"Ulysses" wrote in
:


"Red Green" wrote in message
...
Jim Yanik wrote in
:

"Ulysses" wrote in
:


"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




FIRE ANTS ARE NOT 1/2 inch long.

Fire ants that big would really spook me knowing what the std 1/8" or
so ones feel like.


DONT put gasoline on the ground,it gets into the ground water and
pollutes it,even a small amount of gas.


That's right. You must be ecological. Recycle your used motor oil on
them instead :-)


Most of us experiemented with solar power when we were kids by using a
magnifying glass to incinerate ants, right? Well maybe I could get a
big lens and set it up over each ant hill for a while.



Well with all the wizardry around here you would think someone could rig
their cell phone to redirect Hubble. Them 20 acres of ants will just
start poppin' and cracklin' all over the place.

"Jim Yanik" wrote in message
...
"Freckles" wrote in
:


"Jim Yanik" wrote in message
...
"Freckles" wrote in
:


"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




fire ants are only about 1/8" long.

the wasp is the Phorid Fly.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/...d_fly_species_
turns _red_imported_fire_ants_into_zombies.html

or;
http://tinyurl.com/posc8f

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

The fire ant sizes vary from about 1/16" to about 3/8" in each mound
here in Texas that I have seen.

Freckles



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ant

says there's 280 species of fire ant,and that they range from 0.12" to
0.24",or 1/4" or smaller.
2mm to 6mm for the metric fans.

Here in Florida,I've only seen the small version.

(I guess this is more of that "Texas grows 'em bigger" baloney...) 8-)


more 'good' news....;

Recently there has been a large spike in the fire ant population of the
southern United States[5]. Environmentalists have predicted that before
April 2010 the fire ant population will have increased by nearly 40% in
the
United States.[6] The ants are believed to be coming from Mexico and
contain a much more poisonous venom than other fire ants, thus causing
many
states to start emergency programs to destroy fire ant colonies before
they
spread.[7]

damn Mexicans.....even their ants are coming in illegally!

just what we need,"a much more poisonous venom",too!

My poor dog kept licking her foot yesterday and after several attempts to
find the problem I finally found a red ant stuck between her claw and pad.
Now I'm getting ****ed off at the ants. It ruined her whole day.


--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

"The Ranger" cuhulain _ wrote in message
. ..
Ulysses wrote in message
...
[snip-snip-snip]
Fortunately the poison oak doesn't seem to bother
me any more.

Lucky you! How about those kids? Are they lucky enough to have built up an
immunity to poison oak, too?

The Ranger



Nobody seems to get it any more and we haven't had to buy any Tecnu for a
few years. Now, if we could develop resistance to fire ants....

"Oren" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:43:24 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:32:31 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:

So far boric acid looks like the way to go.

Just figure out what they eat and make your bait out of that, about
12:1 or less. As other posters have said, not too much BA or you just
kill the first few ants that eat it and the rest will stop eating that
stuff.

Agree. Some people make baits using jam and BA. A local article by a
state entomologist stated to use peanut butter with BA mixed at 10:1.
We went on to say that if you see dead ants along their path, reduce
the BA.

"Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth" (DE) is used as an insecticide.* Not
the same DE for pools, though. Buy it a farm/feed supply store.

"Diatomite is also used as an insecticide, due to its physico-sorptive
properties. The fine powder absorbs lipids from the waxy outer layer
of insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate. Arthropods die as
a result of the water pressure deficiency, based on Fick's law of
diffusion. This also works against gastropods and is commonly employed
in gardening to defeat slugs. However, since slugs inhabit humid
environments, efficacy is very low. It is sometimes mixed with an
attractant or other additives to increase its effectiveness.
Medical-grade diatomite is sometimes used to de-worm both animals and
humans. It is most commonly used in lieu of boric acid, and can be
used to help control and eventually eliminate a cockroach infestation.
This material has wide application for insect control in grain
storage"

Well, that's very interesting. I didn't come across that one on the fire
ant websites that I read. I once had to use boric acid to get rid of
cockroaches and it really worked. I'm gonna see if there are any diatomites
around. Doesn't DE come from the deserts? Makes me wonder if there are any
ants where they find the stuff.


*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatoma...h#Pest_control

"Jim Yanik" wrote in message
...
"Ulysses" wrote in
:


"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




FIRE ANTS ARE NOT 1/2 inch long.

I found a local web site and the picture they have looks exactly like the
ants I have.

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdep/rifa/

It looks like I have to call the 800 number.


DONT put gasoline on the ground,it gets into the ground water and pollutes
it,even a small amount of gas.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 08:53:01 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:

Well, that's very interesting. I didn't come across that one on the fire
ant websites that I read. I once had to use boric acid to get rid of
cockroaches and it really worked. I'm gonna see if there are any diatomites
around. Doesn't DE come from the deserts? Makes me wonder if there are any
ants where they find the stuff.

