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dpb

wrote:
....
That "take it back to the nest and destroy the queen" thing is largely
a myth. You can teach the ants not to eat that particular food but the
colony (or one of the princesses) will survive and they won't be
eating that bait anymore.

I disagree (strongly).

Andro ant bait (and some others) work quite well and will kill the colony.

Wayne, you can try all the borax and homemade remedies you want, but
unless you find nests and use an effective pesticide you'll have a
continuing infestation.

Judicious use is obviously the key to being politically correct as well
while still managing to control the problem.

You will, of course, never be able to entirely eliminate all ants but it
should be possible to find dens of the large ants or at least their
working trails and baiting them will eliminate the high numbers pretty
effectively.

We have the large red ants here -- it's a continual battle as it's a
farmstead surrounded by over a mile of unbroken native grass in all
directions (so the ground isn't tilled to help disturb the critters). I
carry a shaker w/ me on the tractor when mowing around the outbuildings
and corral, etc., and eliminate new colonies as I find them. That keeps
them pretty much from establishing new colonies inside the actual yard
area itself. The little ants for the most part I ignore unless they
think it's time to move into the house. I've never had a pinch of Andro
fail to stop them in that case, either, altho the wife will use the
borax thingie for weeks w/ little real effect before I'll (usually
surreptitiously) spike her efforts. Then next morning she'll usually
remark she "won"...

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