Argentine ants and other invasive ants.

[Hill]

I'm prompted to post this because we're being invaded. Every year or two, when the weather gets really hot, we get invaded by Argentine ants. They usually end up in the kitchen or bathroom. You usually see a few at first. Often disposing of scouts will stop the invasion if they haven't returned to the colony with reports of treasures. But during heat waves they are persistant (who wants to stay outside enduring 100 F temperatures when there is so much inside?) I won't spray inside and limit outside spraying to large trails near the house. I find that Grant's ant stakes do well if you are patient enough to wait a few days until the poison is transported back to the colony and enough are killed off enough to discourage them. This year though, although they did take the bait and disapper for a few days, they returned and now avoid the bait. So I've tried a boric acid/sugar/water paste in cotton balls left on a paper plate. But they like that stuff! Lots more ants, but they staff around the bait and don't wander all over the kitchen counter. The larger stream of ants has one advantage - it lets me see wher they are entering the house and potentially where their outdoor colony is located. Attacking trails outside is next but I want them to get plenty of boric acid back home first. The stuff should work in about 2 days. Either that or I'm going to create a worse problem and have to take drastic action.

 

Argentine ants are established six continents and on oceanic islands. They are major pests in California where I live and in other warmer climates.

 

Are there any other members who have experienced home Argentine ant invasions - or perhaps invasions by other similar species? What have your solutions been.

 

Some useful links:

 

Argentine Ants Good basic description

Argentine Ant

Insecta Inspecta World - Argentine Ants

Argentine ant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

issg Database: Ecology of Linepithema humile

Linepithema humile

Linepithema Pics

Discover Life - Formicidae: Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) - Argentine ant, Iridomyrmex humilis Clickable map here.

Genus: Linepithema - AntWeb Antweb pix and map

 

The Supercolony debate. Some claim that the Argentine ants are so successful because the introduced ones have little genetic variabiity. here are two articles:

Scientists challenge report of one Argentine ant supercolony flooding California

 

Biology News - SUCCESS OF INTRODUCED ARGENTINE ANTS TIED TO REDUCED GENETIC VARIATION

 

Photo from PhysOrg.com: latest science and technology news

 

Argentine ants attacking the much larger "stinging red ant" (Harvester ant) a native of California. The Argentine ants wipe out competing ant species. In this case the effect is also to endanger horned lizards, which feed primarily on Harvester ants.

[Tormod]

We get invaded by tiny black ants sometimes. I have no idea what the correct name is. We use pesticide powder to get rid of them, but they keep coming back.

 

We live in a condo so there's only so much we can do about it.

[DougF]

I've been plagued with a ant problem three different times this year, the Little buggers even got into my peanut butter, I couldn't find out how they were getting in I could beat them back and two days latter there they were, What I did was got some Amdro Fire Ant bait and walked it around my house,

This stuff works on just about all ants they think it's food Carrie it to the nest and poof no ants.

Usually I only have to do this once a year.

 

Fire Ant Killer and Lawn Weed Killer: Powerful Fire Ant Killers by Amdro and Tough Lawn Weed Killers by Image

[Hill]

We get invaded by tiny black ants sometimes. I have no idea what the correct name is. We use pesticide powder to get rid of them, but they keep coming back.

 

We live in a condo so there's only so much we can do about it.

 

They have been found in Norway also : http://www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?AcNo=20053176106

This is the first record of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) from Norway. Several hundred worker ants were found infesting 2 flats at Sandnes, Rogaland. The ants were first seen in November 2004, but not identified to species before February 2005.

 

 

So it's possible....

[Ganoderma]

thankfully i have none of those! we do have many other ants, the most annoying is the fire ant.

 

i have exhausted most all options here, so soon i will try Paul Stamets fungus to try and knock the bastids off their socks!

[Hill]

OK, I gave the recipe here: Argentine Ant Control a try. I modified it a bit to 10 parts sugar/1 part boric acid/5 parts water, which makes a thick paste). It worked but you have be be patient. I let the ants increase in one corner of the kitchen counter for about 2 days ( they really like sugar). This had two additional benefits and some yuck :pirate: factor. Advantage 1) The ants stopped wandering to other places in the kitchen. 2) It gave me an easily identifiable trail outside where the ants accessed the house.

After two days the ants had diminished but there was still a trail. Figuring they had by now transferred lots of the borax-laced bait back to their nest, I blasted the trail outside as far as I could follow it (Raid ant spray). I returned to the kitchen and quickly moved the paper plate with bait and ants quickly outside and dosed them. Then I returned inside and using damp paper towels wiped up the ants' trail down the wall and to the former bait location. Rinsed with hot water to kill the ants on the paper and repeated for about 5 minutes.

