Help! Fire ants must die!

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419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

For some reason the fire ants are really bad this year. I have used 4 different granular poisons and 2 different type of sprays that were "guaranteed" to work and kill the mound. Granted, they killed the mound on that particular day that I treated it, but two days later, another mound pops up within 10 feet of the "dead" mound.

Anyone know of a sure fire method of getting rid of these hazardous pests?

And please do not recommend an extemination service. I'll be damned if I pay someone to do something that I can do (ie:spread poison).

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:45 am

Baking Powder?

Works fine here because they feed it to their breed.
I don't know wheter it will be working with fire ants, however.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:25 am

Chief2B wrote:

...Anyone know of a sure fire method of getting rid of these hazardous pests?..

Move to Antarctica?

An effective control method is the best you can hope for. Fire ants like sugar. I use melted borax and sugar (1 part to 3) to control ants numbers in general.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:36 am

FIRE

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:08 am

^ I was going to suggest pouring on charcoal igniter fluid than ignite with a long stick with flame on the end. It burns slow and long, so is safer than gasoline of paint thinner ( Twisted Evil

).

Or you could fill a plastic milk jug with alcohol and duct tape a road flare to it... Put the jug on top of the nest. Light the flare (do this quickly since the ants will attack you as soon as you put the jug on top of there nest) and run like the dickens! (It WOULD work if you lived out in the sticks...)

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:11 am

B. A. Ware wrote:

FIRE

Exactly, FIRE ants are killed by fire, why else would they be called FIRE ants

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

I would really like to take care of this problem without BURNING my yard up................plus already tried that and still have the problem.

These little bastards are persistant. I tried the "petrol" solution because I thought it would be cheap alternative to the poisons. All I wound up with was a yard full of burn areas.

I hate for my daughter to go into the yard because each time she goes out she always gets into another newly forming mound and gets stung.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:29 am

Are the nests in grass? If not, find a powerful solvent and pour that on the nest. It will liquefy the ants. you could also try a sticky (not sugar) slime and cover the nest in that. As a last resort, I would suggest saturating the nests with super concentrated salt water, then zap the hell out of them with a stripped extension cord or arc welder (be VERY careful with this and find a buddy with experience as a electrician to help!).

Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for any damage to yourself, others, or property for following my instructions. Use common sense!

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

@rentacow....

With those suggestions, why do I feel that I'm being baited into doing something very foolish????? Very Happy

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:46 am

PLZ SUR I ASSUR U THIS IZ 100PARSENT RYSKY FREE,,,,

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:07 am

Less is more. Don't give a hoot about the mound. Its just dirt. If you sprinkle bait, just put out a little at a time around the mound. Not on the mound. Do that every couple of days. Be patient. If you want things right now, then go ahead and drench. But wetting down the mound is a waste of insecticide. Make yourself an injector to get the stuff down into the tunnels below the mound to go for the queen. I have used a root feeder. Stick it in and run like hell. Rinse and repeat when safe.

I've seen people make bait trays. I was talking to a neighbor today and almost stepped on her homemade bait station. I guess it was working as there were no ants anywhere around.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:11 am

Quote:

FIRE

Ahem...I am available. Very Happy

Die ants die!

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:14 am

Have you not just tried sprinkling ant powder? Works on my infestations. But then again mine are just standard ants, I don't know much about fire ants.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:17 am

They are much like lads. Repulsive, annoying, vile creatures that are dangerous and unrelenting.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 93 Location: USA

Chickens.

Chickens eat anything.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:43 am

^ true, but an anteater eats ants, according to the I, BC cartoon you hold them much like a machine gun, ZOT! ZOT! ZOT!

Option 2 - Carefully dig up nest, put into sealed container, load onto back of truck, drive to neighbours house, empty sacks. (neighbours may not be happy with this, but, what the hey, there has to be some winners and losers in life)

Option 3 - Boiling water poured on nest. (just how big is it anyway? can we have some photos?)

