Ants

[janda_grant2]

It's that time of year again, you know the time when you spend more time on your hands and knees following ant trails to find out where the little blighters are coming from this time so you can dose them with some terribly toxic spray - well a spray that seems to be toxic to all known life forms EXCEPT ants! I am convinced I am living on top of the worlds largest ant's nest and that all I am doing is stopping them exiting the nest form one site and forcing them to come out somewhere else. Their latest trick is to start appearing from light switches - which makes spraying with the 'lethal' spray a lottery as to whether or not you will fuse the lights and still end up with ants but no electricity with which to see and kill them! On vertical surfaces the use of something like Nippon (is there a Spanish equivalent?) would probably work - providing you have some sort of surface to put the stuff on - light switches would do that, round door jambs (their other favourite entry point) anything goes. Any one got any suggestions as to how I can rid myself of the actual nests - stopping them coming in is only half the battle. I'm sure they are undermining the foundations (always assuming we have some) and that one day I will wake up and find myself with a collapsed house and in the midst of a giant nest. Ok so I'm being over dramatic, but they are getting between me and my wits, so any suggestions would be gratefully recieved!

[El Cid]

We were plagued with ants (in the garden, not around the house), for the first 4 years in our new house in the campo. They were a real problem as they "farm" aphids and really spread them around.

I found the only way to eradicate them is to find the nests and inject ant killer. So far this year we have been 90% ant free and the rest are easy to control.

Ideally you need a garden sprayer with a lance so that you can pump it into the nests. The most effective poison that I have found is a soluble powder from Bayer. It's called "Hormiguicida DP3" and comes in a box containing 5x100g sachets. 50g makes 5 litres. I also add CHAS 48 to the mix as well.

It certainly cured the ant problem for me.

Sid

[janda_grant2]

Trouble is they are in the house and not in the garden

[K chameleon]

Very clever Janda!
I'm sat outside- nearly dropped the laptop

[El Cid]

Trouble is they are in the house and not in the garden

The nest is probably outside. The powder I mentioned is attractive to the ants and they will take it back to the nest where it gets fed to the rest. Try putting some down where you see their trails.

Don't do it if you have got pets.

Sid

[Lavanda]

We have huge ants and many, many anthills. We are going to be moving into the campo house soon and I know the ants will start to invade the house looking for whatever it is that ants look for. If we zap the nests as you recommend, Sid, will that disturb the balance of the finca food chain? We have everything from birds to lizards, snakes to spiders, praying mantis to rabbits.

[mijas-lady]

HI I have the same problem-driving me nuts!so tell me how do I find the nests then OH has just spent the last month weedkilling the whole garden and just looks hard and flat to me

[El Cid]

Lavanda, they will eventually recolonise somewhere else and anyway there are plenty left nearby for whatever eats them.

Mijas Lady, you need to follow the ant trails and eventually you will see piles of sandy earth and small holes where they enter the nest. A nest may have a dozen holes and a big one could cover a large area. Just squirt the stuff into the holes. You will know if you really have got the nest as the liquid will keep disappearing down the hole.

Sid

[Lavanda]

Thanks, Sid. I'm going to try this especially around the house area.

[teralin]

I bought an electrical plugin device called Peststop that simply plugs into any electrical socket and sends electrical pulses throughout your house's electrical system (including ceiling light wiring). This is suppose to create an environment that insects/rodents of all kinds cannot tolerate and they won't nest in the walls of the house. It also have a sonic device that sends out a signal within the the room that it is in that mozzies don't like. My house is in the campo and I have used this Peststop for three years and I can honestly say that I have absolutely nothing (visible) in my house. The occasional dragonfly or spider may wander in but we just put them out again. You can even stop this by spraying Zum across threshholds - supposed to last for one year.

One word of warning, small pets - guinea pigs, hamsters etc will not appreciate Peststop.

[pete_l]

Any one got any suggestions as to how I can rid myself of the actual nests

The brutal truth is that wherever there is a food supply (I mean ant food, not food for people - I'm sure you keep everything spotless) there will be ants. Even if you eradicate a nest, ants from another "family" will explore the now vacated area. If they find edible material there, they'll re-colonise it. However, if you also remove whatever it was they were feeding on, the explorer ants won't find any food and therefore won't invade the dead ants' turf.
As you are no doubt aware, trying to hold back nature is a never-ending task (and ultimately futile - as King Canute knew ) Probably the best you can hope for is to "draw the line" and keep an area relatively ant-free. Although the price of freedom is constant vigilance: cleaning up, removing dead plant material, spilt liquids, animal waste and everything else. Remember! there are millions of the little b****rs and only 1 of you.

[murbisa]

Teralin, we use Zum a lot. We spray a line all round the entrances and where they are coming in from. When it doesn't rain and wash it away it will last for months. I can't put powder down because of the dogs. At the beginning of the summer I spray it all round the edge of the patio as well. Also the windowsill where I put the cat food out.
I also spray the tree trunks with it and it does help to stop them. And as I said in another topic - it even killed the fruit flies and we were being invaded with them.
Wonderful stuff

[alisonb]

We use a spray called Masterlak around the doorways etc. It sounds similar to Zum, lasting for a year. We've used it for the last 2 years, having had thousands of the tiny ants in the house previously. So far, it's done a fine job, although I do go over the thresholds and window bottoms twice with it.

Outside I normally use the white powder from Masso, which seems to keep them under control but couldn't get any this year. I bought a Compo one in a green plastic box, which is a red granular powder. Although it doesn't cling like the white powder, so far it seems to have kept them down again, and looks slightly better against terracotta than the white powder. I also sprinkled it round the beds, and it doesn't seem to wash away either.

[patricia]

Use talcalm powder has the same effect and harmless to cats and dogs etc. The dont like getting the powder on their antenae - have I spelt that right! - and will avoid the area where you have put the talc powder and whats more its a lot cheaper to buy in the euro shop

[carla]

I'm hoping to buy some of this Hormiguicida DP 3 to put with the chas 48 to get rid of my ants. Does anyone know of a supplier in my area> La Linea /Algeciras /Los Barrios/ Estepona. Anywhere really I just need to do something about them!!

[El Cid]

You should be able to get both in any decent garden centre.

Sid

[carla]

Thanks. I will try in Los Barrios.
Carla

[fincalospinos]

Has anyone tried the obvious -- Spend less time on the sunbed and more time cleaning

They only appear if there is something to clear up !!

[carla]

Have you tried sweeping/mopping 10,000sq.metres of ant hill?

[janda_grant2]

I've still got ants! Couldn't think why they got moved to animals and pets, as they are a. insects and b. deffo not pets!!!! I do clean my house, but occasionally miss a crumb or two - but why oh why do they come out with such force and from the strangest of places - half way up a door jamb, between tiles on the bathroom walls (not much food for them in there) and in the hall! As I said before I'm sure I'm sitting on a huge nest, and all I'm doing is stopping them coming out from one place and making a new exit to the nest!