Paul Wrote in message:
Clive Arthur wrote:
On 24/07/2020 10:20, Chris Hogg wrote:

snip

Borax and sugar is often suggested. https://tinyurl.com/y2efh9nw

1+

Borax, or boric/boracic acid 1:3 with sugar, make a paste with a little
water. Works very well IME. The ants have enough time to take some to
the queen before they die. Harmless to pets. Unless you have pet ants.


Borax at 1:3 tends to kill ants at the bate station.
And works well for smaller ants. The smaller the
ant, the more greedy. The high percentage will
knock out some, in as little as two days.

You can mix borax and sugar in water, and make a
liquid bate. Or mix icing sugar and borax dry,
depending on where you're trying to apply it.

Those are good for the smaller ants.

Borax at 1:16 is more likely to be hauled back to
a queen. (The ants live long enough to make it
back to the nest.) For best results, if you see
a nest with several "trails", each trail should
have bate arranged so they will haul it back.
If they had three trails, and you only put the
1:16 on one trail, the queen might not get any.
Whereas if ants are hauling it back on all three
foraging trails, you're more likely to get the queen.

And sugar/borax is not good for mammals. I had one
mouse, next to a bate location, lying on its side
and exhibiting rapid breathing, and it seemed
unaware of my presence. That's a reason to place
a tile over the bate site. It's to keep the mammals
from eating it all on you. Mice, chipmunks, and
raccoons are candidates. The mammals, once learning
what you're doing, will eat the bate before the ants
get any.

It usually takes the mammals a few days to figure it
out, and then make a general nuisance of themselves.

And raccoons will take apart the commercial plastic
bate stations. If you're finding your plastic bate
stations scattered, that could be a raccoon having
a play with one.

The poison control center gets reports of pet poisonings
with borax. But a relatively small number. I don't
really know how many bottles of bait it takes to
"tip over Rover". If you have a dog that will scarf
down chocolate bars or boxed chocolates, anything is
possible.

I have a maple tree in the back garden, and when
the sweet sap is running in spring, you'd be surprised
how many members of the animal kingdom figure it out. And
the squirrels are just like little kids - they get
a "sugar high" and become quite animated. Same goes
for fermenting fruit, a number of species know
where the pub is.

Paul


What's a raccoon? & why is it relevant?
--
Jimk


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