Success!

Darren Wright

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
20,087
Location
Springfield, Missouri
For the past month we've been sharing the house with a couple of colonies of sugar ants coming and going. I've sprayed and sprayed, put out the terro traps, done our best to keep the cabinets free of any leftover dishes, and keep things clean. I finally decided to give the home made terro a try.

I mixed 1/2 tsp of borax, 2 1/2 tbsp of powdered sugar, and 1 tbsp of water in a jar, mixed well, then put a small amount in some baby food lids on the counter where they were coming in. First night, there was an ant party going on, next day I cleaned up the lids and replenished them with more of the bait, had another ant party going on, then repeated for the past few days.
2016-04-09 23.10.19.jpg

This morning, not one ant to be seen. :thumb: Still need to treat around the outside of the house, but happy to see the party has ended.
 
Haven't had the pleasure of there company this season. Yet. Hope it remains that way. I have had good luck with the Terro liquid bait in little trays.
Just clipnoff the end and set them out. Dichatumus earth is supposed to keep them away.
David
 
Haven't had the pleasure of there company this season. Yet. Hope it remains that way. I have had good luck with the Terro liquid bait in little trays.
Just clipnoff the end and set them out. Dichatumus earth is supposed to keep them away.
David

Yeah, they just seem to ignore the terro liquid traps we put out, they worked a few times a few years back, but then they got smart apparently.
 
Different ants like different "flavors" as well. I've had some luck with your mixture but some other types like fat so I'll do a mix of borax, bacon grease (or lard) and sugar for them.

I've also played around a little with borax vs boric acid. The Borax takes a little longer but seems more effective at taking out the colony, I think sometimes the boric acid kills them before they can deliver their gifts of delicious sugar and fat to the queen. So in the end, like you, I'm mostly just using borax. Except around the outside wiring for the waterfall where the ants love the GFCI outlets for some reason, after replacing them for the third time one year I filled the bottom ~3 inches of the conduit going up the pole with boric acid which was stopped the problem for ~4 years.
 
Darren, I learned about that mixture about 3 years ago and it works well. Ryan has a point on the flavors, though I have not had to do that. I use coffee grounds outside the house. I have a pier and beam house so I do put the borax mix under it. Good stuff. If them thar things can read, then we're all in trouble.
 
You didn't kill the colony. They just learned to read, lol. :rofl:
Lol thank goodness I did not have coffee in my mouth.

Man its so nice to read your humor. Please keep it up.

Pitty that grey beard old geyser in MI don't give us taste of his more often. Between the two of you I used to get a load of laughs.
It's good to have a good laugh now and then.
 
Top