Ant problem

I keep my roddents in a outhouse. After many outside rats visit eating my roddent food, I've done my best to keep them outside now.

:mad::tears: Then came the ANTS!!!!! Red Fire Ants. They eat meat and like the dog food I feed my roddents with.

Anyone has any suggestion on how to get rid of them?:bow:

You can purchase a fly spray meter that goes off every 15 or 30 minutes. It's permethrin (sp) based product and should kill all insects in the barn. Just make sure there is enough room like the product specifies on the package because the chemical can cause nausea, headaches etc, and doesn't spray or mist on the rats racks or food. That product should not be ingested or inhaled in the aerosol form.

Or, you can spray the perimeter of the barn with insecticide, ant traps, use fly strips along the base of the board of the barn. The last couple will need to be change periodically to maintain the properties.

I personally would spray the outside of the barn with insecticide, but I don't know how that commercial strength stuff would effect your rats, and I would be worried about the effects of the chemicals residue and gas on your rats.

Just thought about this! You can use insecticide dust used for gardening and the like, some like Seven Dust around the perimeter, it wont have the fumes, but kill whatever insect goes walking across it. :)

I can't spray around it, because next to my rat house is my tortoise pen and lizard cage, all attached.

I've used some ant bait and they seemed to work in the beginning but now seem like the ants have learnt better.

I've ordered new brand of baits online and keeping my fingers crossed.

It seems that the normal ground dwelling insecticide dust don't work on fire ants. I've tried some also.

Have you thought about diatomaceous earth? It's in a nutshell, microscopic extremely razor sharp particles and slices the exoskeleton of the insects, causing them to sorta "bleed out" and die.

It works on insects as they walk over the earth. Here is a quick link I found on it, I didn't read over the link but it looked good from the description. Or you can look at the wikipedia for it.

http://www.dirtworks.net/Diatomaceous-Earth.html

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Have you thought about diatomaceous earth? It's in a nutshell, microscopic extremely razor sharp particles and slices the exoskeleton of the insects, causing them to sorta "bleed out" and die.

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Wow, you make it sound so harsh...
Actually, i used this product when i had a red tail falcon. worked great! My only concern would be a rat getting ahold of any...

Heres a few home made things

Get a bowl of sugar, and mix it with baking powder and soda. The sugar will attract them and the baking stuff should kill them. uncooked grits also will kill ants, they take it back to their colony I guess and die. IDK, but they both work and are safe if anything else gets into it.

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Originally Posted by whytepizza

Wow, you make it sound so harsh...
Actually, i used this product when i had a red tail falcon. worked great! My only concern would be a rat getting ahold of any...

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I don't know how any of his rats would get a hold of it, it would have to go around the perimeter of his rat barn so the ants walk thru it to get inside.

Amon, You can hold it, it's like a sand, but like I said, microscopic razors! Your hand will actually lose moisture if you play around with it too much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Have you thought about diatomaceous earth? It's in a nutshell, microscopic extremely razor sharp particles and slices the exoskeleton of the insects, causing them to sorta "bleed out" and die.

It works on insects as they walk over the earth. Here is a quick link I found on it, I didn't read over the link but it looked good from the description. Or you can look at the wikipedia for it.

http://www.dirtworks.net/Diatomaceous-Earth.html

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Wow!! learn something new everyday...lots of info on fire ant. thanks. I'm studying the info.

Thanks for all your input. Make me feel more confident on fighting them.

Haha, go get em! :) I think you'll be able to get rid of the nest in no time. :gj:

I'm trying a new temp method, lets see if this will work.

Ants should be very good at communicating with each other, right? So I try to disturb their trail and eating by squashing most of them dead whenever I see them on my rack. By leaving some alive I hope they will realize this place is not safe and go back to tell the others...haha...I think I'm kind of silly, but maybe, just maybe....:rofl:

One thing I know, I would never use any types of sprays/chemicals around anything that eventually will become a food source!

I use Cream of Wheat.

When they eat it, it sucks the moisture from the little ant bodies. They cream of wheat expands killing off the ants.

Works great

Cannot confirm whether this works on fire ants as we dont have them here in Ohio but for carpenter and the little brown/red ants tha are rampant here throughout the spring and fall we use cinnamon. Apparently they will NOT cross it
I lay down a thin line near out front and back doors and they dont come inside. If theya re already getting in before I lay the little bead down then after I lay it they disappear.
Forget where I heard about it but appears to work

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Originally Posted by amon

I'm trying a new temp method, lets see if this will work.

Ants should be very good at communicating with each other, right? So I try to disturb their trail and eating by squashing most of them dead whenever I see them on my rack. By leaving some alive I hope they will realize this place is not safe and go back to tell the others...haha...I think I'm kind of silly, but maybe, just maybe....:rofl:

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An ants society is a true democracy. The only reason ants choose one path over another is by the scent trails they leave, and how they leave them.

When an ant walks out to forage, they leave a dotted line of scent, if they find a good food source, they leave one long uninterrupted scent trail.

The ants simply walk where the scent is strongest, and as more and more ants find a good food source, the scent trail becomes stronger and more potent, until the lesser trails are no longer being used.

The majority wins, true democracy. ;)

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

An ants society is a true democracy. The only reason ants choose one path over another is by the scent trails they leave, and how they leave them.

When an ant walks out to forage, they leave a dotted line of scent, if they find a good food source, they leave one long uninterrupted scent trail.

The ants simply walk where the scent is strongest, and as more and more ants find a good food source, the scent trail becomes stronger and more potent, until the lesser trails are no longer being used.

The majority wins, true democracy. ;)

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Haha, I think I mixed up with bees?? I saw on TV bees can dance and communicate with each other.

Scent...hmhmmm...I wonder if I kill enough of them and leave their bodies lying around, would they finally get the message?

or maybe just treat the bodies as MORE FOOD!!!!!:taz::taz:

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Originally Posted by Microddot

I use Cream of Wheat.

When they eat it, it sucks the moisture from the little ant bodies. They cream of wheat expands killing off the ants.

Works great

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Is it a cereal? I can find it in supermarket?

Well, either they got tired of my mice food, or my method WORKS!! They are not hanging around my rack anymore.:banana::banana:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amon

Haha, I think I mixed up with bees?? I saw on TV bees can dance and communicate with each other.

Scent...hmhmmm...I wonder if I kill enough of them and leave their bodies lying around, would they finally get the message?

or maybe just treat the bodies as MORE FOOD!!!!!:taz::taz:

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Haha, nope. You just have to use your head and make it undesirable for them to go trekking towards your rat barn like you have been.

As they find other food sources, the trail to your rat barn will be washed away with time as they favor other better sources for food and those become the dominant trails.