Evil Fire Ants Attacking From the Depths of Heck

[TMTex]

I've been trying to keep up with the fire ants around here while keeping poisonous chemicals to a minimum. I use Bayer Fire Ant Killer and a Raid Barrier/Contact killer away from the rabbits and gardens. Closer in, I'm limited to Seven Dust, soap and Lemongrass Oil.

Last night, I saw a trail of the demon spawn ants moving along the hutch of one of my pregnant does. I killed as many as I could by hand and the wife and I worked at putting the legs of all the hutches into coffee cans. We filled the cans with a mixture of Seven Dust, Dawn Liquid, Citrus cleaner and water. I continued to kill individual ants for some hours after the barrier was set up.

Checking on them this morning, I expected to find frustrated fire ants at the perimeter, but none in the hutches themselves. Both pregnant does were clear, as were all others except my primary buck, Sam. He had a few ants in his hutch and something about him seemed off. He seemed oddly frazzled. I killed an ant or two and then they swarmed from within his hutch. They had built a nest in the cracks between the wood and wire of the prefab Tractor Supply hutch. I couldn't believe it.

I grabbed Sam and took him inside the house while pondering what to do about the infestation. I didn't want to use chemicals in the rabbit run. My wife suggested that I use boiling water to burn them out. I did that and was surprised to see how much junk can build up in those gaps between the wood and wire. It looked like a nice design, but it's not exactly fine quality.

Hopefully, our small tactical victory will hold until we can come up with a strategic solution.

 

[AmysMacdog]

Poor Sam! So glad you found those nasty ants before they hurt Sam or the girls and babies. We have fireants here in Georgia, fortunately they don't seem to like this property but we do have other kinds that like to invade the kitchen. We have found that they don't like Adams flea off flea spray. We spray that where they come in and stops them for a few weeks. Being safe for dogs and cats I thought it might be good use on the ground around the hutches if the ants are trying to find a way up and it does kill them if sprayed directly.
Hope this helps.

 

[CWD]

I do not know about fire ants.
we have black and red ants here. I spray the outside with a mixture of dish soap and water.
I also make a mixture of borack acid and water and spray this around the foundation, and on my pens and hutches.
I have not seen any ill effects of using this around my rabbits.

I hope you get them under control.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

You might have to see about moving the rabbits for a few days and going full on war zone on the fire ants with chemical fire ant killer. I have found you can't be lenient with it comes to those little spawns of Satan. When we lived near Abilene we started with a real problem and I had toddlers/babies at the time. I would go stir them up on purpose and douse the hill with Amdro while they were out and about. Bayer works really well, too. I alternated out poisons until I at least rand them all out of the yard. It's very dry where I'm at now, so not too much of a problem yet, thank goodness.<br /><br />__________ Sun May 26, 2013 7:55 pm __________<br /><br />Also, is there a water supply that keeps the area wet. They are attracted to moisture, so if you can limit their access to wet areas that might help. I feel for you. Those are nasty little buggers to deal with.

 

[TMTex]

Thanks, folks. The soapy solution wasn't enough to completely stop the ants. They sacrificed a good number of themselves in order to get one or two past the defenses. I thought the Dawn and Citrus Cleaner would break the surface tension of the water and make the ants sink. The Sevin Dust was supposed to poison them when they attempted to breach the defenses. Evidently, they float for a while and when enough die, some can cross over before the bridge sinks.

I don't want to move the pregnant does until a while after they kindle. This will be the 2nd attempt for both does. (Both had non-survivors for their first litters.) I'm hoping not to add another strike to either one.

I used some of the Raid Barrier around the outside perimeter and sprinkled diatomaceous earth around the inside perimeter and between the hutches. I haven't found any Adams flea spray yet.

@CND - It's normally dry here, but we've had a lot of rain lately. I think that brought the ants out. It seems to trigger mating. I found several alates on and around the hutches during the past week.

When I checked on them this evening, there were only 3 fire ants on the hutches, one of which was a male alate. I made them into good fire ants. The war continues.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

It sounds like you are winning the skirmishes overall.

Diatomaceous Earth is not a "quick kill", but I believe that it will help over the long run as more and more workers bring it back to the nest before they die themselves. Still, when we are talking about tens of thousands of individuals, I doubt you will see a significant decrease as quickly as you would like without the use of contact-killing pesticides.

If you know where the ants have their hole or holes, I would sprinkle DE on the area surrounding them.

Hopefully you will be able to kill off enough of them that they don't present a danger to your rabbits.

 

[Emily]

Golly, what part of TX are you in? That sounds insane.

 

[ladysown]

i wouldn't see an attack by fire ants as being a strike against the does. It's not like it is something in their control...

Good luck winning the battle. I'd seriously move those does as the whole birthing process would probably attract the ants would it not?

 

[mystang89]

I agree with MSD but just remember with DE that it can also kill bees so if you have plants or fruit that needs pollination around where the fire ants are you might end up getting the good guys too.

