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wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:51:43 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

I've been using Diazenon powder to control 'em. It kills many but doesn't
repel 'em. They keep coming back.

Anything on the market that effectively repels red ants but won't
cause serious problems for pets, etc?

Thx,
Will
I have good luck with Amdro, but that's me and that's here. May not where
you are. It is spendy. Finally got the wife to quit using it like powdered
sugar after she went and bought some. "You know what this stuff costs?",
she asked. "Yeah, why do you think I've been telling you to use the small
holes in the shaker instead of the one BIG one?" A few grains per hill, but
like you said, new ones just move in. Isn't the ant thing seasonal, with
them starting new colonies at certain times of the year, or do they do that
all the time.

That may be part of our problem here. We have a 12 month season. There
is no dormant period so things evolve faster here.
I actually got rid of all my fire ants quite a while ago and white
foot ants moved in. They are particularly nasty since they can throw
multiple queens and other things that makes killing the colony harder.
They also figured out we have ants that will take in workers from
other colonies when their queen dies.
When you add that to ants that maintain a couple different food
streams and abandon one if it starts killing them you can see why
baits are a tough thing to make in any quantity and expect it to keep
working.
Baits are certainly the way to go but if the ants start adapting, be
ready to change the bait.

I don't think it is as much a matter of tolerace to the bait/insecticide
as a balance between different insects that are predators...termites and
carpenter ants seem to alternate (studying our palm trees

) and fire
ants feed on lots of other larvae. Carpenter ants and fire ants both
seem to nest under pavement...dryer? Gopher crickets eat anything and
everything

) My husband and I spent about two years full-time
rehabbing our condo sprinkler system and lawn. It was bloody awful
until we discovered Amdro....you can have a swarm of fire ants on you
and you don't feel it until they begin to bite in unison. I once knelt
on a mound and moved might fast when I felt a bite ... had over 100
bites on my leg. I did nature photography when I first moved to Florida
and it seemed to be a perfect viewpoint when I had my tripod right on
top of a f.a. mound....ouch!