How do you keep fire ants OUT of your colonies?

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GBov

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The name says it all really! It is once again fire ant season and I have never seen them worse. And, as I am going to be building some under ground nest boxes to see if the buns can keep cooler that way, ants are a serious worry.

DE managed to drive ants out of a potted plant but they came back again. Baby powder drove them out of another potted plant but not all the way, they stayed in the lower half of the pot, despite much moving and re-powdering. Don't want to use poison. But I need ants to NOT GET INTO THE BURROWS!!!!!

Any ideas?
 
Killing the queen ant will get rid of the entire colony. Easy, all you have to do is kill ONE ant and all leave :) Let me know how kill the Fire Ant Queen goes and send lots of pics.
 
A bit mean but when we had ant problems I found the colony and stuck a hose down them. Then walk very quickly a good distance away. All ants will abandon ship. The queen and eggs will either drown or die out of the nest. Ours weren't fire ants though. One good thing about Iowa is the lack of dangerous critters. Avoid the bumblebee nests and your good. We had these huge and I mean huge black ants that would bite down on you so hard that when you pulled them off the head and mouth would still be dug into your skin or clothing. They used to get us through our socks as kids. I don't have much love for ants outside of a plastic ant farm. Little red honey ants are tolerable but annoyingly break in to the house and climb in anything sweet.
 
No fire ants here, but I recall someone saying that if you had a dog on HeartGard you could put the dog poop on/near the mounds and it would kill them. HG contains Ivermectin, so maybe get some horse paste wormer and mix it with something they like to eat?

Not exactly a natural approach, I know, but better than sprinkling ant poison everywhere.
 
MamaSheepdog":3qpeuctu said:
No fire ants here, but I recall someone saying that if you had a dog on HeartGard you could put the dog poop on/near the mounds and it would kill them. HG contains Ivermectin, so maybe get some horse paste wormer and mix it with something they like to eat?

Not exactly a natural approach, I know, but better than sprinkling ant poison everywhere.
Click to expand...

Ivermectin eh? Shall try that!

I use the shovel trick to reduce numbers but, if 1,000,000 ants move into the nest box its too late to save the kits so I need to keep them OUT!

Have I mentioned I HATE fireants?
 
Haven't tried this but a friend posted this to pininterest. mix equal parts baking soda with powdered sugar, must be powdered sugar to bond with the soda, a small amount of water just to mix well put anywhere you see ants. Much like roaches they can't pass gas so when they eat it and take it to their queen they blow up! :twisted:
I don't think this will hurt rabbits but like I said I haven't tried it......
 
Katiebear, I might try this with the stupid little black ants that are attacking my cages right now :angry: Plus I am allergic to ants so I kill them on site!
 
maybe I'm just mean but the thought of ants exploding just tickles me....I can't stand ants. We get the little black ones, little red ones and the vicious big black ones that leave large welts when they bite! Amdro works well but is toxic so I have to be careful,My little grandson is five and into everything. He brought me an old pot with a handful of the big ones YIKES! said they were his new pets! uh, NOOOOOO !
 
Does regular Raid liquid ant killer not work on fire ants? Just read the safety sheet here http://www.scjohnson.ca/pdfViewer.aspx? ... anguage=en I
If I read it correctly, it is just borax, honey, sucrose. So borax in some kind of bait that the ants like to eat will kill them. You'd have put it somewhere where rabbits can't eat it though. I wonder how toxic borax is?

Other thought I a have is... What about that diatomaceous earth stuff sprinkled around rabbit holes? http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp
 
I brought home far worse pets. I collected some round egg sacks from the stable, put them in a jar, and took them to our ranch home across town. Mom left me to it so long as I didn't open the jar. One day out pop 100s of little spiders. This would not be a big deal except they managed to fit between the lid and the threads on the jar to escape. I kind of populated the area beneath the house that was somewhere between a basement and a crawl space with nasty looking little black spiders. They replaced the daddy long legs that had harmlessly existed down there. Luckily we moved out the next month. :lol:

Baking soda can rupture the stomach. Usually it only happens in humans when there is a defect like a bad ulcer damaging the wall. Rabbits can't move anything backward out of their stomach. They have to wait for the stomach to dump in to the intestines. I'm not sure how much baking soda it would take to cause a health problem or even just some discomfort that would throw them off feed. They also get a dose of salt they may not need.

