This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes

"Laurie Forbes" wrote in message
news:KvKRd.7629$NN.53@edtnps89...
This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in
both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up
with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes


Borate solutions, termite shields, and most of all-replace the damp, rotting
wood they are eating...

"Laurie Forbes" wrote in message
news:KvKRd.7629$NN.53@edtnps89...
This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in
both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up
with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes



Hire an exterminator?!

"Rick" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Laurie Forbes" wrote in message
news:KvKRd.7629$NN.53@edtnps89...
This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in
both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been
battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my
house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up
with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes


Borate solutions, termite shields, and most of all-replace the damp,
rotting
wood they are eating...

I've tried various insecticides but the main problem is my house is next to
a wooded area and I am unable to find the nests as these ants can live
inside live trees as well as underground in buried logs. I have no damp,
rotting wood except in the nearby treed areas - the ants don't seem to
require such for nest building however as they prefer my open beam cedar
roof with its rigid styrofoam insulation.

I'm not familiar with a "termite shield" - could you describe it please.

Laurie Forbes

We had the same problem when we lived in the Puget Sound area. The only
solution we found was to move to the Central Oregon desert. No more
carpenter ants!

Now, how can you stop the spiders from finding a way into my 80 year
old house?

Paul, KD7HB

Laurie Forbes wrote:
(...)
What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?
(...)

I don't have any pets or kids, so I mixed up a gallon of boric acid 'ant food'
and left it in several glass jars (punched lids) around the property.

Worked a treat.

Boric acid is a poison. Don't use eating utensils to mix it.

Snap on your face mask.
Funnel 10 teaspons of (99%) boric acid powder into a one gallon *plastic* jug.
Add 2 cups of sugar and one drop of liquid hand soap.
Add a quart of hot water. Cap and shake the jug.
Add hot water to make one gallon of solution.
Cap and shake to mix.

Empty and wash several glass jars with screw top lids.
Punch or drill many holes in each lid.

Fill the jars about halfway with the ant poison and place them around
the outside of your property. Also place jars where you see ants entering
the house.

The ants that don't fall into the jars will return to the nest with a load
of the solution, eventually killing the nest. The soap solution lowers the
surface tension of the solution, causing some of the floating ants to sink.

As a result of this operation, you may see one or more winged female ants flying
around your property in an effort to establish a new nest.

Punch them in the nose.

Hard.



Best of luck.

--Winston

"Winston" wrote in message
...
Laurie Forbes wrote:
(...)
What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?
(...)

I don't have any pets or kids, so I mixed up a gallon of boric acid 'ant
food'
and left it in several glass jars (punched lids) around the property.

Worked a treat.

Boric acid is a poison. Don't use eating utensils to mix it.

Snap on your face mask.
Funnel 10 teaspons of (99%) boric acid powder into a one gallon *plastic*
jug.
Add 2 cups of sugar and one drop of liquid hand soap.
Add a quart of hot water. Cap and shake the jug.
Add hot water to make one gallon of solution.
Cap and shake to mix.

Empty and wash several glass jars with screw top lids.
Punch or drill many holes in each lid.

Fill the jars about halfway with the ant poison and place them around
the outside of your property. Also place jars where you see ants entering
the house.

The ants that don't fall into the jars will return to the nest with a load
of the solution, eventually killing the nest. The soap solution lowers
the
surface tension of the solution, causing some of the floating ants to
sink.

As a result of this operation, you may see one or more winged female ants
flying
around your property in an effort to establish a new nest.

Punch them in the nose.

Hard.

Best of luck.

--Winston


Thanks much Winston - I'll try it this summer (I've tried about everything
else and maybe this will do it).

Laurie Forbes

Use light or clear karo syrup instead of sugar, it will not ferment
and it also wilol not attract bees etc......

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

Laurie Forbes wrote:
This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes


Carpenter ants mostly access your house by coming in on tree branches
that are touching your roof or siding. Good prevention is to keep your
trees trimmed well.