Option 4 - Nippon ant powder or liquid, this gets taken back into the nest (like other poisons)

Not an option - explosive, may upset the neighbours by way of noise, broken windows, low flying ants, earth, etc.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I don't know ants, but I know wasps and, being insects, they are probably much the same. The problem is that you may have killed the ants, but you have not killed the eggs. Once the poison has worked you need to dig the nest up.

Petrol will probably work, but don't bother setting fire to it; the fumes do the job, not the fire. There's no way you could burn down into the mound anyway. Just pour a little petrol (ie gasoline) on the mound. Do it at night when they are all in the nest. If there is no sign of them the next morning dig up the entire mound and remove it or sterilise it with extreme prejudice.

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

For those not familiar with "fire ants" in the southern US......

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

Fire ant mounds:

Here they are normally 18inches in circumfrence and about 12inches high and extend about 3 feet underground

And the damage they can do:

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:24 am

Hi Chief,

http://www.ehow.com/how_2043134_get-rid-fire-ants.html

This seems to be the step by step way of how to get rid of them without turning into the 'neighbour from Hell' Wink

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

^^^^^sounds like good advice, but remember, I have recently arrested my neighbor on two counts of attempted murder....I don't think that I will get any cooperation out of him!

To him, I am already the Neighbor from Hell!!!

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:04 am

Ahh....Didn't know about that!

In that case, I would burn the bastards!!! (and I mean the fire ants, not the neighbours...)

Or.....I had a really bad problem with ants when I lived in Napier (not fire ants though. just your everyday, black ants, but millions of 'em!) I was in the bath one night and I saw a black line going up the wall. I thought it was a pipe! Then I realised that the 'pipe' was moving!!
(My house was beautiful and only 2 years old)
Anyhoo, the best advice I was given and the advice I took, was to get a granulated poison and place it in the lines that ran to the burrow(s).
Every day, I got the poison and carefully shook it into the lines. (You have to remember, less is more)
It took about 3 weeks, but the ants were gone.
The bad news was, the next year, they were back and I had to go through the whole procedure again. But it was the same with the cockroaches I'm afraid. A never ending battle, and the price I paid for living on top of a hill in paradise Wink

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:24 am

I feel you pain Chief. I grew up with fire ants. I lived next to a riverbed. Nothing quite hurts like a bite or sting from on of those red bastards. What ever you do don�t loose it and start destroying there hill. They don�t like that Laughing

From personal experience they don�t like fire or the smoke from fire. They just leave. But the fires that made them fled what when the orchard or mountain was on fire.

My dad was an agricultural biologist. I see if he has any tricks up his sleeves.

Oh yeah and few day ago a fire ant bit my wife�s foot, so I an a bit pissed about that. I say kill them all.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 3551

Chief, there is an ant poison that is guaranteed to work for a year and you can get it at hardware stores. It works beautifully for fire ants. I broadcast it once a year and NEVER have fire ants. They are a huge problem in our area.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:23 pm

The key is to kill the Queen. Try pouring grits on the mound. The workers feed these to the queen. At night, when the condensation and dew comes, the grits swell. Eventually the queen will burst from the expanding grits and the ant hill will go away. I have used this method and it works like a charm.

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:50 pm

Slow Freddie already suggested boiling water poured into the nest. This works for me as well. I bought a farm that used to grow sugarcane. The ant infestation was really bad. We had to have water on the boil for hours, but our persistence got the better of the ants.

B. A. Ware might like this: Have you tried an automotive steam cleaner? It has a long nozzle, which is perfect for inserting into the nest entrance. If you can extend the nozzle, you could reach further down into the nest. You could also steam the ants to death along the way, from a safe distance. Make sure you don't run out of steam, or you won't kill the nest. Being surrounded by ants with no steam can be a bummer!

No poisons, no toxins, so you won't harm the earth.

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