 

[Frecs]

I've been collecting methods to organically (non-chemically) deal with the devil spawn. Some I can think of off the top of my head:

Baking soda/vinegar: Sprinkle mound with baking soda, pour on hot vinegar
Dry ice: put on top of mound and the fumes sink into the mound tunnels and suffocates them supposedly.
dry molasses: sprinkle in area you don't want them and supposedly it keeps them away. It doesn't kill them but rather repells them.
Creating fire ant wars: if you have two different colonies -- or you and a neighbor have two different mounds -- take a shovel full from one mound and dump on the other and visa-versa. They will fight the invaders to the death.

 

[Miss M]

Creating fire ant wars: if you have two different colonies -- or you and a neighbor have two different mounds -- take a shovel full from one mound and dump on the other and visa-versa. They will fight the invaders to the death.

This is the single most satisfying way to get rid of fire ants. :twisted:

My husband learned it from my father, and he finds it delightful.

You have to be fast, so the colonies can't be too far apart. Otherwise, they'll get too far up the shovel handle.

 

[trinityoaks]

Emily, fire ants are in every part of Texas except the Panhandle, including Grayson County. Many other parts of the South, as well. I'm surprised you haven't encountered them yet. And TMTex's description is quite accurate: they are the insect from the pit of hell itself. :furious: :rant: :gun: :nuke:

 

[LauraNJ]

My oldest is at Ft Hood and turns out he is actually allergic to fire ant bites.

He did the move one mound next to the other. He didn't use any pesticides because he said something about the black ants, in enough numbers will keep the fire ants in check but the black ants are very sensitive to the pesticides and their number will be reduced first and then the fire ants really take over.

He loves bugs so he thinks it is all very interesting but I am not as much of a bug lover. Now that he isn't home when I find bugs inside they are not always safely transported outside (but don't tell!).

I'd be using whatever chemical I could that was safe near the rabbits and in my yard. I hope the evil fire ants leave your rabbits alone and that you win the war on them in your yard.

 

[nicnmike]

You might try two other things. 1) switch to an all wire cage and 2) use granualar ant bait around the base of the hutches. bifenthrin, a common insecticide in ant killer, is a very small molecule. It easily falls in tiny cracks and crevasses making it in effective. A bait keeps it on the surface and allows for great frequency of contact by the ant which is needed to kill them. If they are as bad as you say, you might need to reconsider the non-pesticide approach until they're under control. They are there for a reason. Maybe it's food, or a water source. Figure that out and you may solve your problem.

 

[bowbuild]

I run, and own a pest control company....my first choice if I was not worried about chemicals would be Termidor (Fripronil) this is the exact same ingredient that is in Frontline for cats, and dogs. For the homeowner,(like Nicnmike mentioned) would be Bifenthrin. This year here on the west coast Walmart is selling BUG-B-GONE .10 bifenthrin this will kick their butts if aplied as directed. No matter what chemical you buy look at the label for active chemical, and more importantly the amount. Just because it has a well known name does not make it better. Here is a link you will find helpfull. If you have a well be mindfull of how deep, and where you are applying. .08% to .10% Bifenthrin is what I use in my 50 gallon tank for pest control applications with a synergist. Good luck!

http://m.chronicle.augusta.com/life/hom ... -effective


Bowbuild

 

[TMTex]

Thanks for the info, folks. As far as chemicals, I have nothing against them, I just don't want to expose my rabbits to them.

The diatomaceous earth had no effect. I gave in and put some of the Raid barrier spray behind and between the hutches. The ants seemed to respond by sending larger waves in.

I got out the Bayer Fire Ant Killer and put copious amounts between and behind the hutches. They're still making it past, but in much smaller numbers. I found dozens of little mounds within 50 feet of the rabbit run. These are new since the rains came. They've been getting Bayer on them as I found them for the past week or so.

The biggest trails of ants are coming from the neighbor's yard adjacent to the run. My wife texted her and offered to have me kill the mounds over there. I'll try to find time in the next couple of days.

Chemical warfare in progress.

 

[LauraNJ]

Hope you get them all!

We don't have them here but my son sent pictures of his bites and then pictures of his leg and foot all swollen up. They had to cut his boots off he swelled up so fast, very nasty bugs.

 

[Jack]

BORAX
safe, VERY safe to mammals (they use boric acid to flush new born eyes)
BUT, kills them suckka DEAD, find borax ant poisons, or get boric acid and go to war, most of the boric acid bait is designed to pull them to the bait station
It's completely safe around rabbits

 

[AnnClaire]

Also, for the coffee cans, 2 inches of kerosene is the only effective barrier we have found.

Trinity, I am not sure where you got your information that there aren't any fire ants in the Texas panhandle, but I know a couple of prepper guys that would beg to differ ... one lives halfway between 'Rillo and the north boarder He's been fighting an invasion from the neighboring cattle pasture ... the farmer sprays something, they move to his place (20 acres) and he has to kill them off 3-4x per year.

As for the situation with the buck's hutch ... that would constitute an opitmal nesting spot ... dark, moist, food available, what's not to like? IMHO, the wood/wire hutch needs to be retired and all wire cages used. I realize a lot of folks use those commercially produced wood/wire hutches successfully, but they simply are not appropriate for all environments, as demonstrated by the nest in your buck's hutch.

But then, I go NUCLEAR (Amdro) on them as soon as I find a nest! The only use I have for fire ants is as food for horny toads but those don't live in town. There's just some things that chemicals are necessary for fighting IMHO.