Rasberry ant panic!!

[cousinlucky]

I have relatives living in Texas and they are worrying about the rasberry ants because Raid and other household products do not kill them.

I emailed them that when I was six years old we lived in a big house with a very large field next to it. Field mice and ants were a problem. It was then that I learned that mice can not resist chocolate and will even venture out even in the daytime to traps baited with chocolate.

To solve the ant problem my stepfather, his friends, and I dug three very shallow moats ( about a foot apart ) completely around the house. Into these mini-moats we poured lots of kerosene and that kept the ants out of the cellar and house.

I do not know if that will work with the rasberry ants but that and the oriental insecticide chalk ( which is illegal in some places ) are all that I can recommend to them.

[techieMoe]

I live in Houston (near the Gulf Coast where these ants are supposedly spreading) and I haven't encountered them yet. *knock on wood* I really have to wonder if they're as big a nuisance as the media seems to think.

[questio verum]

I don't know that I'd worry too much. Anything that kills fire ants can't be all bad.

I suspect it's all a tempest in a teapot, anyway. I lived in Odessa during the first killer bee attacks, and the media really made things out to be worse than they were. Of course, when have they not? The panic will go away as soon as the next big story breaks.

qv

[fingal]

Mice and ants: my least favourite creatures. I live in a ground floor flat, and I've been invaded by both. I poison ants with Nippon gel, which they take back to the nest and feed to the Queen. That gets rid of them for a while, but they usually return a year later.

Mice make a Hell of a noise at night, and once you have mice installed, they are hard to delete. I set two traps for my own personal mouse, and it managed to get itself caught in both of them... alive. I ended up setting it free, but it didn't come back, and had a slight limp.

I hate killing things, but I read that mice are a fire risk: they can chew through electrical cables. I decided that it was better the mouse than me. If it comes back again I'll get Medieval on its ass.

[cousinlucky]

TechieMoe, the rasberry ants love to eat electronic equipment and our scientists have yet to figure out why that is so. The nests have multiple queens who seem hellbent on massive reproduction.

I'm not rich; but I have a refrigerator, TV, DVD player, VCR. numerous CD players, and this computer which are all very important to me and my lifestyle.

Any insect that considers all of this electrical stuff as their food is going to get my attention.

[MikeTbob]

I would think Boric Acid would do the job nicely, if not then these are some bad MOFO's!

[hazel]

One trick I use with ants is to crush them on the floor and leave the bodies there. Ants follow each other by scent trails, and dead ants apparently stink of formic acid (to an ant's nose, not to ours) so the smell of their own dead warns them that this is not a good place to visit.

[techieMoe]

One trick I use with ants is to crush them on the floor and leave the bodies there. Ants follow each other by scent trails, and dead ants apparently stink of formic acid (to an ant's nose, not to ours) so the smell of their own dead warns them that this is not a good place to visit.

I've read that these Raspberry Ants aren't bothered by the smell of their dead. They actually use them as bridges over the affected area.

[bigtomrodney]

I would think Boric Acid would do the job nicely, if not then these are some bad MOFO's!

The first thing I did when I read that was crack up laughing. My brain translated that to Formic Acid. For those of you that haven't come across this before, formic acid was originally isolated by distiliing ant bodies. Yep, you read that....boiling the hell out of some ants. In fact the term 'formic' comes from the Latin 'Formica' which means ant.

So when I read that, all I could thing was that you were going to fight the ants with some magic potion...the hair of the dog as it were

[cousinlucky]

Boric acid powder ( eyewash ) only works to kill insects when it is dry. If it gets wet or damp it is useless.

My cousin is worried about her air conditioning getting ruined by these ants and N.A.S.A. is worried about their computers being infected. I'm worried about the Howland Hook shipping terminal on the other end of Staten Island that is a jumping off point for all kinds of strange insects.

My cousins brother told her to buy lots of anteaters and breed them to sell to her neighbors.