wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Sep 2011 10:15:51 -0400, George
wrote:

On 9/25/2011 8:33 AM, Robert Green wrote:
My huge mulberry tree did not fruit this year. As a result about a
billon
hungry little black sugar ants that used to feed on the fallen berries
came
into my house searching for food. These little black ants with banded
abdomens that smell like citronella when crushed are cunning. They
travel
long distances upside down and sideways, making it almost impossible to
track their entry points. I tried a lot of commercial stuff without
success.

Then, reading through old posts I saw that Norminn and some others
recommended Terro. I was out looking for a replacement toilet seat
that
mysteriously cracked last night. At least two things a day break down
around here. Anyway, I got a pack of 9 traps from TruValue (about $5)
and
set three out where I had been seeing the occasional ant.

Four hours later two of the traps were filled with ants and a huge
parade
was leading to each trap. I could see them, lined up like little cows
at a
cattle trough, sucking the clear poison until their abdomens were
swollen.
When one left the "feed line" another moved right in to take it's
place.

It was "Ant Crack." They walked through the Combat traps and ignored
the
Raid bait. But they couldn't get enough Terro. They were climbing all
over
themselves to get at it. This morning, only a few stragglers remain.
Hopefully, this will put an end to them.

Good tip, Norminn (and many others, going back to 2000).

FWIW, in today's NYT there's an article about a woman who poisoned
herself
to death trying to rid her house of bedbugs:


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/ny...han-bites.html

When Lilah Gray started getting bitten by bedbugs, all she could
think of
was getting rid of them. Her husband sprayed and saturated their
double-wide
trailer home in Rocky Mount, N.C., with pesticides. But convinced that
she
could still feel the bugs crawling on her, Ms. Gray soaked a napkin
with Hot
Shot Bedbug and Flea Killer and applied it directly to her chest, then
soaked her hair in pesticide and put a plastic bag over it.

Well, there's no accounting for stone cold crazy. Don't we have
posters
here from Rocky Mount?

--
Bobby G.


Best bait I ever used was from an exterminator. I happened to be going
into a commercial building where I was working and the exterminator was
doing the monthly followup. I mentioned we were getting invaded by ants
at home who were not even interested in the bait I used.

Guy gave me a sealed bag with 6 plastic bait "trays". There was a
divider inside with a different appearance glob of material on each side.

I put two out. The next morning there were enough ants by each to carry
the bait away. Two days later the ants were gone. I looked at the bait
and the "type A" bait in one side was completely gone and the "type B"
bait in the other side was untouched.

That is the secret. You have to bait them with what they are eating.
Terro is sugar based and if you have sweet eating ants it works great.
If they stop eating sugar you have to get creative. Use what you
seeing them eat and bait with that. The poison is usually boric acid
in all of the baits you see, mixed about 12 to 16 to one with the bait
food.

Yep, that's what's in Terro. Boric acid. Not a single ant today, but two
traps full of ants drowned in corn syrup. I should post a picture of them
feeding. Lined up just like cattle.

--
Bobby G.