--
Gary Brady
Austin, TX
www.powdercoatoven.4t.com

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 17:16:26 GMT, "Laurie Forbes"
wrote:

This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes

Greetings Laurie,
I live in the northwest (USA). Of course, we have carpenter ants. Even
though I had the things in my yard they never invaded the house.
Because of what my yard used to be there was standing water in the
crawl space for most of the year. My brother has had ants get into his
house. The big difference is that his siding comes close to the ground
and mine was always at least 6 inches above the dirt. The ant guy said
that they need moisture so if the ground is wet or moist and is close
to your house you will be invaded. My house sat on posts on piers so
there was no moisture or moist dirt coming close to the house in the
crawl space too. It was also well vented. Keep all vegetation at least
6 inches away from your house. Overhanging branches may also cause
problems because if an ant falls onto your roof and finds something it
likes on the way down to the ground it will leave a chemical pathway
for subsequent ants to follow. And they will cross lots of dry area,
like cement, or composition shingles, to get at what they want once
there is a trail to follow. The trail lasts pretty long too. So it
will be there the next day. And once traveled by many ants it gets
even stronger. But take heart. In Australia live ants so voracious
they will flatten tires of cars parked on the dirt for too long.
ERS

"RoyBoy" wrote:
Use light or clear karo syrup instead of sugar, it will not ferment
and it also wilol not attract bees etc......

Commercial products using boric acid are of a thick consistency, like honey.
The idea is to let as many ants as possible eat the product and return to
the nest with the poison, thus killing the queen.

The way I've prepared it is to make a saturated solution of boric acid in
water, and then add sufficient syrup (corn starch helps too) to yield a nice
thick goop.

They love it to death.

Jon

Laurie Forbes wrote:

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly, uses
wintergreen as one of the main active ingredients. It's quite deadly to
ants, and when sprayed on a trail of ants, those ants not sprayed,
really react when they get near it. Much more so that with regular ant
sprays. If you can find their trail, might try spraying straight
wintergreen oil on them and see if they refuse to cross it.

Jon

wrote:
We had the same problem when we lived in the Puget Sound area. The only
solution we found was to move to the Central Oregon desert. No more
carpenter ants!

Now, how can you stop the spiders from finding a way into my 80 year
old house?

Paul, KD7HB

Geckos. The word for spider in gecko is 'lunch'.
--RC (who encourages anything that eats black widows.)

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...
What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Tim

--
"I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!"
- Homer Simpson
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

Tim Williams wrote:

Isn't that an oxymoron?

I've used up the can and not gotten around to buying another, so I can't
copy off the contents. But it doesn't contain any of the truely nasty
chemicals most sprays use. I do recall wintergreen oil as one of the
major ingredients, but most of the others were herbs.
It's touted as being indoor friendly, and smells one hell of a lot
better than the other stuff.
It also displays persistence in that areas I've sprayed with it stay ant
free for several weeks on average, where I've really hosed down areas
with regular ant spray and seen ants walking right through the very next
day.

I'll go buy another can and post the brand and active ingredients, been
meaning to...

Jon

"Rick Cook" wrote in message
nk.net...
wrote:
We had the same problem when we lived in the Puget Sound area. The only
solution we found was to move to the Central Oregon desert. No more
carpenter ants!

Now, how can you stop the spiders from finding a way into my 80 year
old house?

Paul, KD7HB

Geckos. The word for spider in gecko is 'lunch'.
--RC (who encourages anything that eats black widows.)

Good idea!
What do you use to get rid of geckos?

Vaughn (WB4UHB)

Tim Williams wrote:
"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly


Isn't that an oxymoron?

Tim

--
"I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!"
- Homer Simpson
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms



Bio friendly is politica speach for Approbed by bio weenies, the
composite term shouldn't be confused with meaning of the individual
words or construed to have any scientific value.
Bio weenies by the way are alot like carpenter ants.

