The Ants - which is the definitive work on the subject. These are probably the only two people who have "gotten rich" off of studying these amazing creatures.

Another individual has had his own Discovery show which featured strange ants from the world over which has been quite sucessessful.

Lastly, some individuals have made a lot of money by selling professional ant farms to the small but growing number of amateur myrmecologists. This hobby is much more rampant in Europe.

A number of others have specialized in myrmecology(study of ants) as their foundation for professions in biology as either a professor, researcher(state and university funded), or ecological consultant. Before highways and other goverment projects are allowed...ecological consultants must research the area and make sure nothing of significant importance or any unique botanical or biological importance will be destroyed.

My knowledge could definitely be useful in the extermination business as well...but short of what was mentioned above...there isn't much money to be made for the vast majority of people with my knowledge.

It is a hobby to me because I find them infinitely fascinating and I watch and keep them much like someone would watch and keep a marine aquarium. A fascination that grew as a kid, but was not indulged in until my early 20's. They are challenging to keep, but it is very rewarding to watch my colonies grow from a single queen up to many thousand workers.

I kept leaf cutter ants at my university - Atta columbica, Atta cepholates, Atta laevigata, Atta texana - and these colonies would grow into the 50-100k range and would have grown up to several million if we had allowed it (can be controlled by the amount of vegetation you give them). I also helped to keep a species of Dinoponera which can grow to be as big as 40mm(4cm) and although shy...can deliver a sting so painful that it can paralyze a side of your body for a day.

As far as your rattlesnake collection goes: My uncle was an avid rock climber for many years and would collect rattlesnakes for the zoos in Texas and other states. He also kept quite a few different species in his house, and had a record for the longest lived in captivity of a certain species (can't remember the name now). He was quite an interesting fellow, and was one of a few people in the world that could climb the hardest route at El Capitan - but tragically died falling during a Mexico trip on a relatively easy route.

I'd like to know more about what kind of rattlesnakes you keep.

 

Strangely enough, I keep a lot in open aired containers that are lined with fluon (One of the slickest synthetic substances known to man). You paint it on as a liquid and it dries as a slick surface. I keep my queens initially in test tubes until I have 5-10 worker ants. Then transfer them into their nest which is constructed of everything from woodchips between two panes of glass to complex plaster of paris setups and modular tube structures. Some guys in the Germany board have created some professional setups that would blow your mind away. Fun stuff!

 

None taken

 

Orange oil, 4 tbls/per gallon.......

 

I'm not kidding, I drench the hills in the lawn, and if you wipe your cabinets down with the furniture polish with it, they get scarce!

And you don't have those pesky flame marks to contend with.......LOL!

 

Look out! Pete's going ballistic!

 

Any good ideas for the big red ants?

 

I killed a mound last year by soaking a rag in gasoline, putting it over the mound, then covering it with an upside-down bucket. The fumes soak into the ground and displace oxygen, killing the ants. I've heard of utility guys doing the same thing for wasps/bees in the water meter box.

 

I have small black ants all over my house. Brand new house, btw. There was a big hill next to our property but they leveled it so to control the rain. I think that's where they came from.

I have no idea how they get in, but they have recently taking a liking to the dirty clothes hamper. There's no food in there, I can't fathom why they want to be in there, it's just a simple cotton bag on a wooden frame. Any ideas? The sweat maybe?