Ants crawling around

[zd1]

On ‎04‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 4:28 PM, worgeordie said:

Get some ant chalk,its like a piece of chalk, draw lines on the places they are

crawling over, it will get rid of them quickly,also its cheap and better than using

sprays. 19 thb for five sticks ,in local market.

regards worgeordie

The chalk works for us, we used to have a problem with them in the dog and cat food bowls but drawing a ring of chalk around their bowls stops them. I have also drawn a ring around a couple of ants and when they get to the chalk marks they turn around.

The down side is chalk marks everywhere.

[Nurseynutcase]

To be a bit more eco friendly I use essential oil of cinnamon.  Put a drop on a damp cloth and wipe over the affected area.  They soon go.

 

as a previous poster said you have to be scupulously clean or the little bu***rs will get everywhere.

[thecyclist]

On 5/4/2017 at 9:39 PM, tonray said:

If you really want to make a dent in their colony instead of just repelling them:

 

 

1) Melt some palm sugar and create a slurry of sugar and Boric Acid, which you can likely get at a Pharmacy.

 

2) Place the 'bait' near where you see the trails of ants now

 

 

Here is the part that most don't like. This will in the short term increase the number of ants 100 fold. Don't be alarmed, what they are doing is feeding on the slurry and taking it back to the  colony to feed the queen. Once she is dead, no more eggs are laid and in about 2 to 3 weeks the colony will die...and they will be gone. Let them feed for 2 weeks and problem will be solved. Keep putting out fresh bait every day.

2 weeks.You can get rid of them in 24 hours.Buy one of these little sachets of poisoned ant food pellets/powder(2 types available in supermarkets),put a little where they crawl around,they take them back to the queen,within 12 to 24 they gone.

[chrissables]

3 hours ago, ResandePohm said:

I live in Isaan. Cockroaches are not a problem. They eat them here. In fact you can buy them alive at the market to take home and cook yourself. Wife bought some last week still crawling around in a plastic bag. If you squeezed the bag they made a croaking sound like frogs. Quite fun really.

Cockroaches? Water beetles etc, never heard of them eating cockroaches.

[connda]

The big, fat ones keep the jingjoks happy - and fat too.  Every jingjok turd I see, just count that as 5 to 10 ants.

 

[Skeptic7]

This stuff works. Ant bait...put in the included bait house and in their path. The ants are attracted to it and in a matter of minutes you will see the tiny yellow pellets moving up the walls. They take it back to their nest where it is ingested and kills them at their source. Cruel but effective. Tesco/Lotus and similar sell it.

 

Edited May 6, 2017 by Skeptic7

[Elkski]

Two main attack methods.

Kill the scouts/foragers long enough and eventually starve the colony.    Use chemicals of unknown Human affects or permetherin powder.  Made from chrosanthumums (sic).  Can be found cheaper when bought as a chicken dusting powder. Kills on contact. Some Powders are sharp edges crystals that get in exoskeleton ants.  

Best way is to not kill in contact but feed them with ant bait. Suffer for 3-4 days as they feed but soon the queen dies.   A product I have used in the US is terro, available in feeding stations and a liquid that you put a few drops in supplied cardboard squares. I have read about borax solution working similar.  

Edited May 6, 2017 by Elkski

[Khon Kaen Dave]

On 5/4/2017 at 2:56 PM, Moonlover said:

Regard ants as your best little friends around the house. I do. They provide four great services.

 

     1. They show you where you are failing to seal your food properly.

 

     2. They remove food droppings  that you may have missed.

 

     3. They hoover up insects that have died around your house.

 

     4. They shamelessly point out to you where your hygiene standards may be slipping.

 

Make them welcome. They mean you no harm and they do you no harm.

What a lovely post. I am going to 'name' all my ants now.

[The Deerhunter]

Thailand Hub of ants.  Never seen so many anywhere before I came here. They drive me mad and I see no good points in them ever.  We have millions on our property and I have traced their trails for well over 50 metres on many occasions. Chaindrite white liquid or Sevin85 powder, both mixed in water for industrial size applications.  Or the orange aerosol spray cans with the folding extender nozzle from Tesco Lotus works well when they come to the pet food plates. You can spray into nest entry holes or back along the trails to the nests.

  Yes the little powder sachets work well around acess points.  The big red ants are aggressive and bite hard but the small red ones (called fire ants) hurt for several hours and are annoying when they start invading the bedroom or bathroom and get into towels, clothes or the bed.

