Crazy ants?

Humblefish · Sep 13, 2015

So my (elderly) father called me today, basically freaking out about crazy ants. He's got them all outside the house and sometimes sees them in the laundry room. A pest control guy came out, basically told him there's nothing he can do, but that these crazy ants can get in the walls, short out all the electricity, even take out his car, blah blah blah. :eek:

So I'd like some advice from anyone who works in the pest control business or just has experience dealing with these things. A quick Google search indicates you can use Termidor (fipronil) outside only to kill them and that it is also a pet safe chemical. That hopefully would keep the problem at bay until they go dormant for the winter?

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

Ants can take out your car? Huh. Never heard of that before.

twilliard · Sep 13, 2015

Ant bait is the best way to do it.
You want them to take the bait all the way into the dens.
I can't remember the name of it right now but it will come to mind.

twilliard · Sep 13, 2015

Cleo642 said:
Ants can take out your car? Huh. Never heard of that before.

Your following me!! ... or him lol

Humblefish · Sep 13, 2015

Cleo642 said:
Ants can take out your car? Huh. Never heard of that before.

They smother electronics - I believe. Computers, TVs, appliances, etc. Probably attracted to the heat they output.

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

Humblefish said:
They smother electronics - I believe. Computers, TVs, appliances, etc. Probably attracted to the heat they output.

I have heard that ants can kill people, mainly the infirm and young children, because they will cover them and they can't get away.

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

twilliard said:
Your following me!! ... or him lol

Both I guess. Humblefish is cool.

twilliard · Sep 13, 2015

Humblefish said:
They smother electronics - I believe. Computers, TVs, appliances, etc. Probably attracted to the heat they output.

I think they are attracted to the rosins of the electronics.

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

twilliard said:
I think they are attracted to the rosins of the electronics.

The rosins? Like raisins?

Humblefish · Sep 13, 2015

Apparently there's a protracted war going on under our lawns between crazy ants & fire ants. And the crazy ants are winning! See below:

Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, and his team published these and other findings February 13 in Science. One of the team’s astute observations that fueled their research into the ants’ chemical arsenal: crazy ants that had been involved in fire ant skirmishes typically engage in a very particular behavior sequence. After a run-in with a fire ant a crazy ant would stand on its hind and middle legs, fully curl up its body to touch its glandular opening at the tip of its abdomen to its mandibles, and then seemingly groom itself vigorously, rubbing a secretion along itself to apparently detoxify the venom. LeBrun’s team decided to dive further into what was happening.

twilliard · Sep 13, 2015

Cleo642 said:
Both I guess. Humblefish is cool.

Then I must be hot lol..
Well it is warm in the house tonight. A whopping 80 degrees!

twilliard · Sep 13, 2015

Cleo642 said:
The rosins? Like raisins?

No solder rosin

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

twilliard said:
No solder rosin

I was joking.

Humblefish · Sep 13, 2015

Fascinating stuff: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-rise-of-the-crazy-ants/

When fire ants and crazy ants show up in roughly equal numbers and go for the same tasty cricket treat, new work reveals that the crazy ants typically win some 93 percent of the time. Moreover, many crazy ant colonies have been spotted inside fire ant mounds that still are home to some of their previous tenants, raising the alarm among bug experts that crazy ants can apparently snatch active nests from their cousins with ease.

Makes me want to get rid of all my aquariums, get two ant farms and play war!

twilliard · Sep 13, 2015

Hey don't mess with this old blonde guy!!

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

Humblefish said:
Apparently there's a protracted war going on under our lawns between crazy ants & fire ants. And the crazy ants are winning! See below:

And ants are a big problem down here. Do these crazy ants bite? I believe repel and kill ants with vinegar, or a cigar l vinegar solution spray with vinegar and dish soap. I watched videos and have seen posts by people who say this stuff works.

Humblefish · Sep 13, 2015

Cleo642 said:
And ants are a big problem down here. Do these crazy ants bite? I believe repel and kill ants with vinegar, or a cigar l vinegar solution spray with vinegar and dish soap. I watched videos and have seen posts by people who say this stuff works.

No, they don't bite (people anyway). They just go in all different directions. And apparently take out electronics with solder rosin.

Cleo642 · Sep 13, 2015

Humblefish said:
No, they don't bite (people anyway). They just go in all different directions. And apparently take out electronics with solder rosin.

I don't know if vinegar and dish soap will work for those but it might be worth a try. In this video they show that it repels the ants.

CuzzA · Sep 14, 2015

Use Termidor as a knock down spray and you'll be shocked at the billions of ants that will appear including the drones after a couple days. Nothing else works. In fact using any product sold in a big box store only makes it worse as it typically only splits the colony and you end up with even more ants. Termidor is guaranteed to completely eliminate them. I successfully did this on my house. Just try to get the product on as many ants as possible including their travel paths.