Ants

[billzant]

Dear Forum,

How are you all?

There was a recent topic on mosquitoes that gave me some useful ideas on the control of mosquitoes.

Have forum members any good ideas on controlling ants?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

[Tony Clifton]

Tesco. Get the little green plastic boxes, comes with aluminium pouch, contains yellow pellets. Ants carry it back to the nest. Ants gone.

[PeaceBlondie]

Are they such a problem? We must have 5 species of ants at our place in Chiang Mai (different sizes, colors, appetites), and none of them bite. We do spray the table legs, but when they're on food or skin, we just brush them off.

Are they a disease carrier? They walk everywhere, so they can't be clean.

[dantilley]

Sounds good, currently both home and office are infested with them...

[sbk]

Down where I live there are also a multitude of ants, but unlike PB, several of them bite, quite painfully so.

There are the big red ants (mot daeng) that build their nests by "gluing" leaves of trees together. There are generally alright, fairly easy to avoid and so far, have never moved into my house. Apparently they help keep fruit trees free of other nasty insects that may eat the tree, fruit or bark. So, if I can avoid them, I tend to leave them be.

Then there are the very small and equally nasty biting red ants (mot kuhn) that build their nests underground. They can move into the house and will also build their nests in your garden. Nothing like finding yourself standing in the middle of their trail or their nest. I use the blue ant powder in the can on these guys.

Sorry, just remembered, the blue ant powder apparently no longer comes in a can but now comes in a small plastic bottle.

[udon]

Bill.

there's a product called "Ant Chalk" from Thai supermarkets, you may want to try that.

It's in a clear blister pack, so you should identify it easily.

Dunno if "Ant Sand" is available in Thailand. It's packaged in a cardboard tube, similar to salt.

Good luck.

Edited November 1, 2006 by udon

[leisurely]

We've got a huge ant problem. I have tried every product on sale I think and they still come back for more. We have to sweep the table before we sit down to eat and make sure that there are no crumbs left afterwards. Difficult with two children The blooming well bite too.

[roguegirl]

Don't they eat ants in Thailand?

[t.s]

Tesco. Get the little green plastic boxes, comes with aluminium pouch, contains yellow pellets. Ants carry it back to the nest. Ants gone.

this stuff has worked for me too, but when you are dealing with very small ants you have to crush the tablets a bit. thye are just too big for some ants to carry.

[dantilley]

Don't they eat ants in Thailand?

Yeah, but only the really big ones. The tiny, irritating little buggers are too small to eat, although I'm sure many have been consumed by accident when they sneak into open packets of food...

[toptuan]

Tesco. Get the little green plastic boxes, comes with aluminium pouch, contains yellow pellets. Ants carry it back to the nest. Ants gone.

Generally, how long do they stay away before you have to repeat the cycle?

Or do you mean gone PERMANENTLY (miracle!)

[Lourens]

The following is an excerpt from the book I'm writing on living in Isaan. I appologise if it's a bit long winded, but I feel it addresses the problem adequately:

Ants are the woe of my existence. They seem to be everywhere. And no matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to get rid of them. The problem starts with us humans. I have a very hard time to try and convince the family to keep things clean. That way, the ants won't have a reason to enter the house. But, try as I might, there will always be some kind of food stuffs laying about. Even the smallest little bit of food will attract ants. It's a law of nature. And because ants are so small, they will find the tiniest crack to crawl through.

I went on a rampage at one stage and declared all out chemical war on the little buggers. It started with soap. I cleaned all the surfaces, washed all the dishes, scrubbed all the floors. The place was spotless. Then I took cans of bug spray, those cans with the long spout, and sprayed the inside of the house, into every little crack and crevice that I could see. Next came the chalk. It's a white stick just like the stuff my teacher used on the blackboard. You draw a line (you've got to draw the line somewhere) on any surface where an ant might wander. If an ant then crosses this line, its game over. Very effective stuff this and well worth the few Baht it costs. The inside of the house was protected, or so I thought.

On to the outside. Here I used the old fashioned spray pump with dedicated ant poison. You have to be careful with this stuff. I got a nice buzz from it and had dizzy spells from it for days after. I sprayed all around the house, in the garden where ever it looked like an ant might make his home and especially around the trash cans.

