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I have found too many Ant's in my yard.
I know that they have a right to live and so on, but I really don't like Ants. I also know we share a name, but that gives me no call to be sentimental......
Best ways to get rid of the little buggers????
They have had the hot water treatment, but I'm not 100% sure where their nest is..... yet.
They make my skin crawl. As a kid we always had trouble with Ants so I see a few and then remember the masses I have seen before and expect them to be close behind!!
All help/advice appreciated [8D]
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Hi Ant
There is a pest powder you can buy form garden centres. Sprinkle it around the edges of any buildings near the ants. I had to do this once when my kitchen was invaded. It worked well at keeping them out.
I also found Nippon very good when you can't get to the nest. Leave a few drops on a piece of wood or cardboard near where they look for food. Make sure no animals can get to it though. They feed off the drops and take the stuff back to their nest. It takes a little while but they should start to die off in around a week.
Martin ~
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Nobody shouts it out loud but most people do have ants these days.
Nests can live all winter 6" down because we no longer have long hard
frosts.... warm weather comes and they hatch out.
Remember, ants only live for 3 things... food, food and (yes you've
got it!!). Don't kill them, if you do, more will follow along the same
route. Powder them, every one you see, outdoor or in. Make sure there is no food they can get at... even crumbs. Later summer keep a lookout for flying ants. Powder them quickly before they grow wings. They hatch, grow wings, mate and die all in one day but leave eggs so hit 'em hard.
Keep powder ready pop to Duxburys DIY 7 stars.
After years of the little pests I am just about winning now[  ]
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I expected to come home this afternoon and see them all around the place they were yesterday, but I haven't seen one. Maybe the hot water saw to them......
I will get some Ant powder though just in case.
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Watch out ant, in warm weather like this, they come out when it cools down later even after dark.
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Two more excellent products are "Raid" and "Vapona" ant and cockroach spray (effective on ALL crawling insects - beetles, earwigs, etc). Safe to use indoors, but I have a small porch, so I spray the floor of the porch and my door mat, inside open window frames, between the cracks in my front path, etc., and it is extremely effective. Only needs applying every 6 weeks.
When I had a bigger garden with a large flagged area, the ants there got the hot water treatment, but with domestos bleach or Jeyes fluid added - killed the ants and cleaned the flags at the same time.
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Ants are a problem in our neighbourhood too. Fortunately, we can get a product called "Home Perimeter Defense" (American spelling!), made by Ortho. This is a liquid whose active ingredient is a chemical called "Bifenthrin", which is only 0.05% of the mixture.
You spray this stuff in about a 1" wide swath all the way round the perimeter of your home, paying particular attention to doorways and steps. It lasts for 6 months. I've used it for three years now and we never see ants in the house. I suppose you could do it all the way round your property boundary and they would eventually disappear from your garden too.
According to the label, it will kill all types of ants and beetles, centipedes, millipedes, cockroaches, fles, mosquitos, scorpions, all types of spiders, silverfish and ticks.
It's safe to people and pets once it's dried (about 15 minutes).
Last year's container came with an attached spring-driven pump with spray nozzle. I'll be doing an application in the next couple of weeks. It's about a 5-litre jug and cost about £8.
Incidentally, have you ever wondered how roaches breed? I've never seen any mention of henroaches.
Frank
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
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Sounds very much like the stuff I use Frank (safe to people and pets once dry), although the one I use is really for use indoors in a small spray applicator. Shall make enquiries to see if I can get similar to yours for outdoors, as right outside my front door is a large communal garden full of trees, shrubs, ants and other creepy crawlies! Was amazed at the price you quoted - £8 for a 5 litre jug, very reasonable.
Had not given much thought as to how cockroaches breed, but you fired my curiosity so I typed Henroaches into Google - 238 results!! including one site asking for names as to what female cockroaches should be called with some very funny answers - one of the funniest (and the Administrator or Moderator has my full permission to remove this if it is considered to be ' unsuitable' !!) is cocklessroaches (sorry). They apparently ARE called Henroaches. (Have a sneaky feeling you knew that all along).
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I think that the tiny red ants have some connection with the Tardis (far bigger inside than out). How else could it be that you get about half a gallon of red fluid out of every one of them?
Jim
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I can endorse Nippon as being very good against ants, but find it hard to get hold of these days. I've used Raid instead, to good effect, but if you need to use it indoors, try to spray it last thing at night before you go to bed - it smells quite "chemical", as if the fumes would not be doing your lungs any favours to breathe in for any length of time!
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