There are ant bait stations that we used on the honey ants indoors. I'm not sure the safety around things that can ingest it. We only had to worry about dogs and they weren't interested. I stuck the little round dispenser between cabinets as well so they were unlikely to come across it without expending effort. We did catch many ants, spiders I'm allergic to, and some biting centipedes using glue traps in the basement. They were supposed to catch rodents without leaving poison around but our spitz breed dogs are as good of hunters as cats and wiped them out. Along with the entire population of chipmunks outside that my aunt enjoyed watching. :whistle:
 
Amdro! 1/2 a tsp. is all it takes to wipe out an entire mound. They take it to the queen as soon as it hits the ground. They will be gone the next morning. :annihilate:

5fbdcae5-e4a9-4457-9ccb-60d8755cadf8_1000.jpg
 
Homer":1qwohp7l said:
Amdro! 1/2 a tsp. is all it takes to wipe out an entire mound. They take it to the queen as soon as it hits the ground. They will be gone the next morning. :annihilate:

5fbdcae5-e4a9-4457-9ccb-60d8755cadf8_1000.jpg
Click to expand...

I have used Amdro a lot, it works, but not as well as this claim, Ranger [from Southern States Cooperative] also works, maybe a little better then Amdro. but-- even though my Peacocks ate lots of it, it is not promoted as "non-toxic" and -- rabbits have a very delicate ecosystem -so, a lot of care should be used when applying this kind of thing . I sprinkled it outside the rabbit area and let the ants carry it back into the area one piece at a time and into their mound.
-- -Ants also don't like diesel , so I sprayed the posts that held up the rabbit hutches with it to keep the ants from climbing up and eating the kits.
 
OneAcreFarm":avh79bml said:
Schipperkesue":avh79bml said:
How about this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

Kills the ants and provides a lovely aluminum sculpture!
Click to expand...

Ok, THAT is awesome! :p :p :p Now...where to get that much aluminum? :hmm:
Click to expand...


Melt down some screen doors and old window frames. I would love to do this. Makes me quite sad that we don't have fire ants in Alberta.
 
Schipperkesue":1jjcutzo said:
How about this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

Kills the ants and provides a lovely aluminum sculpture!
Click to expand...

I LOVE this!

All Amdro did for me the time I tried it was fragment the colony into several new ones. Yes there were lots of dead and dying ants to look at but the actual reproduction went on regardless.

DE doesn't work as a barrier to fire ants. I had the dog food bag SITTING in a pile of the stuff and they just kept marching through it, no matter how much I used. Fire ants are REALLY HARD to kill or deter and the though of them eating a litter of kits alive is horrible but the heat that is going to hit is even more dangerous so I want to give the rabbits an underground option for keeping cool.

Ugh! I HATE fire ants! I wish they would all just........ :explode: <br /><br /> __________ Wed May 21, 2014 10:06 am __________ <br /><br />
Schipperkesue":1jjcutzo said:
OneAcreFarm":1jjcutzo said:
Schipperkesue":1jjcutzo said:
How about this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

Kills the ants and provides a lovely aluminum sculpture!
Click to expand...

Ok, THAT is awesome! :p :p :p Now...where to get that much aluminum? :hmm:
Click to expand...


Melt down some screen doors and old window frames. I would love to do this. Makes me quite sad that we don't have fire ants in Alberta.
Click to expand...

Be very very grateful rather than sad, after all, it gives you the perfect reason to go on an artistic holiday to the Deep South!
 
GBov":7ik6jz6i said:
DE doesn't work as a barrier to fire ants. I had the dog food bag SITTING in a pile of the stuff and they just kept marching through it, no matter how much I used.
Click to expand...

D.E. is not a quick kill method. It dehydrates the bugs that contact it over a period of a couple of days. I'm sure it could eventually wipe out a colony of ants, but you would have to be diligent with the application of it... and have lots of patience. ;) I have tried it on ants here and to my knowledge have never actually wiped out an entire colony.

