Ant Control (HELP)
 

Well I've searched the forums and seen that there are a couple posts on ant control...problem there is a rather large ant hill/blob growing in my back yard and am too poor to get rid of it through professional means. I dont want to kill the grass (some can be killed if nessacary) but also I have a dog so I would prefer if I could do this and have him back in the back yard with in a day. Just want a good way of getting rid of these bastards once and for all.

Hmmm, I would buy a small roll of chicken wire and a few wooden stakes, then make a cylinder about three feet in diameter and stake it over the ant hill...... then buy some ant dust or bait and sprinkle it over and into the hole. your dog won't be able to get near the dust or bait and in a few days the ants will have carried enough of the dust or bait into the hole to wack the whole colony.

Something like this would do the trick....

http://www.terro.com/antdust.php

Okay thanks. I may have to get that. Anyhow though any other ideas on maybe not getting rid of the ants completely but making their life miserable? :)

You should be able to get a bag of ant killer at any
garden shop----here in the south ants are every where...

just pour the granuals over and around the ant hill, then
put a bucket over it and a wight on the bucket to keep the
dog from turning it over......in about a week, use the hose
to wash the dirt and granuals away...

Don't forget to take the bucket off though... It could scorch a nice round patch of grass fairly quickly. Just check on the package and see what it say's about animals.

Borax (the mule kind in the detergent section) pour on the hole and around the next is non toxic and will kill the ants. Test first, I've never had to use it on grass. IE: It might kill your grass too.

Pour boiling or at least verrrrry hot water over the mound. Any ants in contact with the water are dead. May not kill them all but will make them move out.

Running water into the the hill for about 10 minutes everyday for a week or so works pretty well too. Although I'm not sure how well your grass will fare.

Get a bottle of boric acid powder, shoot some into the hill. They'll all be gone in a week. The stuff is safe enough to use for eyewash, so if you use the tip to inject it into the hole in the hill.

If you're not that patient, get a bottle of liquid lighter fluid at the local pharmacy or convenience store, it's about three bucks fora bottle. Squirt some down, stirke a match, and while it's still flaringjam it in the hole.

ants HATE peppermint(saw it on discovery). put some around the door or similar.

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/ants.htm

If you've got the time for it, just distroy their colony a couple times a week. Take a shovel and dig them up a bit, or stomp around on the mounds... eventually they'll get worn out from rebuilding and decide to relocate.

well the trick for ants is this.. you desturb the nest enough but dont take it out, they will just relocate and built another next with in a few days..

if the ant hill is as big as you say.. get ready.. they are already sending out new colonies to infest your yard.. my idea.. bengal insect powder.. sprinkle it out.. put one of those $10 kiddy pools from walmart over it .. check the next day.. it works.. spray the ground around where they pool will sit .. that way the grass wont die from the pool.. the powder wont hurt the grass.. but might hurt the dog.. after that.. just get a sharshooter shovel and dig down the hear of the mound and pour somemore on and put the pool back.. after that just go around and take small section of grass with top soil up and place over any hole.. the grass will grow over it all.

The only way to get rid of ants is to kill the queen. The more ants you kill, the more babies the queen produces. And bait is the trick.. Go to ACE Hardware and ask them which kind to use for the ants you have,

I had sugar ants in my home in FL. I had to place the boric acid bait out for two weeks twice. But that got rid of them. During the process I had a stream of ants feeding. Then they went away. Did basically the same thing in the yard with fire ants, only used the expensive fire ant bait.

Nothing works fast and you have to keep your dog out of the yard until they are gone. Anything you do to disturb the nest just makes them move.

What I would do and I have done this for the pesky sons of bitches that canme into my house. I bought a small bottle of ant killer, it stick to there feet and they take it back to the nest and when the other ants feed they die and yes the queen gets it. I took a small amount of sugar and put it in a msall pile to attract the ants, once they had a small army coming back and forth I put a circle of the ant killer around the suagr so they had to walk through it to get the sugar. Less then aweek later all ants are gone. Kill the queen the nest dies. You could do the same outside but yu need a piece of something to put the ant killer on. Hope this helps.

according to the bottle, it's quite harmful if you get it in your eyes or even on your skin.

but has anyone tried this? i have a paper plate outside with a 50/50 mix of powdered boric acid and confectioner's powered sugar. they don't seem to be carrying any back.

You need to mix it with water, bring it to a boil and then let it cool. It will create a syrup that they can eat. They will bring it back to the nests and pass it around. The Boric acid is what poisions them. they will stream to it for a while and then you won't see them any more. Make sure to leave a little trail for them to find the tray.

ah, so that's the ticket, i was wondering why they weren't attracted to it. thanks for the clarification

Get some gasoline, and a match, and just burn the house down, the only way to get rid of them.

I use a product called Gran't Kills Ants.

They are stakes you can stick into the ground. They have a little 1.5" diamteer cylinder about a 1/2" tall attached on the side of the stake (sticks out sideways when standing up). Its has a tiny hole in it. The ants love it and will eat the heck outta it. Within a day or two the ants will have eaten it, brought it back to the colony and died. Its works well and works fast. And cheap and re-usable. the hole it small enough it shouldn't hurt pets (they cant lick or eat it really) unless they attack the stake. Also, they dont seem to be atrracted to teh taste/small or whatever.

It contains aresenic and lasts for months and again re-usable. Gets a hearty thumbs-up from me. Handy to just lay down inside the house to. Very versitile little buggers they are.

I remember a couple posts like this back on one of the older boards. I vaguely recall Feynman talking about how he got rid of his ants, something involving bent pieces of paper....Anybody with a better memory recall what he actually did?

Would it be good to just disturb the ants and force them to move? where will they go? your neighbors house? KILL THEM ALL!!! SHOW NO MERCY!!! THE QUEEN MUST DIE!!!! I've recently been invaded, I hope to put some ant bait down tonight and control the buggers! Where is Ender when you need him?

umm...did feynman make an oragami ant trap??? I have no idea how that would work, but I'd love to hear about it!

I've found that if you get a shovel and digout the mound then fill it with gasoline add a match and that should probably take care of them. Just as long as the mound isn't next to your house.

FWIW, my first concern is what kind of ants are these? The little black "sugar" ants, or the fire ants that anybody below the Carolinas is familiar with? The latter can be a SOB to deal with from everything I've read.

I've found that WD-40 (without a lighter) works for me.

Wow.. all I have to say is thanks! You guys have given me a ton of ideas.

Anytime i find an ant hill in my yard, I've enjoyed pouring gas allllllll over it (Only in the area where the dirt is) and then lighting that fucker.

It brings instant satisfaction to my eyes, then again I'm a slight pyro...

But it really does work.

diatomaceous earth works well as barriers, if you don't want to do the chemical method.

wd-40, works for killing the grass in between your sidewalk cracks too