The scene was set. I could now sit back and enjoy an ant-free zone. This lasted about two days. Then the first ants started to appear again. Small in number at first and I thought they may be those that escaped the initial onslaught and will be zapped by my defenses in and around the house. “Give them rope, they'll hang themselves soon enough.” I said.

Next day, there were more of them. I had to make an inspection. Walking around the house revealed a thin line of ants crawling up one wall and entering the house via the ceiling. They will go to any lengths to get to whatever little scrap of food is available. Have you ever wondered why ants walk in those straight lines and how they do it? They walk that way because it is easy for them to follow a route to the food. How they do it is actually quite disgusting. The scouts go out to hunt for food and finds it. They eat – its been a long journey. On their way back, the food is digested and they do what every living animal do. They defecate. When they get back to the nest, the other ants follow the poo trail to the food, they eat and on their way back, they defecate. The rest of the nest have no problem following the brown brick road to the promised land of milk and honey. Try drawing a line, with your finger, across the line where ants walk. They will act all confused for a little while until a few of them pooped enough again to link the trail. Disgusting but fascinating none the less.

Anyway, it seemed I had missed a spot up in the ceiling. I did all the necessary spraying and drawing but it lasted just a few days before they were back. The bottom line of this story is – get used to them they will be around for ever. You may be able to reduce their numbers for a little while or even keep them in check, but you will never be able to get rid of them completely. Ants are not that bad really. An experiment done by some scientists found that there are actually no bacteria on ants. That’s why the Thais eat them . . .

I have tried all the potions and traps and poisons on the market but all of them are useless if you don't get rid of the root. Cleanliness, that’s the secret.

[Cent]

Dear Forum,

How are you all?

There was a recent topic on mosquitoes that gave me some useful ideas on the control of mosquitoes.

Have forum members any good ideas on controlling ants?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

I haven't found any good ant baits in Thailand that work for me. I usually bring a few packets of Raid Ant Bait from the states every few months and that seems to work great. They are small round tin bait holders that the ants can enter through four holes that you press inwards with a key or small screwdriver. These work and will keep my house ant free for about 2 or 3 months. Each package holds three of these tins and you just open them and place them in corners of the room, usually 2 to a room and they are very effective. The chalk sold in Thailand works, but looks like hel_l really, as you need to use it like a crayon and get in on the walls and floor. The ants don't like it (forget what exactly this is) but ants will not cross the line drawn with this stuff. I was bitten by one of the large red ants before and he got a lot of the poison in me before I got him off. Felt like a cigarette burn, and I had a large welt for about three days. Itched like crazy as well. Most of the ants aren't biting, but those big red tree ants also carry a mean bite. The real small ants will even somehow find their way into the hot water boiler for making hot water for coffe and soups and noodles. Pain in the neck. I've had many a coffee in the morning with dead boiled ants floating in it. I'll have to look on the Raid Bait tins and see what the active ingredient is in them and see if I can find this in Thailand, as they do work very well. They also have plastic baits as well you break off and place in corners of the room.

Cent

p.s. Okay, here's the main ingredient of the Raid Ant Baits that work for me: Avermectin B1. The package states to replace after 3 months.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Cent

[Firefan]

The green plastic holders with bait from Tesco worked for me, combined with a long nosed spray in the holes/cracks I see them in.

This is in a condo, so I requested neighbors to do the same and our floor has now been ant free for 6 months+ after not being able to leave a bread crumb out before. Cheers!

[Donz]

have one of these as a pet

[Douggie Style]

Boracic (Boric) acid in honey or sugar syrup (aka Ant Rid) works for us,

Wikpedia details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boric_acid

'It is poisonous if taken internally or inhaled, although it is generally not considered to be much more toxic than table salt (based on its mammal LD50 rating of 2660mg/kg body mass).'

[qualtrough]

If you have a problem with ants on your tables look in a market for the little plastic bowls with an inset for table legs. You put the legs in the inset and then fill the bowl with water. Ants don't like to swim so that usually suffices as long as you top off the water.

As long as we are on ants and food, etc., does anyone know why butter does not seem to attract insects of any kind? I have never seen any insects in butter even when it is left out all day and all night. Maybe smearing butter on our bodies would be a good insect repellent??

[Tony Clifton]

The problem is not with the fireworks but with risking your life on the roads to get there.

Tesco. Get the little green plastic boxes, comes with aluminium pouch, contains yellow pellets. Ants carry it back to the nest. Ants gone.

Generally, how long do they stay away before you have to repeat the cycle?

Or do you mean gone PERMANENTLY (miracle!)

WHen ants do come back, it's months later and they seem to come from a different nest as I usually follow their trail, I never spray insecticide once I find it, I let the carry the poison in there and spray a few days after they've stopped showing up.

I've seen teams of 4 ants carry one pellet and have also seen them cling on to each other to form a bridge on water so that more ants could reach sugary leftovers in the kitchen sink.

[sbk]

If you have a problem with ants on your tables look in a market for the little plastic bowls with an inset for table legs. You put the legs in the inset and then fill the bowl with water. Ants don't like to swim so that usually suffices as long as you top off the water.

As long as we are on ants and food, etc., does anyone know why butter does not seem to attract insects of any kind? I have never seen any insects in butter even when it is left out all day and all night. Maybe smearing butter on our bodies would be a good insect repellent??

Problem with the little plastic bowls with water is mosquito larvae. The water must be changed on a regular basis (pain in the neck, I think).

Butter left out all day would turn rancid in this climate, I'd think. Maybe ants don't eat rancid butter?

[jcgodber]

Ants are a problem! I have tried to store some food items in plastic zip lock bags but if the little bugger really wants to get in and eat the food they will chew thru to plastic bag.

Some items I keep in the refrigerator just to keep the ants away sugar etc.

In the southwest and south of the U.S. there is a very real problem with what are called “fire ant”. One day I was watching a television program dealing with fire ants. It seems that outdoor workers that simply can’t avoid the little critters have resorted to wearing fur leggings wrapped around each foot. It was discovered that the ants are extremely reluctant to “climb “ over the fur thus offering protection to the wearer.

Employing this principal I reasoned that ants would also avoid trekking across my medium knap area 5’ X 8’rug placed under my dining room table.

This has worked VERY well. Anytime now when I want to set some food item down “temporarily” like fresh baked cookie to cool, I know that the ants will stay away.

Jim

[patrickq]

I had problem with ants and tried various 'natural' ways of trying to get rid of them ... crushed mint, politely asking them to go :-) etc. All to no avail, so reluctantly had to go the chemical slaughter route. Live in a Thai style house, on pillars, open upper floor courtyard and living area. These ants were getting everywhere, including bed at night, not good being woken up with ants biting you. They'd also get into food bags, the fridge etc.

Have now been pretty much ant free for 3 months. Used one of the spray cans (available Tesco and most local hardware shops) name is Chaindrite 1, written in Thai and English, can is mainly white with orange and black in centre. Make sure it comes with the long metal crevice spray attachment. The trick is not to just spray the ants when you see them, but to patiently work out where they are coming from, this can often be from somewhere outside of the house, you have to follow the trail, then use crevice nozzle to spray into opening, make sure to give a good amount, then you can spray back down the trail. It took a few days of spraying before finally getting all the nests. Occasionally over next few weeks some would appear, just keep on top of any new incursions.

Also use the chalk, available by various companies, again in Tesco etc, make a line around the leg of furniture etc that you want to keep them off - either chalk the floor or the leg itself - but make sure there is absolutely no break in the line, or they'll find that way through. I also used tape to wrap a couple of the small plastic food/drink bags around legs of freestanding kitchen preparation unit, then put legs into small 4" diameter metal dishes, keep these filled with water every few days, depending on evaporation. Have had zero ants on the unit since and no problem with mosquitos in the water. This seems an excellent way to keep them off a fixed unit, just make sure there is no other connection with wall, or something leaning against unit etc. The ant chalk is probably best for dinner table, chairs, bed, rubbish bin etc.

Hope this helps, suppose like all things it can depend upon environment you're in, but here it has been virtually 100% successful and it was a problem that was extensive and hugely annoying.

[Firefan]

After using the green plastic things with bait from Tesco the ants have not returned. It too about 1-2 weeks to be completely cleared. I did not spray with the crevice spray until after they stopped showing up carrying bait back to the nest. This also gave me a clear indication as to WHERE they were located for the crevice spray.

I have left a few of the plastic holders with bait around the condo.

Cheers!

[roguegirl]

If you have a problem with ants on your tables look in a market for the little plastic bowls with an inset for table legs. You put the legs in the inset and then fill the bowl with water. Ants don't like to swim so that usually suffices as long as you top off the water.

As long as we are on ants and food, etc., does anyone know why butter does not seem to attract insects of any kind? I have never seen any insects in butter even when it is left out all day and all night. Maybe smearing butter on our bodies would be a good insect repellent??

Problem with the little plastic bowls with water is mosquito larvae. The water must be changed on a regular basis (pain in the neck, I think).

Butter left out all day would turn rancid in this climate, I'd think. Maybe ants don't eat rancid butter?

The trick is to add a little salt so the mozzies can't use the water to breed.

[roguegirl]

have one of these as a pet

Wow!! Nice!!! Do they taste as good as they look? YUmmy!

[Tony Clifton]

Found a whole colony this morning, thousands in a cupboard where we keep clean dish cloths and rags, no food there at all. Some were carrying eggs. Sprayed the lot with Windex and closed the door for a while. Not an ant in sight now. Adjacent cupboards were clear as well when I first saw them.

I wonder what made them decide to settle there...

[sbk]

If you have a problem with ants on your tables look in a market for the little plastic bowls with an inset for table legs. You put the legs in the inset and then fill the bowl with water. Ants don't like to swim so that usually suffices as long as you top off the water.

As long as we are on ants and food, etc., does anyone know why butter does not seem to attract insects of any kind? I have never seen any insects in butter even when it is left out all day and all night. Maybe smearing butter on our bodies would be a good insect repellent??

Problem with the little plastic bowls with water is mosquito larvae. The water must be changed on a regular basis (pain in the neck, I think).

Butter left out all day would turn rancid in this climate, I'd think. Maybe ants don't eat rancid butter?

The trick is to add a little salt so the mozzies can't use the water to breed.

Thanks for the tip, never heard that one before. I've never used the plastic bowls because I just could never be bothered to constantly change the water. I'll give it another try now

[Upcountry]

We use ERA Powder Plus mixed in water (you can get it at one of the hypermarts) to knock out nests that show up in crevices around the house. If the ant bait doesn't work this seems to do the trick.

We mix it up and put it in a small squeezable bottle with a tapered cap.

We've also found that the "cordless electric mosquito repeller" by "ARS" that we buy at Big-C also has an impact on ants in the room where it is plugged in. Look for "ARS" on the bottom left corner of the pack, and the number 90, indicating the amount of liquid in the bottle.

I've had mixed results with the yellow poison food pellets. Some ants go for it right away, others ignore it.

Edited November 2, 2006 by Upcountry

[phibunmike]

We use ERA Powder Plus mixed in water (you can get it at one of the hypermarts) to knock out nests that show up in crevices around the house. If the ant bait doesn't work this seems to do the trick.

We mix it up and put it in a small squeezable bottle with a tapered cap.

We've also found that the "cordless electric mosquito repeller" by "ARS" that we buy at Big-C also has an impact on ants in the room where it is plugged in. Look for "ARS" on the bottom left corner of the pack, and the number 90, indicating the amount of liquid in the bottle.

I've had mixed results with the yellow poison food pellets. Some ants go for it right away, others ignore it.

There is a product called "Ant-away" which is a small thermo-nuclear device available in Korea. One application completely removed all ants, and they have not returned for several weeks. Now I just need to rebuild the house....

[Briggsy]

1. Discover ants have invaded your Weetabix, biccies etc.

2. Place ant-infested food in fridge.

3. Wait 5 minutes.

4. Ants have completely disappeared.

Where do they go?

[macb]

Don't they eat ants in Thailand?

The big red ants they eat, my wifes mother collected some from our garden today they sting as well