Natures Sculptor

[GrauGeist]

perhaps consider the cornmeal/cream of wheat option, Vic...they'll haul the morsels down the nest hole and end up doing themselves in when they eat it. Non-poisonous to kids critters and devestating to the ants.
(of course, not as dramatic or gratifying as a pyro-blast or a direct hit from the deathstar...)

 

[mikewint]

If they have a fixed path that you know they follow put BORIC ACID powder (drug store) the tiny crystals will get lodged in their moving parts, in effect freezing them.
ANT SAND is similiar except it uses very fine silica and an insecticide (Bifenthrin) to kill 'em quicker

 

[A4K]

Great thread Vic, and boy do those last pics bring back memories... the garden of one of the flats in Sydney was crawling with them.

Good bite on the little buggers too - one bit my foot while tramping in the Blue Mountains, and half my foot was numb for the rest of the day... was days before the irritation died down round the immediate bite area!

 

[Gnomey]

Very cool Vic!

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

I hope you are able to rid your neighborhood of them soon Vic. Nasty bunch they are.

 

[N4521U]

I didn't know how Ant Sand worked....... Innnn-teresting!
Ant Sand AND corn meal and Cream of Wheat!!!!!!!

My MIL has little black ants Evvvverywhere and we need something they will take back to the nestsssss, many of them.

 

[vikingBerserker]

My grandmother used to use either boric acid or cucumber peelings in the house to keep them out, not sure of the peelings would do another outside.

Ants have always fascinated me, especially the Driver and Bullet ones.

 

[mikewint]

Bill, insects have their skeletons on the outside: exoskeletons made of Chitin. The exoskeleton parts must move against each other. Any fine grained material can work its way into the moving joint parts making the joint, in effect freeze. Think of pouring fine sand into an engine for example. Volcanic ash can quickly disable cars, trucks, aircraft for the same reason.
Something similiar happens to humans when fine needle-like crystals of uric acid form within a joint, usually the big toe. Commonly termed Gout

 

[vikingBerserker]

I do not believe that is how boric acid works. It does stick to their exoskeleton but they ingest it while cleaning themselves and it kills them. It also kills the fungi they grow and feed off of.

 

[Lucky13]

 

[mikewint]

Viking, that is true if the boric acid is mixed with something sweet like sugar or even peanut butter. Check out almost any commercial "Ant Bait" and you'll see Boric acid. these types of traps/baits are very effective indoors where the ants consume the poisoned sugar and carry it back to the nest where it will kill other ants. When an insect consumes boric acid, it poisons the stomach and affects the insects metabolism. Boric acid is very mildly toxic, just a bit more than table salt so it is not an instant killer. Borax (20 mule team) can also be used as it contains boric acid. My suggestion to Vic was to sprinkle the pure powder across their trail forcing them to crawl through the Boric acid. The powder is also abrasive, further effecting the exoskeleton of the insect where the sharp crystal abrade the joint.
Diatomaceous earth (DE) used in pool filters works is totally non-toxic but will kill bugs the same way. As the ants move across the powder, it sticks to their feet and legs only to get into their joints and exoskeleton. DE is made up of crushed fossilized skeletons of diatoms and algae. The DE is actually jagged and sharp so it works like little pieces of broken glass and scratches up the insects' bodies then dries up their fluids. The DE can also be absorbed into the bug's breathing tubes as well as their joints, eyes, etc. Again not an instant kill but after a bit the critters quit eating and die

 

[vikingBerserker]

Actually you do not need to mix it with anything. All they have to do is walk through it and they ingest it later when they clean themselves. It's one of the great things about just using plain boric. Mixing it with sugar or anything else just attracts other bugs or "critters" as my grandmother would say.

I read the article you cut and pasted from about DE and parts of it does not make sense to me. Most ants spend a lot of time underground where they constantly encounter microscopic specs of dust. I would think after several several millions of years of evolution they would have evolved to be able to handle this - especially the dust clogging breathing tubes.

 

[GrauGeist]

Diatomacious Earth to Aphids and Ants would be like a human walking through a forest of jagged, shattered glass. A view of an Aphid after they've been in contact with DE is a terrible sight, honestly. And when I say glass, I'm not referring to safety glass, I'm talking about the old, brittle plate-glass...

While an Ant's exoskeleton is more rugged than an Aphids, the DE still invades leg and mandible joints, inbetween exo-sheathing on the thorax and and impales thier eyes. The DE's micro dust invades thier breathing passages much like silicone sand dust invades and damages a human's lungs, although to an insect, the DE dust is catostrophic where silicosis in humans can be survivable. Humans can survive regular dust, like an insect, it just takes a little time before that dust is expelled by the lungs.

Perhaps this spring, I'll drag the Macro lens out and catch some Aphids that usually roam the flowers and grab some shots for an after-action report

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm happy to say the numbers have reduced considerably over the past week or so. My hunting out entry holes, patience in following the ants back to their varying entry places and a couple of gallons of unleaded petrol have worked wonders.

 

[Torch]

A mix of boric acid and water works on roaches also. Mix in a spray bottle,keeps them away.

 

[GrauGeist]

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm happy to say the numbers have reduced considerably over the past week or so. My hunting out entry holes, patience in following the ants back to their varying entry places and a couple of gallons of unleaded petrol have worked wonders.

Fer God sakes man, don't be smoking near the nest...we'll see the end result from the space station!

 

[mikewint]

Dave gave an excellent allegory. The diatom skeleton is made of silica and the broken edges are much sharper than razor blades. However to human sized hands there is no danger at all. Diatomaceous earth can be rubbed into the scalp to kill lice. Boric acid crystals are shaped like needles and physically do the same thing to small critters but is slighty toxic even to humans

 

[Capt. Vick]

Interesting...I never knew any of this.