Death to Ants!

[Ben]

As a public service announcement, I highly recommend diatomaceous earth (DE) powder for genocidal war against the ants.

Here in CA (and I guess other states in the Southwest) we have, over the last few years been invaded by some tiny little South American ants. I first got them in my condo in Santa Barbara just before I moved here a few years ago. While I'm not Felix Unger, I keep a clean house. You cannot leave even a crumb of food out with these things. Not a drop of juice that might have splattered out of a glass as you poured. If you do, there will be thousands of these things within the day if they have a colony nearby, or worse, you will create a colony in your domicile.

I tried every chemical and natural spray there was, but could not get completely rid of them except in Winter-Spring, and then they'd pop back up in Summer. I moved before I got to the point of burning down the condo complex.

Starting last Summer, I got them here. Same deal - tried everything and the only thing that kept them completely away was Winter. When they came back in force this Summer, I broke down and called the exterminator. While he sprayed liquid outside the house, inside the kitchen and the wall outlets (where they were coming from), he dusted with a powder. He didn't tell me what it was, but the ants were gone. He said they could still come back occasionally, but dusting would take care of them again.

Anyway, long story much longer, I searched for what that dust could be and found the DE at Lowes, which looked like the likely candidate. The bottle says "78% DE, 22% other ingredients (whatever they may be). A month after the exterminator was here, ants (a much smaller quantity than before) started coming out of an outlet on the other side of the kitchen. I used the DE on them, and a couple of days later they were all gone. Even when I left food out.

I thought I'd share as I'd not heard of DE for ants before, and it's simply awesome. Plus no chemical smell. It can take a few days to work, because as the exterminator told me, they get it on them, bring it back to the nest, then as they interact they spread it, eventually to the queen.

Highly recommended.

[bedlamite]

It works by embedding into the insects waxy joints and dehydrating them. Just make sure you don't breathe any of that dust, it's Silica.

http://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/silicosis/silicosis-symptoms-causes-risk.html

[makattak]

From what I understand, it works on all insects- it's an abrasive and is like a dessicant, effectively. It absorbs the oils from the surface of their body and dehydrates them.

[Hawkmoon]

Interesting. When I was in college, my summer job for two years was working for a company that made swimming pool filters. Our filters used diatomaceous earth as the filtration medium. I never knew it had other uses.

[230RN]

Talcum powder works, too.  Clogs their breathing pores or something.  Good for bedbugs, too.

I've often wondered what would happen if you put little piles of nutritionless artificial sweeteners out.  Would they trail to that, carry it back to the nest, thereby starving them?

Never get ants up here on the second floor, so never tested that.

Another use is to make dynamite.

Terry, 230RN

[Ben]

It works by embedding into the insects waxy joints and dehydrating them. Just make sure you don't breathe any of that dust, it's Silica.

http://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/silicosis/silicosis-symptoms-causes-risk.html

I noticed when the exterminator used it, he had some little bulb applicator, so he did in fact "dust" the stuff. I didn't really like that because it spread and settled over the  counters, which I thoroughly cleaned.

Since I've been using it myself, I actually pour a little of the powder out along their trail and where I see them entering, and just thin out the pour by dragging it along their trail with a paper towel, which has so far been at vertical/horizontal corners, so it's kinda like when you caulk your sink or bathtub. Seems to work well without creating a cloud of dust like the professional applicator did.

[Ben]

Never get ants up here on the second floor, so never tested that.

I was on the second floor at the condo, and the kitchen here is on the second floor. They don't seem to mind the climb. :)

[grampster]

Contractor I know says laundry detergent containing borax works well.  Scatter it around the ant hills and the workers carry it back to the hive where it eventually kills them all.

[Sindawe]

Contractor I know says laundry detergent containing borax works well.  Scatter it around the ant hills and the workers carry it back to the hive where it eventually kills them all.

I've used commercial borax based baits on the occasion where a colony of ants decides that my kitchen is a great home base.  Workers suck that stuff right up (they need the water from what I understand) and carry it back to the colony where it kills them all.  I've never used DE since I know if its hazards, having used the stuff by the truck load back in the 1990s as a final polish on the process stream where I worked at the time.

[230RN]

Borax, I am told, is one of the non-smelly things that kills mold, too.

[Firethorn]

I've used commercial borax based baits on the occasion where a colony of ants decides that my kitchen is a great home base.  Workers suck that stuff right up (they need the water from what I understand) and carry it back to the colony where it kills them all.  I've never used DE since I know if its hazards, having used the stuff by the truck load back in the 1990s as a final polish on the process stream where I worked at the time.

Wouldn't that be a bit like the cancer warning on playground sand, where it turns out that in order to actually get cancer from it you'd need to be using it in a sandblaster, not in a playground?

Quantity is a factor in poisons.  A little dusting around the house is orders of magnitude less than using literal tons of it, presumably in some sort of polishing drum where it's constantly being bashed up and put in the air.

[Sindawe]

Wouldn't that be a bit like the cancer warning on playground sand, where it turns out that in order to actually get cancer from it you'd need to be using it in a sandblaster, not in a playground?

Quantity is a factor in poisons.  A little dusting around the house is orders of magnitude less than using literal tons of it, presumably in some sort of polishing drum where it's constantly being bashed up and put in the air.

Well, we did use about 2200 lbs of the stuff a week, in three sessions.  Pumped the it in its dry state with a double diaphragm pump and had to wear a respirator fitted with HEPA cartridges when doing so.

My aversion to home use is that I have cats and they get into everything.  Sprinkling it on the occasional ant trail is a no go for me.

[just Warren]

Down with antsifa!

[Devonai]

Down with antsifa!

I thought this thread title was Death to Antis.  I'm sure most of this stuff would work on them, too.  Or your mother's sister, if you're cross with her.

[TommyGunn]

Kill THEM!  Kill THEM all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!