Ant problem in Florida..

[Miss M]

Now THAT is cool! Make your own insecticidal soap? Hot vinegar to kill fire ants? :yes: :yes: :yes:

 

[dayna]

Where I live in Hawaii we have an invasive pest call the LFA or "Little fire ant". Its numbers are HUGE. They live UP IN THE TREES and drop on you from above. Before you know it, you can be covered in millions of them.

they will kill, blind, maim and consume livestock. Here peoples pets have died or become blind from them.

http://www.reportapest.org/pestlist/wasaur.htm

Here's a little about the LFA.

It's important to figure out what type of fire ant you have to best figure out how to kill them. If you can make their nesting sites less desireable it will help keep them from the area.

 

[Miss M]

They live UP IN THE TREES and drop on you from above. Before you know it, you can be covered in millions of them.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Okay... for the first time in my life, I have found something to be thankful for about the fire ants we have. Never thought this day would come.

Ours will kill livestock occasionally, when they walk into a large bed of the ants, and they have killed the occasional person even inside their house, but they do not drop on you from trees.

 

[dayna]

Yeah and I have a guava orchard. I've had ants "rain down upon me". UGH. Thankfully I have less of a sensitivity to them than others in my family. My daughter gets HUGE pustules (looks like chicken pox) where the ants bite her. I get small welts that go away in a few days.

 

[SatinsRule]

I had a litter born a few weeks ago an the fire ants got to them. As far as i know they should of all been alive. Before the ants got them. I checked on them that night an then about lunch time the next day an this is when i noticed. Just wondering if anybody ever had an issue i got two litters due next week. I don't want to loose any more.

Fire ants were a major issue when I lived in the FL Panhandle. I cannot tell you how many colonies I eradicated by putting the stools from my golden retrievers atop the mounds. The only thing I could ever come up with was that the heartworm preventative meds I had the dogs on worked to wipe out the colonies once the worker ants took parts of the stools down to the queen.

What Maggie suggested about the confectionary sugar and baking soda is probably your best bet. Putting the cage legs into cans of kerosene probably isn't a bad idea either, and as was suggested, use the larger cans.

 

[zee]

I'm starting to see fire ants too. I'm gonna look for some orange guard today.

 

[Miss M]

Thankfully I have less of a sensitivity to them than others in my family. My daughter gets HUGE pustules (looks like chicken pox) where the ants bite her. I get small welts that go away in a few days.

I used to be more sensitive to them than I am now. I remember having a single ant bite on the back of my leg swell up so bad and get so painful that I couldn't walk much.

 

[BroodCoop]

We sure are indoctrinated by the chemical companies. "Better living through chemistry" was their motto.

We have Sugar Ants here. They kill Fire Ants and are still pests but seem to be far less destructive. I can't recommend introducing yet another invasive species to your area but maybe the Extension Service will. I can advise that you talk to them.

The Sugar Ants do crawl on my rabbit cages but I don't know of any problems that they create.

I have a friend locally who uses white vinegar for many things. It is an amazing herbicide. It cleans mineral deposits from rabbit urine.

Heard good things about Spinosad but have no experience with it. Have not even read about it.

 

[Lizardslaps]

Where I live in Hawaii we have an invasive pest call the LFA or "Little fire ant". Its numbers are HUGE. They live UP IN THE TREES and drop on you from above. Before you know it, you can be covered in millions of them.

they will kill, blind, maim and consume livestock. Here peoples pets have died or become blind from them.

http://www.reportapest.org/pestlist/wasaur.htm

Here's a little about the LFA.

It's important to figure out what type of fire ant you have to best figure out how to kill them. If you can make their nesting sites less desireable it will help keep them from the area.

I can say I could have gone my whole life without knowing that

I cant think of a more horrible thing to ever happen

 

[trinityoaks]

Miss M, thank you for the info on the Texas Two-Step! Leave it to Texas A&M University (WHOOOP!!) to come up with something like that. I HATE FIRE ANTS!! And SOOOOOO thankful those LFAs don't live here!!

 

[Miss M]

We have Sugar Ants here. They kill Fire Ants and are still pests but seem to be far less destructive. I can't recommend introducing yet another invasive species to your area but maybe the Extension Service will. I can advise that you talk to them.

Their distribution is throughout the U.S., so we must have them around here. I'll have to pay attention.

Miss M, thank you for the info on the Texas Two-Step! Leave it to Texas A&M University (WHOOOP!!) to come up with something like that.

You're welcome! Being an LSU fan, it hurt to post that link. :lol: Just kidding... it's great to be able to get such great info from our A&M universities!

 

[richierabbit89]

what about coons anybody have a problem with them

 

[MamaSheepdog]

what about coons anybody have a problem with them

I would suggest you start a new thread with that question.

We have quite a few trappers on here that will have advice for you.

You can also try using our search engine in the Rabbit Care forum- enter raccoon and I am sure you will find a lot of posts about the subject.

 

[richierabbit89]

i been traping them myself.. just dident know if anybody else had any problems

 

[nicnmike]

The best fire ant killer I've found at a hardware store is Ortho's powdered fire ant killer. It comes in a black bottle with a yellow lid. You just sprinkle it around the nest and wham-o, dead ant, dead ant - dead ant, dead ant, dead ant. It's active ingredient is acephate. It stinks to high heaven ,but kills them very quickly. A lot of the pre-packed sprays with the bifenthrens and cyfluthrins work well too. You can spray it on the legs of your hutches. The problem with the synthetic pyrethins is they are a small molecule that can easily fall through cracks and crevasses. The insects need to walk over them, or come in contact with them some how in order for it to be effective. Call your extension agent, I bet he or she would have some great ideas.