Let's FRY some Fire Ants.....

Donald,

dunno about the magic Ol' Miss' RIFA bait (any more you can offer there?) but the rest of what you want to know is here:

http://www.extension.org/fire+ants

It will cost you money, but decent local control is achievable for your grandkids sake, particularly if you work with your neighbours in a co-ordinated way (to reduce cost and increase coverage, duration of control and efficiency). All the best . . .

Macadamia_man

This link contains some general info and some brand names for baits (if you can deploy it safely). It seems to be a growing problem in Oz - they may have some novel solution (since they deal with all sorts of other nasty critters). This has an extensive list of chemicals (you need to scroll down a lot) , but it sounds like you may have to go hunting the Queen.

Best of luck anyway.

Thanks Guys...

Those links are helpfull, I will check em out...

HAPPY 4th of July to everyone..

Donald

Hi ,

The fire ants are really bad this year here in the South. We bought some Ant bait from www.dopestcontrolyourself.com A product called Maxforce. Man that must be canned dynamite. I know it not frying ants , but it worked fast.

Good luck !

I guess these critters live in the ground in nests? Locally, I have used a cordless insect exterminator(high voltage)- just stamp on the nest, the ants emerge in defence of their home, & swarm all over the grids- another way is to mix borax with sugar 50/50(can dissolve with water to make syrup, or leave dry)- the ants feed on the mixture & die- another way is to mix sump oil with diesel & pour down holes- another way is to pour boiling water down nests- another way is to mix dry yeast with sugar- the ants eat it , drink water, & literally explode!.

I've always wondered if microwave radiation would have an application here, or even ultrasound. I'm going to explore this possibility in the near future, but perhaps someone has already tried this and could provide some feedback on the results?

Another approach would be to disrupt their chemical communication network, turning a well functioning mound into a chaotic mob scene. It would need to be some they pick up and carry back to the colony, but when ingested would alter their chemical recognition system whereby they identify one another as belonging to the colony. Sort of like the Tower of Babel for ants.

I live in Georgia, where they are a real problem also and have spent some hours musing about ways to control them. I know they're drawn to electrical devices (transformers, ac units, etc., so your idea may be worth pursuing.

This is a thread of interest during this outdoor season.

Having lived in AL, and seen bites on friends, I am interested.

Keep the comments coming.

Within the last few days, the "DISCOVERY CHANNEL" showed a documentary about insect stings and one of the subjects was "The invasion of the fireants".

I do not remember exactly but there seems to be a hope for the future. They said that some kind of insect was the only natural enemy of the fireants and it was from the orginal geographic location of the fireants. Presently there is an environmental study to see what the impact would be to import and release these special insects that supposedly only prey on fireants. Keep your fingers crossed.

The insects attack fireants and plant there eggs into the heads of the fireants, which of course kills the fireants and the insects reproduce.

A few years ago I read that the main reason there were no killer bees in the southeast US was because of the fire ants. Maybe the fire ant eradication methods are working because we now have killer bees in Florida. Hot dog!

Sounds like another ecological disaster in the making

Take a look at the Australian toad threads and how bringing non-local species can get out of control rather quickly....if they do import these, whose to say that they will have a natural predator over here? Bad idea, I tell yah.......baaaaad idea....

I have a simple technique that will kill the colony, not just make them move. I have a length of 1/2-inch conduit that I drive into the center of the mound, about a foot deep. Then I set a funnel in the top and pour a few tablespoons of gasoline down the tube. The fumes permeate the mound and apparently kills the queen, as well as most of the workers. Sometimes it kills a small area of grass, but it grows back within a few months.

Bill Morrow

Thats worth a try, especially now since we are on "County Water".. I have used diesel, gas, all kinds of bait, and they always pop up elsewhere.. Someone said that they have underground tunnels that run deep.

Has anyone ever tried and old fashioned Fly Zapper?? They are So aggressive, I'm sure they would just cover one, and hopefully you would begin to hear, ZAP, ZAP, Zap ZAP... :o)

This may be drastic and expensive , but the principle works.

Slightly more seriously , how about cold . Apart from pouring something down a hole into the nest , a type of mosquito killer uses temperature to kill attracted mossies (It runs of Calor , but I'm not sure that it could be applied to kill ants.)

As a lifelong Southerner I thoroughly enjoy the site of dragonflies ravaging emerging fire ant queens when they swarm. Be careful about the fuel related remedies especially if you have a potable water well on your property.

A friend of mine who goes on a family camping trip every year swears by a barrier of diatomaceous earth around his campsite. The idea is that when the ants attempt to cross it, they are shredded to pieces. Dont know how true it is, but its worth a try. Doesnt eradicate them, but keeps them away from you and yours, at least. I have also heard Borax works, as I think was mentioned earlier in this thread......

Get some chickens!

I tried this when i lived in the LA portion of Florida and it worked. Fire ants are very territorial, get a friend and 2 shovels. You take a shovel full out of one ant hill your friend gets a shovel full out of another ant hill. Take your shovel full over to his ant hill and vice versa. Let the fire ants do your extermination job on each other.

The diac(whatever) earth works, but where is the fun in that.

I'm so enjoying all the nasty tricks for those pesky critters. The conduit with the gasoline!!!, the shovelfuls of rival nests!!! the borax and sugar!!! and the electrocuting screen grids. The problem with the electrocution devices I think is that, I don't think ants are great conductors, the queen would just make more pupae and you have to get a Voltage potential accross the bodies, so they'd have to have one foot on one pole of the electrocution device and the other foot on the other pole so they wouldn't just be sitting pretty like birds on the High voltage power lines. I used to like spraying hornets nests with turpentine and then burning those nasties,..Hell hath no fury like a swarm of flaming hornets. So how 'bout, the conduit, gasoline, and some bait of sugared nitro glyc??? More reliable than yeast???? A new meaning to shake and bake.

Sounds like there are some good solutions out there but i don't like the natural preditor idea. It could be it (the introduced preditor) then becomes like the cane toads in Australia even a worse problem than the original problem.

Geoff

Not sure of the efficacy of frying fire ants, but you can try the Over 'n Out Two-Step Method, which uses an individual mound treatment, followed by a broadcast. By first targeting individual mounds, you can kill those colonies and see results within three days. Then the follow up broadcast treatment knocks out remaining fire ants within three weeks. If you combine this process with efforts from your neighbors, you can shut out fire ants and give them no place to go.