 

Except for a few that had missed the big "party" they were gone and have stayed away. I made more bait bottles as in the linked page and have set them outside in the vicinity of the previous entry trail. These are attracting some ants and they continue to move the borax cocktail back to the nest. Our 105 F plus temperatures have backed off 10-15 degress and while another assault is possible, I intend to keep up the outside bait stations until much cooler weather returns - perhaps even longer. If your invasive ants like sugar this should work for you.

[Cedars]

I dont think we have that type of ant around here, but we have others that will drive ya nuts.

 

Whenever it gets really hot around here, I am invaded by bugs, especially spiders. I think they are looking for shelter from the heat.

 

If you know where they are coming in, you could try some of that expanding foam stuff, just to keep them out. I really try to avoid poisons myself.

 

I have several types of spider that seem to love to hunt ants. One type in particular is black, hairy, and has a white stripe down its back (I dont know what its called). It seems any time I see this type with a bug, its an ant. There are also a couple types of jumping spiders that take ants, but these guys are not particular about the type of bug. Other types of ground spiders seem to enjoy ants and if suitable habitat is near the anthill, I can have 20 spiders living in it, taking ants and their ... nymphs... the babies that they move around when still egg like.

[freeztar]

I dont think we have that type of ant around here, but we have others that will drive ya nuts.

 

Whenever it gets really hot around here, I am invaded by bugs, especially spiders. I think they are looking for shelter from the heat.

 

If you know where they are coming in, you could try some of that expanding foam stuff, just to keep them out. I really try to avoid poisons myself.

 

Good for you! I personally love having spiders around my place as I know I'm well guarded against other bugs. No spiders=more other bugs.

I have several types of spider that seem to love to hunt ants. One type in particular is black, hairy, and has a white stripe down its back (I dont know what its called). It seems any time I see this type with a bug, its an ant. There are also a couple types of jumping spiders that take ants, but these guys are not particular about the type of bug. Other types of ground spiders seem to enjoy ants and if suitable habitat is near the anthill, I can have 20 spiders living in it, taking ants and their ... nymphs... the babies that they move around when still egg like.

 

That sounds like a healthy ecosystem to me.

 

I once read this book (of which I can't remember the title or author and hence is driving me crazy) where the author traveled to various "primitive" countries and observed on one occasion that the villagers would leave food outside the corners of their homes. The author asked about this practice and learned that the villagers were appeasing the ants. They explained that the ants did not bother them and would not enter their homes, as long as they left food for the ants.

 

It was a profound moment for me upon reading this account because it emphasizes a connection to the living world that is lost upon many more "civilized" cultures.

 

The Home Depot store where I live sells many different chemicals to *combat* the *intruders*. Perhaps that is not always the best, or most "civilized", approach.

 

Here in the southern USA, we are plagued by fire ants. They will inhabit any area from roadside wastelands to manicured Bermuda grass lawns. They are incredible survivors and I admire them for that. Unfortunately they are, at times, an ecological nuisance.

[Cedars]

I once read this book (of which I can't remember the title or author and hence is driving me crazy) where the author traveled to various "primitive" countries and observed on one occasion that the villagers would leave food outside the corners of their homes. The author asked about this practice and learned that the villagers were appeasing the ants. They explained that the ants did not bother them and would not enter their homes, as long as they left food for the ants.

 

It was a profound moment for me upon reading this account because it emphasizes a connection to the living world that is lost upon many more "civilized" cultures.

 

Wow, That reminds me!

 

While camping, as I was preparing food, I thought of the bee problem. I had seen many hornet/wasp types looking around for food. So I sat to eat and here came a hornet. I moved the empty chicken chunk can towards the hornet and he immediately went for it, being on the ground rather than up higher where my food was, he was contented to feast there.

 

I thought of the Am. Indian tradition of food offerings and wondered if it had developed as a hornet/wasp defense.

[Cedars]

The Home Depot store where I live sells many different chemicals to *combat* the *intruders*. Perhaps that is not always the best, or most "civilized", approach.

 

This reminds me of something I posted before regarding wasp/hornet poisons. I have observed chimpmunks, shrews, and birds eating dead wasps I have killed on my porch (via crushing them). If you are going to choose to spray a hornet/wasp nest, please sweep up the dead bugs or you may poison an unintended target.

 

I also think people with mouse problems should avoid poison and resort to traps as much as possible. Sick mice can be eaten by owls and shrews. There are also some who think part of the large decline in gopher and bull snake populations in this state may be due to unintentional poisoning via attempts to get rid of some of these ground critters.