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly, uses
wintergreen as one of the main active ingredients. It's quite deadly to
ants, and when sprayed on a trail of ants, those ants not sprayed,
really react when they get near it. Much more so that with regular ant
sprays. If you can find their trail, might try spraying straight
wintergreen oil on them and see if they refuse to cross it.

Thanks for the suggestion Jon.

And, thanks to all who provided constructive suggestions for this problem.
I'll try some or maybe all this summer - hopefully one at least will work.

Laurie Forbes

Vaughn wrote:
"Rick Cook" wrote in message
nk.net...

wrote:

We had the same problem when we lived in the Puget Sound area. The only
solution we found was to move to the Central Oregon desert. No more
carpenter ants!

Now, how can you stop the spiders from finding a way into my 80 year
old house?

Paul, KD7HB


Geckos. The word for spider in gecko is 'lunch'.
--RC (who encourages anything that eats black widows.)


Good idea!
What do you use to get rid of geckos?

Vaughn (WB4UHB)


Cats. In feline the word for gecko is 'play toy'

--RC

Laurie Forbes wrote:

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...


What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly, uses
wintergreen as one of the main active ingredients. It's quite deadly to
ants, and when sprayed on a trail of ants, those ants not sprayed,
really react when they get near it. Much more so that with regular ant
sprays. If you can find their trail, might try spraying straight
wintergreen oil on them and see if they refuse to cross it.


Thanks for the suggestion Jon.

And, thanks to all who provided constructive suggestions for this problem.
I'll try some or maybe all this summer - hopefully one at least will work.

Laurie Forbes




just **** on em..... It will actually work.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 17:31:18 -0500, john
wrote:



Laurie Forbes wrote:

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...


What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly, uses
wintergreen as one of the main active ingredients. It's quite deadly to
ants, and when sprayed on a trail of ants, those ants not sprayed,
really react when they get near it. Much more so that with regular ant
sprays. If you can find their trail, might try spraying straight
wintergreen oil on them and see if they refuse to cross it.


Thanks for the suggestion Jon.

And, thanks to all who provided constructive suggestions for this problem.
I'll try some or maybe all this summer - hopefully one at least will work.

Laurie Forbes




just **** on em..... It will actually work.


Oh yeah, I can see it now. Some guy running around his yard with his
stuff hanging out and peeing on ants. The neighbor across the street
wouldn't be able to see the ants, just this guy peeing all over his
yard. Even funnier if his wife helps out.
ERS

Rick Cook wrote:
Vaughn wrote:

"Rick Cook" wrote in message
nk.net...

wrote:

We had the same problem when we lived in the Puget Sound area. The only
solution we found was to move to the Central Oregon desert. No more
carpenter ants!

Now, how can you stop the spiders from finding a way into my 80 year
old house?

Paul, KD7HB


Geckos. The word for spider in gecko is 'lunch'.
--RC (who encourages anything that eats black widows.)



Good idea!
What do you use to get rid of geckos?

Vaughn (WB4UHB)

Cats. In feline the word for gecko is 'play toy'

--RC

Was that he she or I that swallowed the fly.
I can remember the rythum but not the gender.
I (he or she) swallowed a fly, I don't know why I swallower the fly
I swallowed a spider to eat the fly, but I don't know why I swallowed
the fly.
But I keep thinking there is something that goes more like swallowed the
spider to eat the fly down in side her, but I don't know why she
swallowed the fly.
fly,spider, rat, cat, dog, horse I guess that's were it gets silly cow
might be better right I mean swallowing a cow makes more sence than
swallowing a horse.

she swallowed a whale to eat the elephant that ate the horse that ate
the dog that ate the cat that ate the rat that ate the spider that ate
the fly (down in side her?) but I don't know why she swallowed the fly.

Ok so it's been 30 or 40 years since I heard it sue me.

