Ants - and other insects

[freckles 196]

So now the beetles have gone we have ants nests in the lawn ,we had them last year and we tried all the usual things and nothing seems to have cleared them,any ideas ?

[FLY2 10,109]

Turn on your sprinkler or hose pipe for a while, then watch the birds come down and peck at the eggs that will inevitably float to the surface.

[banjo48 928]

Not sure about english ants but here in oz we get infested with the buggers, the best cure is a bait which the workers take to the nest and it kills the queen, which in turn wipes out the nest.

A simple bait is some peanut butter and honey with some borax powder mixed through, takes a few days but works.

Can be put inside a bit of pipe or under a saucer to prevent pets from eating it.

 

The nests you have now are all new colonies from when the flying ants turn into queens and start more colonies, every flying ant has the ability to start a new nest.

Other option I used to do is boiling water down the nest, but that may kill bits of your lawn.

 

Only other action is a pesticide.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Borax and sugar mixed to a paste with a small amount of water. The ants take the mixture back to the nest and the borax kills them. The sugar is just a bait, ant's can't resist sugar.

 

Ants are a problem stateside, tiny ants named "piss ants" to the largest Carpenter ants that can make a mess of stud walls, to Mexican Fire Ants that hurt like hell if they bite, and they are aggressive!!, then all the different ones in between.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Fire ants are a pain, literally.   Every time it rains it seems like new hills pop up in the lawn.  I use the commercial fire ant treatment from the hardware store and it does seem to kill that mound but then they just reappear a few feet over.  

[radfordred 6,284]

I've got red ant apparently its a Wollaton thing? I use this DOFF quid from Collins Cash & Carry also seen another version in the poundshop but not sure how much that is? 

 

 

[freckles 196]

WE have put boiling water on,then I put bleach on then more hot water.I don't like to be cruel but I hate the little buggers.

 

[Bing 78]

If you mix borax with sugar and a little water it soon goes hard.  But I like the idea of borax and peanut butter, I'll try that out.  We have lots of different types of ants here in Thailand, but fortunately the large red ones prefer to live outside.

[radfordred 6,284]

Sell that Doff ant killer in B & M quid.

[crankypig 457]

A scouring powder like vim or Ajax sprinkled where the nest is or where they are getting into the house can work.

[MelissaJKelly 2,124]

We have a few ant hills in our back garden. We've been trying to get rid of them for years to no avail!

[BilboroughShirley 1,120]

About 20 years ago we had an ants nest in the wall cavity under the lounge window. Ant bait did not solve the problem. The winged ones would emerge into the lounge at about 3 pm and keep on coming out until about 7 pm. This would happen about every two weeks from July to September. It drove me to distraction as I was worried we may get more nests forming in the house.  It got to the point where I was dreaming about ant attacks! I dreaded summer and this went on for several years. Our son was young at the time and we went to see the film The Borrowers. This provided the solution. There is a part of the film where the nasty man calls in the pest control people to spray the skirting boards and kill the Borrowers. I came out of the cinema with a huge smile thinking of pest control companies! We called them in. My husband had drilled some holes in the wall outside and they put their pesticide in. We put little plastic stoppers in the  holes. They also gave us good advice on ant control and a document stating what they had used. Sorted! After that each year ant proofing liquid is put at the base of the outside walls all around the house. Ants are welcome to live up the garden but not in our house.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Ant's like sweet things, so mix sugar and Borax into a paste with a little water, put it out in open containers that ants can get into, they will come by the hundreds, each taking some back to the nest. Within a few days you'll notice less and less ants. I gather the borax destroys their abdominal lining. I'm told sugar and borax paste also kills fleas and roaches.

Another variation is honey and borax mix, does the same.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Sounds like Termites, John.  They fly at certain times of the year.  We had an outbreak in a bathroom.  The Termite guys came and replaced the damaged wood in a window frame, sprayed and no problems since.

 

when working on houses in the UK we would often encounter joists with lots of holes in them.  Always referred to that as woodworm.  I now wonder if the culprits were really Termites.

 

We have Termite insurance.  Helps if you ever want to sell the house.  The guys from pest control inspect the house once a year.  They put bait tubes in the ground to kill the colonies.  They guarantee to fix any Termite damage at no additional charge.  So far so good.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

There are lots of types of wood borers around Dave, but termites are a type of ant. If you look around outside and look for clay runs up walls, they are termites. They make surface trails as they must not dry out.

Usually you will find termite runs near air conditioners, no idea why!!

Leave a piece of untreated wood on the ground for a few days and you'll find some termites feasting on it, they live underground where they keep moist.

Hot humid days are when the queens swarm.

Another critter to watch out for around your house, is Carpenter Ants, big black ants 1/2 inch or longer, thick black shiny bodies. Very destructive!!

I usually find them in dead trees that I cut down, once I split them, usually on cold days I often find a nest of those critters. They chew tunnels in dead wood and live off the wood, they are not partial to just trees either, but will happily devour the studs and plates of your walls!!

If you find one in your house, chances are your house is being devoured!!

 

And mentioning Carpenters, there's the Carpenter bee, it's a loner and chews holes in the end of rafters or any convenient piece of soft wood to lay an egg in. They don't burrow very far, tell tale sign of them, is a lot of saw dust on the ground below their borings. The bee itself looks a bit like a Bumble bee, but hovers a lot, they will only sting if really annoyed, don't kill them, they don't do serious structural damage and are valuable pollinators.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Yes, we have carpenter bees usually in the very early warm days of spring.  The drill a neater hole than a wood bit into fence posts and other wooden items.  Like you say, they hover a lot.  I don't really like to kill anything, but it's hard to co-habit with some critters.

[trogg 2,037]

Late yesterday afternoon we found that there was a bees nest in our wood shed near the back door, as I am allergic to them they had to go. So today I planned to cover my body with gloves , mask, goggles hat and plenty of masking tape to sort the problem out. We decided to have tea and toast before starting and as luck had it my son called in, guess who did it.

Before he started he phoned local Council for them to do it, no told to contact bee keepers association, after numerous attempts  recorded message phone again later. So off he set donned up with all the gear throwing wood out till he found the nest  after many breaks as he was surrounded by angry bees, finally found a small nest and into a bag it went. Two cans of wasp killer was used so plenty were swept up , my only concern now is will my beans be pollinated now.

Then onto  cut my lawns I have found about a dozen small mounds of fine soil with ants running around playing?.

I will have to find out how to get rid of these as I have previously used ant powder but this killed the lawn.

So I am not having a good day, roll on summer.

[Beekay 5,279]

Iv'e always used Talcum powder. Because ants breath through their skins they avoid it like the plague. Certainly deters them.

[plantfit 7,692]

I use ordinary talc powder as well, in  fact we had the ants in the kitchen last week but they have gone now thanks to the talc

 

Rog

[LizzieM 9,541]

It’s a coincidence that this has come up because today my husband lifted a plastic cover which covers an outdoor electrical connection and disturbed hundreds (possibly thousands) of ants.  I’ve always poured boiling water on ant nests but we couldn’t do that due to the electrics in there so put the lid back on to think about the plan of action.  A few minutes later we had another inspection and saw every little ant escaping the nest carrying a white egg.  We’ve just left them to their task and used extension cables to get power from the house.  
We found a massive old wasp nest in the loft recently too, I remember having the odd wasp in a bedroom a few years ago.  
At our previous (very rural) house we had wasp nests under the roof tiles every year.  I waited until we’d seen 4 or 5 and then called the council out to deal with them.  The system worked well but probably wouldn’t these days though.  

[Beekay 5,279]

It is'nt necessary to deliberately kill ants. I would'nt do that, but it is better to deter them from taking residence. They are certainly not in favour of talc powder, so they take the easy option and move elsewhere. If you see a column of ants going to and fro, in a straight line, they're usually in the process of survival. If you put a little stick across their path, just watch what happens. They are thrown into total confusion as they cannot follow set pattern, because they think as one.

[Jill Sparrow 10,417]

Ants don't like lavender. I've used lavender essential oil in the past to persuade them to move elsewhere. I would never kill them and I would certainly never kill bees: they are facing enough existential threats as it is.

[DJ360 6,775]

When our house was built, the main soil pipe, taking waste from the bathroom and loo was fitted internally, behind some timber boxing in the corner of the dining room. I always hated that arrangement. I hated it even more when ants found their way in and then started swarming at regular intervals, appearing in the loo and the dining room. I recall one especially extreme event when ants could be seen literally trying to force their way out of tiny cracks in paintwork around a door casing. 

My immediate solution was to drill into the boxing in the loo, where the upper 'vent' part of the soil pipe ran and empty an entire aerosol of ant killer into it, then re seal it. It worked.

A little while later I spotted ants travelling in and out of the brickwork,  through a tiny hole in the mortar under the back step, near to where the soil pipe ran inside. I sealed the hole with mastic.

Later still, as part of my first bathroom/ loo refurb, I removed the whole soil pipe, boxing etc and had a new pipe put on the outside of the wall. I expected to find great piles of dead ants in the boxing.. but ...nothing. Either ants..or something else, had tidied up after my massacre.

I've since re- laid all of the paving at the back of the house, which has further discouraged the little sods.. but they are still about... I've got my eye on them...

[MRS B 576]

Ants are very clever and industrious creatures. They will normally love dry and warm conditions that they can travel through easily and lay eggs. Great for breaking up the soil. At the allotment we have to water around where they nest particularly in the greenhouse and poly tunnel. They are usually not harmful to plants and move on. Annoying if they are in houses though.

[trogg 2,037]

Thank you for all the replies on ants and bees I will try some of the suggestions. As a keen gardener I understand the plight of bees that is why I tried the bee keepers association first, the nest was a small one near the back door on the route to my garage, the last time I had a bite my lip was swollen up that much my Doctor wanted to see me at nine every morning to make sure it healing, so the bees had to go. As for the ants my green lawn has about 6 piles of soil and the number is slowly increasing ,they have to find a home elsewhere.