 

/end of off topic....

[Hill]

It was a profound moment for me upon reading this account because it emphasizes a connection to the living world that is lost upon many more "civilized" cultures.

Boric acid is only slightly more toxic than salt, so I don't worry about its effect. I only use pyrethrin sprays as a last resort, and generally only on pavement or "hard" surfaces. The can I have, I've had for 3 or more years and it's still about 2/3 full. I use no herbicides or other insecticides. I hate the stuff. But when I've been fighting a losing battle for over a week, and when the ants are spreading and no longer responding to anything, I resort to nuking - after concentrating their hordes first. I'm hoping that the outdoor boric acid/sugar traps will head off any more invasions for the immediate future.

 

It is really amazing to go into a hardware store and see a long aisle full of all sorts of poisons and other remedies. And of course TV and radio ads really push the stuff as an easy solution to all pests. It really frightens me to see the rate at which pesticides are used both commercially and by J Q Public.

 

Maybe this discussion can generate some more winning tactics on the battle with these critters. Nothing would make me happier than to never have to resort to pyrethrin again.

[freeztar]

I should follow up my other post and state that I'm certainly not innocent.

Believe it or not, my car was recently infested with ants. :hyper:

 

I had parked in a dirt area with nearby anthills. I opened my door upon returning to my car and there was a trail of ants running along the bottom seam of my door. It wasn't one or two ants, but a non-interrupted two-way stream. I think most people would have freaked out at this point, but I started my investigation.

 

They were entering into the engine compartment from the area where the door hinges. I opened the hood and could not locate any ants. It seems that they were going in between the metal separating the engine from the console. I followed them the other way and they disappeared into the rear of the chassis. I opened my trunk and found some crumbs which several ants were feasting upon. I cleaned the crumbs, wiped down the entire back area, and sprayed the entire trail of ants visible with a clove-oil based insecticide.

 

The next day, they were back.

I continued spraying for a few days and they disappeared completely. I still wonder if I have a mound of dirt weaving through my engine wall.

 

I don't like the chemicals either and I applaud you, Hill (and others), for seeking gentler methods. :eek:

[freeztar]

Maybe this discussion can generate some more winning tactics on the battle with these critters. Nothing would make me happier than to never have to resort to pyrethrin again.

 

I use pyrethrin when I go out for field work with my job. Ticks are a common occurrence when you are bushwhacking and surveying and several people I work with have become sick from tick bites. I've tried several alternatives, but still get stuck with ticks. Pyrethrin works well for ticks and chiggars. For ants, I would recommend trying the clove oil based insecticide (I think Raid makes one). It kills on contact and is relatively non-toxic.

[Cedars]

It is really amazing to go into a hardware store and see a long aisle full of all sorts of poisons and other remedies. And of course TV and radio ads really push the stuff as an easy solution to all pests. It really frightens me to see the rate at which pesticides are used both commercially and by J Q Public.

 

Maybe this discussion can generate some more winning tactics on the battle with these critters. Nothing would make me happier than to never have to resort to pyrethrin again. :lol:

 

I think alot of people resort to the poison first without giving a thought to other effects, and this thread just triggered (for me) an opportunity to point out (without accusing anyone of a misdeed) some unintended effects.

 

About 15 years ago (maybe longer) during some clean up of the back yard we inadvertently moved an old rotted log that apparently was a food source for a large colony of black ants. They began to roam around the house ALOT. We found the nest about 6 feet east of the former log, and about 10 feet north of the house.

 

We used water and digging to destroy this colony. Dig a bit and flood. About 2 feet down the ant tunnels got very wide. Some were almost an inch across . The deeper our hole got, the more water it would hold. It took about 4 days to finish off this colony. We did not dig much more than 2 feet.

 

Maybe you can find the source of your colony by using the food thingy outside and following the trail. I would suggest picking up the food at night to try to ensure you have a chance to find the source. There is the potential that they have found some place within your foundation or walls to set up shop and you wouldnt be able to use the flooding to ease the problem. But you would be closer to determining exactly where your focus should be.

[Ganoderma]

because our house is made of concrete and brick i tried fire. i have LOTS of 95% ethanol alcohol on hand so i loaded a pump sprayer half and half with water. the ants have worked their way in one of our walls and out the other side! so i figured tehre are 2 holes for air so i wont get and explosion type stuff. i sprayed a bunch in there and gave it a light. no more nest in tehre and no ants to be seen as of yet (a few days later)!

 

very destructive and dangerous...but i felt damn good! and no chemical residues!

 

fun ended when wife came home :evil: