"Freckles" wrote in message
...

"Ulysses" wrote in message
...
I have a big problem with little ants. Not the really tiny micro-ants,
but
the red ones that are maybe 1/2" long. They are surprisingly painful
when
they bite you and leave a sizable welt. I have tried sprinkling the
anthills with Bug-B-Gone and it seems to work for about three days and
then
they just open up a new hole and go on about their business. I even
tried
spraying them with Raid but that had little effect. Anyone have a
product
that they like for getting rid of ants? If it's possible I would prefer
a
product that won't kill any birds that eat the ants. The quail appear to
eat the ants but I can't really confirm this. In any case they don't eat
enough of them to make a difference so now I'm wondering about anteaters
and
if they would like living in Southern California High Desert and if the
coyotes would bother them and if they could actually control the problem.
Seriously.


Sounds like you have fire ants.

There are fire ant baits that work somewhat in at least slowing them up.
One year I had so many fire ant mounds in my yard I had my lawn care
company spread something on my yard that got rid of them for that one
season. It was rather expensive and I don't know if it was lethal to the
birds, but it did stop the ants for a year or so.

Here in Texas they are experimenting using some kind of imported tiny
wasps that are supposed to eradicate fire ants for once and all.

Freckles

and that technique worked well with the african bees, didn't it?