Jus' Askin wrote:
> This weekend I discovered I have a pavement ant infestation. They are
> entering my home in two places--the decorative wooden framing around my
> front door has developed some openings near the bottom, and I see a
trail of
> ants going in and out of those openings. In addition, the exterior of
my
> home is brick, and in several locations (again, in the front of the
house)
> the mortor has fallen away from between two bricks, and I see ants
moving in
> and out of these spaces.
Probably need to find out exactly what ant they are, doubtful they are
true pavement ants giving you a problem. The space between the bricks
you have may be the weep holes...they are made that way to allow
ventilation behind the walss...you will have problems if you close the
holes (if they are the weep holes).
> Here's my first question: Should I seal these openings right away, or
> should I set out some baits, first? My concern about sealing right away
is
> that the ants have established colonies within the walls (I saw some
winged
> reproductives leaving the opening in the door frame). I am afraid that
if I
> seal right away this will drive them further into the interior of my
home as
> they try to find an alternative way out. My thinking is that I should
apply
> some baits, first, in the hope that the workers will take the poison
into
> the colony and kill the queen.
>
> Given that, what bait should I use? I did some research online
yesterday,
> and bought some baits with fipronil in them. I placed these baits on my
> front ****ch late yesterday afternoon. This morning at around 6:15 a.m.
I
> went out and found worker ants swarming on my front ****ch. They were
all
> around the bait containers, but I did not see any enter the containers.
what bait you need depends on what type of ant you are dealing
with..guessing the bait you bought with fipronil is Combat which will be
for protein feeding ants...the Terro is another good choice for sugar
feeding ants. With either bait you will have activity for a week or so.
> I just went out and bought some other types of baits. I bought some
Terro
> traps with liquid borax in them. I also bought some Real-Kill baits
with
> indoxacarb. The Terro baits are supposedly good for sweet-loving ants,
and
> the Real-Kill baits are good for both sweet- and grease-loving ants.
After
> I set out all of these baits, there won't be any room to walk on my
front
> ****ch!
>
> If anyone has any suggestions on how I can deal with this problem I
would
> love to hear them. Thanks.
>
If you have trailing ants try to follow them back to a nest.."pavement
ants" should be found under stones or other items on the
ground...odorous house ants will be found in loose material such as
mulch or just under leaf matter under the hedges. Find the nest,
saturate with an appropriate insecticide and all should be well...until
the next colony moves in, maybe a few days maybe at the end of the Summer.
Lar
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