"Dan Buckman" wrote in message
...
Was that he she or I that swallowed the fly.
I can remember the rythum but not the gender.
I (he or she) swallowed a fly, I don't know why I swallower the fly
I swallowed a spider to eat the fly, but I don't know why I swallowed the fly.
But I keep thinking there is something that goes more like swallowed the
spider to eat the fly down in side her, but I don't know why she swallowed the
fly.
fly,spider, rat, cat, dog, horse I guess that's were it gets silly cow might
be better right I mean swallowing a cow makes more sence than swallowing a
horse.

she swallowed a whale to eat the elephant that ate the horse that ate the dog
that ate the cat that ate the rat that ate the spider that ate the fly (down
in side her?) but I don't know why she swallowed the fly.

Ok so it's been 30 or 40 years since I heard it sue me.

PRETTY GOOD! I had made it 59 years without ever hearing that, but a quick
search found it (quickly).

Vaughn


There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I dunno why she swallowed that fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
What a hog! To swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog ...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat... She swallowed the goat to catch the
dog...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse -
She's dead, of course.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:08:39 -0800, Eric R Snow
wrote:

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 17:31:18 -0500, john
wrote:



Laurie Forbes wrote:

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...


What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants?

I found an ant spray that's supposed to be ultra bio friendly, uses
wintergreen as one of the main active ingredients. It's quite deadly to
ants, and when sprayed on a trail of ants, those ants not sprayed,
really react when they get near it. Much more so that with regular ant
sprays. If you can find their trail, might try spraying straight
wintergreen oil on them and see if they refuse to cross it.


Thanks for the suggestion Jon.

And, thanks to all who provided constructive suggestions for this problem.
I'll try some or maybe all this summer - hopefully one at least will work.

Laurie Forbes




just **** on em..... It will actually work.


Oh yeah, I can see it now. Some guy running around his yard with his
stuff hanging out and peeing on ants. The neighbor across the street
wouldn't be able to see the ants, just this guy peeing all over his
yard. Even funnier if his wife helps out.
ERS
Nitrates promote green grass.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Laurie Forbes wrote:

This diverse group has presented many good solutions IMO to problems in both
metal working and others so I thought I would pose a question here.

What are the best ways of controlling carpenter ants? I've been battling
the dammed things for 20 years and they are still trying to eat my house.
I've tried all chemical and mechanical means I've been able to come up with
but they return and get into the house every summer. Any help
appreciated.............

Laurie Forbes


I helped get rid of leaf cutters - but these are tough - have to kill the queen.
Have to find the main hive and use sevin so I hear. Maybe you can find a common
trail and lace it with sevin so it will be tracked in.

One could Gas bag the house.

Cut all woody items away from the house. Don't let bushes or tree limbs touch!
No wood of the house touch the ground.

I think bagging the house is the best bet - take wife to Hotel for the weekend...

Martin

--
Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn
@ home at Lion's Lair with our computer
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Vaughn wrote:
"Dan Buckman" wrote in message
...

Was that he she or I that swallowed the fly.
I can remember the rythum but not the gender.
I (he or she) swallowed a fly, I don't know why I swallower the fly
I swallowed a spider to eat the fly, but I don't know why I swallowed the fly.
But I keep thinking there is something that goes more like swallowed the
spider to eat the fly down in side her, but I don't know why she swallowed the
fly.
fly,spider, rat, cat, dog, horse I guess that's were it gets silly cow might
be better right I mean swallowing a cow makes more sence than swallowing a
horse.

she swallowed a whale to eat the elephant that ate the horse that ate the dog
that ate the cat that ate the rat that ate the spider that ate the fly (down
in side her?) but I don't know why she swallowed the fly.

Ok so it's been 30 or 40 years since I heard it sue me.


PRETTY GOOD! I had made it 59 years without ever hearing that, but a quick
search found it (quickly).

Vaughn


There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I dunno why she swallowed that fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
What a hog! To swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog ...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat... She swallowed the goat to catch the
dog...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse -
She's dead, of course.



I think these are the repressed memories I keep hearing about.