Short read he

http://www.biconet.com/home/infosheets/DEarticle1.html

"Perma-Guard Household D-20 is not registered for sale in the state of
California."

http://www.biconet.com/home/pgHouseHold.html

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 09:11:45 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:

I found a local web site and the picture they have looks exactly like the
ants I have.

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdep/rifa/

It looks like I have to call the 800 number.

And the treatment is free...."With one call, your local Red Imported
Fire Ant authority or county agricultural commissioner's office will
inspect your property for Red Imported Fire Ants and treat confirmed
colonies at no cost to you."

Those are the same as fire ants in Florida, that I'm familiar with.

In article ,
Oren wrote:

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 09:11:45 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:

I found a local web site and the picture they have looks exactly like the
ants I have.

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdep/rifa/

It looks like I have to call the 800 number.

And the treatment is free...."With one call, your local Red Imported
Fire Ant authority or county agricultural commissioner's office will
inspect your property for Red Imported Fire Ants and treat confirmed
colonies at no cost to you."

Those are the same as fire ants in Florida, that I'm familiar with.

We've had quite a few posts on this thread now, but did the OP's
question (see thread title) ever get answered?

On Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:04:40 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:

We've had quite a few posts on this thread now, but did the OP's
question (see thread title) ever get answered?

Thread is more about his second question in the original post. I did
post "not if you have ants in your pants" for the first question.

On Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:04:40 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:

We've had quite a few posts on this thread now, but did the OP's
question (see thread title) ever get answered?

Thread is more about his second question in the original post. I did
post "not if you have ants in your pants" for the first question.

On Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:04:40 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:

We've had quite a few posts on this thread now, but did the OP's
question (see thread title) ever get answered?

Thread is more about his second question in the original post. I did
post "not if you have ants in your pants" for the first question.

On Aug 1, 11:02 am, Oren wrote:
On Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:04:40 -0700, Smitty Two

wrote:
We've had quite a few posts on this thread now, but did the OP's
question (see thread title) ever get answered?

Thread is more about his second question in the original post. I did
post "not if you have ants in your pants" for the first question.

We built our own guest house, and every joint and plywood was
nailed, glued, and gasket sealed everywhere we could. Anyway
we have a benign small 1/8" brown ant getting in, so what we use
is Raid Ant Drops.
We cutout little cardboard squares then tack them with drops on
them, that works. At the doors we tack one on each side inside
and out, they worked well, ants are gone.
Ken

On Jul 30, 8:44�pm, "HH" wrote:
"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.

Use some of those WMD they found in Iraq, against them.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You mean the 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium? They removed that
about a year ago.

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
In article ,
Oren wrote:

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 09:11:45 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:

I found a local web site and the picture they have looks exactly like
the
ants I have.

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdep/rifa/

It looks like I have to call the 800 number.

And the treatment is free...."With one call, your local Red Imported
Fire Ant authority or county agricultural commissioner's office will
inspect your property for Red Imported Fire Ants and treat confirmed
colonies at no cost to you."

Those are the same as fire ants in Florida, that I'm familiar with.

We've had quite a few posts on this thread now, but did the OP's
question (see thread title) ever get answered?

:-D Well, I reckon my ultimate goal is to get the ants under control. From
what I read about anteaters they are considered "exotic pets" are are owned
mainly by people who want to draw attention to themselves. I think they
might help to reduce the ant population but won't eliminate them. I'm not
ruling out anything at this point. I might be more inclined to get one if
they could catch a ball or a Frisbee. Maybe somone should cross a dog with
an anteater.

After reading more about fire ants it seems that there are basically two
kinds: Domestic Fire Ants and Imported Red Fire Ants. I'm pretty sure the
ones I have are the domestic variety as they tend to be a bit bigger and are
less agressive. The Gov'ment is only interested in eradicating the Imported
Fire Ants. When I called the Fire Ant Hotline they suggested I go to Lowe's
or Home Depot and get some ant killer. The main characterics of the
importered ants is that they have multiple openings on their mound, are a
bit smaller as I mentioned, and supposedly will swarm all over anything that
disturbs them which apparently includes just walking by the anthill. I
found one ant hill that has smaller fire ants and it only had one opening
and they seemed to be hiding from me rather than wanting to attack me. What
was interesting was at the opening of the mound I saw several ant heads
which were severed from the bodies. That makes me wonder if my local Vector
Control has released those flies or wasps that lay eggs inside the head. If
so it might appear that the flies/wasps can tell the difference between
imported and domestic ants because I did not see any ant heads on any other
mound. But of course I was unable to verify that the one mound was actually
imported ants and indications are that they are not. I also noticed that
about 90% of the anthills on top of my hill, some of which were huge and had
openings up to 3" in diameter, showed no signs of life. Makes me wonder if
Vector Control already has the problem under control and it's just taking
more time for the control insects to make it down the slopes. Kinda makes
me worry though about what happens if there are NO ants. They no doubt are
beneficial to some extent. And what happens when the flies/wasps run out of
ants to decapitate?

Using what I had on hand I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth on some mounds
and it at least seems to annoy them. But it supposedly takes a lot of time
before any results are noticed and food grade DE was recommended as opposed
to swimming pool grade so it might not work at all. I also tried some Sevin
Dust on several mounds last night and so far those mounds have no ant
activity. It says nothing on the can about killing ants. The can I have is
very old but the Home Depot price sticker says $1.75 so it's probably still
pretty cheap.

"Oren" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 08:53:01 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:

Well, that's very interesting. I didn't come across that one on the fire
ant websites that I read. I once had to use boric acid to get rid of
cockroaches and it really worked. I'm gonna see if there are any
diatomites
around. Doesn't DE come from the deserts? Makes me wonder if there are
any
ants where they find the stuff.

Short read he

http://www.biconet.com/home/infosheets/DEarticle1.html

"Perma-Guard Household D-20 is not registered for sale in the state of
California."

http://www.biconet.com/home/pgHouseHold.html

Sounds like a good product. I just missed the wild Chrysanthemums so I
guess I won't be mixing up my own version of the stuff.

On Sun, 2 Aug 2009 08:21:37 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:



Using what I had on hand I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth on some mounds
and it at least seems to annoy them. But it supposedly takes a lot of time
before any results are noticed and food grade DE was recommended as opposed
to swimming pool grade so it might not work at all

I only know/read limited differences in pool and food grade DE.

Pool grade DE is heated during processing. The heat causes the sharp
microscopic fossil edges to round off. Rubbed between thumb and
fingers, you can feel the smoothness.

Food grad DE is not heated at processing, thereby, the fossil edges
stay sharp. Rubbed together it would feel gritty.

As to the original bait question. Stick out some "test dummy" baits.
When the ants eat one bait over another. Mix in the BA.

"Oren" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 2 Aug 2009 08:21:37 -0700, "Ulysses"
wrote:



Using what I had on hand I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth on some
mounds
and it at least seems to annoy them. But it supposedly takes a lot of
time
before any results are noticed and food grade DE was recommended as
opposed
to swimming pool grade so it might not work at all

I only know/read limited differences in pool and food grade DE.

Pool grade DE is heated during processing. The heat causes the sharp
microscopic fossil edges to round off. Rubbed between thumb and
fingers, you can feel the smoothness.

Food grad DE is not heated at processing, thereby, the fossil edges
stay sharp. Rubbed together it would feel gritty.

As to the original bait question. Stick out some "test dummy" baits.
When the ants eat one bait over another. Mix in the BA.


Some of the ants are either covering up the DE or taking it into their
mounds--can't tell for sure but on one mound I saw them hauling out a dead
body (ant). Not very conclusive. The ant activity seems about the same
with the swimming pool DE on most mounds and on other mounds there are no
ants in sight but the DE is no longer visible.

The mounds that I sprinkled Sevin Dust 5% on last night have NO ant
activity. I'm thinking since it does not specify to use it for ants then
nobody has been using it on ants and they are not yet immune to it. I'm
kinda wary about using the stuff and I'm only planning in using it close to
the house. I'm going to try the BA mixed with whatever they like to eat.
Dead bugs sound good but the stinkbugs might fight them for it.

This is another story but I've been having a lot of mice under my house
(manufactured home). Lately, somehow, the little mice have been managing to
get caught in a big rat trap and drag it several feet! I finally figured
out how. When I opened the hatch/access to under the house this morning
there was a snake staring me right in the face. It's a red snake with a
black head (some kind of king snake maybe) and he's been hanging around for
a few weeks and I've been trying to get him to go under the house and it
looks like he finally did. So now, instead of traps, I just sprinkled a
little dry dog food down there so all the snake has to do is to wait for the
mice to eat. A lot easier than trying to get them out of the traps. There
was a gopher snake hanging around a month or so ago but he didn't want to go
down there. A little while ago we heard some racket in the heating ducts so
maybe the snake got one!

"Ulysses" wrote in message
...

This is another story but I've been having a lot of mice under my house
(manufactured home). Lately, somehow, the little mice have been managing
to
get caught in a big rat trap and drag it several feet! I finally figured
out how. When I opened the hatch/access to under the house this morning
there was a snake staring me right in the face. It's a red snake with a
black head (some kind of king snake maybe) and he's been hanging around
for
a few weeks and I've been trying to get him to go under the house and it
looks like he finally did. So now, instead of traps, I just sprinkled a
little dry dog food down there so all the snake has to do is to wait for
the
mice to eat. A lot easier than trying to get them out of the traps.
There
was a gopher snake hanging around a month or so ago but he didn't want to
go
down there. A little while ago we heard some racket in the heating ducts
so
maybe the snake got one!



It appears to be a "red racer" aka "coachwhip" snake. Now I'm trying to
find out what they eat (not that biologists actually really KNOW what
various animals eat).