Need help with fire ant invasion

[ReddishPinko]

My kitchen is being invaded by fire ants and I was hoping someone in the environment forum could tell me a good way to wack them and not myself. I know, they have as much right to be here as I do but the time for talking has passed.

[brainshrub]

1. Get a magnifing glass

then on a sunny day fry the little wankers.

Sure...you won't solve the fire-ant problem. But how often do you get to feel like a god?

[ReddishPinko]

4. Thanks...

I'm starting a fund to get you an INDOOR kitchen like the rest of us buddy.

[neuvocat]

2. Put them on fire.

Or do you have to water them to put them out...?

[Kimber Scott]

3. Killing them Softly

Try doing a Google search on "pesticide free pest control" or "rid fire ants without pesticides"

P.S. Make sure they find NOTHING to eat in your kitchen

[ReddishPinko]

6. Don't worry...

I'm unemployed. My kitchen is definitely food free.

[Don_G]

5. Boric Acid Works On Roaches

Since ants have an exoskeleton too, you might try that.

[Brucey]

7. I've heard they don't like cucumber peelings.

I don't know, might work. Put peelings all around where they come in.

[Upfront]

8. Seven

There is a product called Seven that you can put around the out side of your house and it will kill them. They will soon be gone. I think it is non-toxic. It worked for me, and that is what the pro's use. Good Luck

[morningglory]

9. I went and mucked up some dried horse manure for my garden and

introduced fire ants here from the horse stables. The feed store sold me a product call "Come and get it", they said the little granules have a nematode inside that when taken down into the nest kill the queen, then hatches out little nematodes that kill the other far aints--or any other aints. Just sprinkle a couple of granules on the mound and check back after the next rain. Any new activity is easily seen and can be sprinkled. It takes about a week for the mound to die out after the first sprinkling.

[blindpig]

10. no, they don't have a right to be here.........

they are an introduced species(if they are indeed fire ant and not some other species} and should be terminated with extreme prejudice.

[ReddishPinko]

11. Major combat operations have ended.

Both my hands are sore and the kitchen is now free of fire ants. Recent events have taught me a lesson and I am vigilantly guarding against any fire ant fedayeen that may attempt a comeback.

[NNadir]

12. A sugar solution with about 2-3% of borate will work to destroy the nest.

Add some about 2-3 parts of sodium borate (or boric acid cleaner) to 97-98 parts of sugar. Impregnate some cotton swabs with this solution and leave them in open containers where the ants will find them. Important: If you see the ants eating this solution DO NOT KILL them, but let them track the borate solution back to the nest. Replace the swabs regularly as long as you see the ants.

Ants ususally feed by a process known as trophallaxis, whereby they bring foods back to the nest where the food is digested by larvae and transformed into "honeydew" that the adults eat. As the honey dew gets concentrated with borate, this usually kills the adult ants, and most importantly the queen.

I tested this method on carpenter ants last winter and it is the only thing that worked. Many commercial products (and an exterminator) failed. Interestingly this method is extraordinarily cheap.

[ReddishPinko]

13. Thanks, I'm going to do that.

God how I hate these infernal things. Had a dish towel sitting out and went to wipe my hands-now I have 4 blisters. I poured some cereal into a bowl and poured in milk-they were doing the backstroke. Checked the other dried stuff (corn meal, flour, rice)-same thing.

Everything I found in my web search was some sort of ad.

[ReddishPinko]

14. Thanks, I'm going to do that.

God how I hate these infernal things. Had a dish towel sitting out and went to wipe my hands-now I have 4 blisters. I poured some cereal into a bowl and poured in milk-they were doing the backstroke. Checked the other dried stuff (corn meal, flour, rice)-same thing.

Everything I found in my web search was some sort of ad.

[NNadir]

15. Put your food in sealable containers while doing it.

Otherwise, the ants might not eat enough of the sugar.

Zip lock bags or tupperwear type containers will work.

[NNadir]

16. Actual recipes.

I told my wife about your plan and she corrected me on the recipes for the bate. In the first case, dip the solution in the cotton swab so the can get to it.

Boric Acid Bait
3 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
4 teaspoons boric acid

Alternative Recipe
2 tablespoons boric acid
1 cup corn syrup

Good luck.

[BeFree]

17. Grits

I have fought fire ants for years now with great success. It works on all kinds of ants, to boot. Just sprinkle a teaspoon of grits out for the little buggers to take back to the nest.

Grits, as grit cookers know, absorbs five or six times it's weight in water. When the ants eat them, water in the ants is extracted and the buggers dry right the F up! Cheap and non-toxic. I even spread grits around the perimeter of the house a couple of times a year.

A kind word for one kind of ant... the little, tiny black ants are known to prey on subterranian termites. To hell with red fire ants, but praise high the little black buggers!

[enki23]

18. chlordane

(just kidding.)