Everyone, I've got an ant problem. I'm not sure what kind of ants they are but I'm thinking they're fire ants. I've never heard of them in this part of the country but it appears they're here now. Anyone know how to get rid of the damned things?
I've already been bitten about 25 times on the foot before I even knew they were on me. They're mean little bastards.

Terro Ant bait, and Terro powder.

Works very well at getting rid of ants.

https://www.amazon.com/Extingu...eywords=extinish+ant

the best I have used, it is a bait and takes a little while to work, it sterilizes the queen

The baits seem to work the best.

In the house, or in the yard? I believe you will use different products, based on where the bastards are located.

I've never had success with the Terro products. They tend to kill ants, almost on contact, which is not what you want to do.

I find the Raid Double Black Ant Bates work in two or three days. The poison in the Terro product is great, and very effective, but the Raid product will be taken back to the nest to poison the rest of the hive.

Or, you could just nuke your house from orbit, just the be sure.

H&K-Guy

AMDRO is made specifically to kill fire ants, it is a bait that works well. I can assure you there are fire ants in your area. You can buy it at hardware stores, Lowes, etc. Should take care of it, but they will continue to move in from surrounding untreated areas.

Terro is all I use and they work great. Never had them come back to the same area.

The ants take the terro back to the hill and it kills all of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Huffman:
Anyone know how to get rid of the damned things?

Use Boric Acid powder, aka Roach Powder. Safe around kids and pets, inexpensive, very effective, and impossible for the ants to build an immunity to it.

A few minutes with Google will yield good info on how to use it properly.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
In the house, or in the yard? I believe you will use different products, based on where the bastards are located.

I should have been more specific. They're in the yard. I found about 6-7 hills in the yard yesterday and had only seen one before then. I put some ant killer I had on the hills and it pissed them off, I think.

All you can do is hope for control. Amdro controls them, but they are here to stay. No natural predators. Treat in late afternoon and scatter around the mound. You can get some satisfaction by watching the worker ants scurry around and bring the poison into the mound. They do all the work. They banned Mirex years ago which was pretty effective in control.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Huffman:

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
In the house, or in the yard? I believe you will use different products, based on where the bastards are located.

I should have been more specific. They're in the yard. I found about 6-7 hills in the yard yesterday and had only seen one before then. I put some ant killer I had on the hills and it pissed them off, I think.

The ORTHO fire ant granules work really well......drop a cup down each mound, then use a fertilizer spreader and do the entire yard as per directions.

Amdro will solve your problem.

Buy the good stuff here.

https://store.doyourownpestcon...ducts/kill-fire-ants

quote:

Originally posted by thezoltar:
Amdro will solve your problem.

Amazon list several types of Amdro. They have one of two completely different active ingredients.
Some are made with: Hydramethylnon (1.0%)
Some are made with: Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate (5.4%)

Which one is the one to get for direct application around the hills?

I had 3 or 4 hills last summer and just today mowing saw 7 or 8.

1. Pour gas on the mound.
2. Set on fire.
3. Put out fire with ice pick.


The gas and fire do absolutely nothing, but the ice pick, you might get a few of the bastards, and you'll be so damned tired when you finish, you won't give a shit about the survivors, and likely stay indoors, in the AC, watching TV and sipping a beer, like God intended...

Ants were out of control around my bee hives this summer. I went out at night when the girls were all inside and douched the area around the hives with 30% permethrin. Haven't seen one ant since.

I also had an issue with an ant hill in one of my raised beds. I tried just about everything organic I could think of including boiling water and nothing worked. Then I read about boric acid powder and I happened to have a box in the garage. I sprinkled a perimeter around the raised bed and they never came back.

2 natural solutions:
Baking soda or DE (FOOD GRADE!) in a food jar lid
https://www.amazon.com/Root-Na...e+diatomaceous+earth

Both work, ants will be gone.
Safe no chemicals. No Danger to pets.

Keep in mind we are talking about fire ants here. Some of the natural remedies that are effective against black ants will not work for fire ants.

Termidore generic (Taurus SC) will kill them. They cant detect it and they carry it to the queen. Some ants if they detect a poison will spread and create new nests. Google ant budding.