[lockman07]

Mint is a neurotoxin for ants, get a strong mint oil, essential oil or make your own from your garden, it wipes them out.  Wood vinegar also wipes them out & it's natural too, has a pungent odor but does the job, I get that at a vegetarian store.  

[George Feedback]

On 5/4/2017 at 10:28 PM, worgeordie said:

Get some ant chalk,its like a piece of chalk, draw lines on the places they are

crawling over, it will get rid of them quickly,also its cheap and better than using

sprays. 19 thb for five sticks ,in local market.

regards worgeordie

It works a treat (and on roaches) but it is solid DDT so be very careful how it's handled and keep away from children.

[bkkcanuck8]

On 5/6/2017 at 11:28 AM, avander said:

Some supermarkets and most of the hardware outlets like HomePro or Thai Watsadu stock ARS powder. 

When we first moved into our shophouse we were overrun by those small orange ants which also have a nasty bite.

ARS powder comes in various guises such as a puffer pack and a small green box/trap (See image).

I put one of these traps in the ant trails anywhere I found them and used the powder for walls/architraves etc.

They were gone in about 2 months and hadn't had a problem again for about 3 years so very impressed. 

They are only just now starting to return in a small way and I use the powder or put the occasional trap out.

I used that one before the little packets separately.... they walked around it and ignored it.

[rak sa_ngop]

I used that one before the little packets separately.... they walked around it and ignored it.

About 8 years ago ARS used to work great, but then the new ARS powder changed colour. I tested the two versions and in comparison the ants on my condo were still all over the original ARS powder/granules but totally ignored the new one.

On checking the packaging I saw that the original powder was made in Japan but the new one was made in Thailand. So not the same chemical and useless!

I posted photos in a thread on TV.

[avander]

8 hours ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

I used that one before the little packets separately.... they walked around it and ignored it.

How long did you leave it there?  I thought I was having the same problem initially.  

I was patient and it worked; both white puffer pack powder and yellowish granules.

"If you build it they will come"     

Edited May 8, 2017 by avander

[scottiejohn]

On ‎06‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 11:56 AM, sammieuk1 said:

Small butane blowtorch is instantly effective and cheap.

Burning the house down is a little bit extreme, especially if the Ant nest is under the flower pot in the back garden!

 

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by scottiejohn
image missing

[HooHaa]

On 5/4/2017 at 10:39 PM, tonray said:

If you really want to make a dent in their colony instead of just repelling them:

 

 

1) Melt some palm sugar and create a slurry of sugar and Boric Acid, which you can likely get at a Pharmacy.

 

2) Place the 'bait' near where you see the trails of ants now

 

 

Here is the part that most don't like. This will in the short term increase the number of ants 100 fold. Don't be alarmed, what they are doing is feeding on the slurry and taking it back to the  colony to feed the queen. Once she is dead, no more eggs are laid and in about 2 to 3 weeks the colony will die...and they will be gone. Let them feed for 2 weeks and problem will be solved. Keep putting out fresh bait every day.

i had an increasing ant issue in a condo i had in manila, they sold a borax/sugar ant trap that the ants went crazy for.

 

within 24 hours there was not an ant to be seen.

very effective.

 

this was what i found, im not sure if similar is available here, but 2 of these placed along the ant superhighway did the trick in under 24 hours.

[rickudon]

Ars usually works but is a bit expensive if you have a big house and garden and lots of ants. Borax/boric acid is a lot cheaper and one purchase will last for years. Unfortunately it is difficult to get in Thailand, as sale is controlled due to misuse in food industry. I had to import it. i have searched for it online in Thailand but without success (in English, maybe a Thai reader could find it). I need somewhere that will sell online, I'm not going to trek halfway across the country to get it!

[avander]

4 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Ars usually works but is a bit expensive if you have a big house and garden and lots of ants. Borax/boric acid is a lot cheaper and one purchase will last for years. Unfortunately it is difficult to get in Thailand, as sale is controlled due to misuse in food industry. I had to import it. i have searched for it online in Thailand but without success (in English, maybe a Thai reader could find it). I need somewhere that will sell online, I'm not going to trek halfway across the country to get it!

To put some perspective on your comments for others I spent probably around 800THB on ARS which kept our place ant free for over 3 years.

Ours is a 5 level shop house, new but vacant for about 12 months before we moved in.

Obviously no garden which I expext may make a BIG difference.

I've heard Borax is excellent too but I couldn't find it here either.

[rickudon]

I have an older style house of about 250 sq. metres and surrounding garden about double that. The first 2 years spent 100's of baht on sprays, chalk and a couple of Ars packets (to kill fire ants in the garden). But after a month back again. Bought 2 GBP worth of Borax and after a one year campaign house was 90% down and never completely recovered it's original infestation levels. In the garden Borax not so successful but did lower the numbers. Some ants will not touch it, but most will. Still have some left but mislaid it about a year ago. In the garden just use boiling water on the fire ants these days, others only a minor annoyance.

[Damrongsak]

On 5/6/2017 at 2:45 AM, Beats56 said:

I see a bunch of ants I spray them with the blue window cleaner. Kills them dead and safer than bug spray.

 

Here in the U.S., I use Windex glass cleaner to knock them out instantly - probably because of the ammonia and the detergent/surfactant.  Longer term, I mixed Boric acid power and sugar with water.  Takes awhile, but works.  Just don't mix in too much Boric acid as you want them to survive long enough to spread it around in the nest.  About 8 sugar to 1 boric acid and adjust from there.

[Moonlover]

On 5/6/2017 at 5:25 PM, chrissables said:

Cockroaches? Water beetles etc, never heard of them eating cockroaches.

Yep, wifey just agreed with you. chrissables. And she's born and breed. No eat cockroaches! No, no no.

[Moonlover]

Here's why all our puny attempts to control ants will come to nothing.

 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5880539/10-frightening-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-ants

[THAIPHUKET]

Moonlover that's a very interesting read!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[HaleySabai]

The tiny sugar ants are a bit of a wonder ....they suddenly appear,do their thing and vanish into thin air. Where they come from and where they go is still a mystery to me.

 

Yup, but all other ants......Kill,Kill,Kill.......!!!!!!

[rickudon]

On 5/10/2017 at 9:49 AM, Moonlover said:

Yep, wifey just agreed with you. chrissables. And she's born and breed. No eat cockroaches! No, no no.

Ahh, terminology. Thais do not eat cockroaches, they eat crickets ..... 

[Flustered]

You can borrow my chickens. They recently destroyed and devoured three red ant nests. They looked like feathered berserkers . They love ants and ant eggs.

 

Needless to say, we do not have any ant problems.

[XJ650]

On 5/8/2017 at 7:08 PM, rickudon said:

Ars usually works but is a bit expensive if you have a big house and garden and lots of ants. Borax/boric acid is a lot cheaper and one purchase will last for years. Unfortunately it is difficult to get in Thailand, as sale is controlled due to misuse in food industry. I had to import it. i have searched for it online in Thailand but without success (in English, maybe a Thai reader could find it). I need somewhere that will sell online, I'm not going to trek halfway across the country to get it!

In Chiang Rai we find Boric Accid  in the shop where you buy stuff to maintain your swimmingpool. 

[Moonlover]

5 hours ago, rickudon said:

Ahh, terminology. Thais do not eat cockroaches, they eat crickets ..... 

They certainly do. I had some just a couple of days ago. Taste like liver and very nice too.

[Moonlover]

19 hours ago, HaleySabai said:

The tiny sugar ants are a bit of a wonder ....they suddenly appear,do their thing and vanish into thin air. Where they come from and where they go is still a mystery to me.

 

Yup, but all other ants......Kill,Kill,Kill.......!!!!!!

We were staying in a hotel down in Korat earlier this week and I noted that a colony had set up home in the aircon remote control! (Mobile home?)

 

What I couldn't make out was what their food source was. They must rely on scraps left by guests.

 

Anyway, enough of ants. They are fascinating little critters, but there's more to life than Formicidae.

[Dante99]

On 5/8/2017 at 7:08 PM, rickudon said:

Ars usually works but is a bit expensive if you have a big house and garden and lots of ants. Borax/boric acid is a lot cheaper and one purchase will last for years. Unfortunately it is difficult to get in Thailand, as sale is controlled due to misuse in food industry. I had to import it. i have searched for it online in Thailand but without success (in English, maybe a Thai reader could find it). I need somewhere that will sell online, I'm not going to trek halfway across the country to get it!

Bought it over the counter at chemical shop on Suthep Road.  Certainly not controlled there.