I avoid using pesticides, but I think that if we lived in an area with fire ants I would use just about anything to get rid of them. :annihilate:
 
mystang89":30tmj152 said:
Killing the queen ant will get rid of the entire colony. Easy, all you have to do is kill ONE ant and all leave :) Let me know how kill the Fire Ant Queen goes and send lots of pics.
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*SNORT* :rotfl:

akane":30tmj152 said:
A bit mean but when we had ant problems I found the colony and stuck a hose down them. Then walk very quickly a good distance away. All ants will abandon ship. The queen and eggs will either drown or die out of the nest.
Click to expand...
My mom used to do something similar with fire ants. She'd surround and cover the bed with cheap laundry powder, then spray around it, and then into the bed. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water, so the ants don't have little bubbles surrounding their bodies, supplying them with oxygen. Many ants drown, possibly even the queen. But you would usually see them rebuild a few feet away, but a lot smaller. She kept hitting them until they disappeared.

MamaSheepdog":30tmj152 said:
HG contains Ivermectin, so maybe get some horse paste wormer and mix it with something they like to eat?
Click to expand...
Very interesting. :ugeek:

katiebear":30tmj152 said:
mix equal parts baking soda with powdered sugar, must be powdered sugar to bond with the soda, a small amount of water just to mix well put anywhere you see ants.
Click to expand...
I have heard of this, but never tried it.

katiebear":30tmj152 said:
My little grandson is five and into everything. He brought me an old pot with a handful of the big ones YIKES! said they were his new pets! uh, NOOOOOO !
Click to expand...
:fainting:

squidpop":30tmj152 said:
Does regular Raid liquid ant killer not work on fire ants? Just read the safety sheet here http://www.scjohnson.ca/pdfViewer.aspx? ... anguage=en I
If I read it correctly, it is just borax, honey, sucrose. So borax in some kind of bait that the ants like to eat will kill them. You'd have put it somewhere where rabbits can't eat it though. I wonder how toxic borax is?

Other thought I a have is... What about that diatomaceous earth stuff sprinkled around rabbit holes? http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp
Click to expand...
You can use borax, at least on other ants. To my knowledge, fire ants will not take the bait. In order to use it, you must crush the borax to a fine powder. Otherwise, ants will eat around it, and leave the borax.

What I did was powder the borax, and then mix it with cheap sweet peanut butter and powdered sugar. Satisfied both the sugar and grease ants. Worked very well on the crazy ants I had in the garden in Florida that would bite me. I put it on bits of cereal box, under an overturned bowl held up with twigs. Rainproofing.

Carpenter ants won't take it, either. Or, at least, they didn't for me.

DE works, but takes time. And I don't think I've wiped out a nest with it, either.

michaels4gardens":30tmj152 said:
grits work ,they take them home -eat them, they swell up 400% and it ruins the ant.
Click to expand...
YES. So far, grits are the most effective thing I have found that is non-toxic and works for fire ants. They will only take it fresh. You sprinkle it dry around and on the mound, but only enough for them to squirrel away in about 30 minutes. If it sits too long, they won't take it. You can retreat every day or every couple of days, until the ants are gone. Plus, it marks the bed for you to make it easier not to step in it.

Homer":30tmj152 said:
Amdro! 1/2 a tsp. is all it takes to wipe out an entire mound. They take it to the queen as soon as it hits the ground. They will be gone the next morning. :annihilate:
Click to expand...
Amdro is great stuff... I just worry about the goats or sheep I plan to have.

Schipperkesue":30tmj152 said:
OneAcreFarm":30tmj152 said:
Schipperkesue":30tmj152 said:
How about this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

Kills the ants and provides a lovely aluminum sculpture!
Click to expand...

Ok, THAT is awesome! :p :p :p Now...where to get that much aluminum? :hmm:
Click to expand...


Melt down some screen doors and old window frames. I would love to do this. Makes me quite sad that we don't have fire ants in Alberta.
Click to expand...
Oh, yeah, that is awesome! But if you knew fire ants, you would not be sad you have none to experiment on! :eek:

But yeah. GRITS. Grits are awesome. Not just for breakfast anymore. :)
 

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