"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



If they are fire ants then I guess I should call Vector Control. I think I
heard something several years ago about a county program to try to control
the. I just never knew what a fire ant was.

As for getting rid of their food supply I live on 20 acres and they appear t
o eat the greasewood and sage brush and I'm not allowed to clear it due to
environmental protection laws. Occasionally I'll throw a dead mouse from a
mouse trap into the bushes and they might be eating those but I'm talking
about a LOT of ants. When the sun is shining I don't think there is one
square yard of my 20 acres that does not have at least one ant on it,
usually a red ant. That seems to leave amdro (I'll have to look that up),
DDT (that should work, might be hard to find though), and gasoline.
Gasoline I can get but I'll have to make sure the Fire Captian isn't flying
over as I live in and Extreme Fire Hazard Area. :-D