[Chelli]

Hi,
Not sure if anyone can help, but our backyard seems to have heaps of those huge ants that hurt when they bite. I'm highly allergic to things that bite and it's lucky I haven't been bitten yet but does anyone have any great tips on how to get rid of them? I'm reluctant to use things like ant sand as we have free ranged chickens, and I'm not sure that would work on them anyway. At the moment when we find a nest we are dropping fuel down the hole and setting them alight. They still seem to be everywhere though.

Any tips would be very appreciated!

Thanks

Chelli

[Paddlepop]

My DH has been using the following methods and recipe to get rid of the green ants that live at our unit block. If there is a green ant anywhere it will find him and bite him. It has been personal for him to get rid of them!

If you can find the nest/s then:
1. Pour boiling water into the entrance hole.
2. Repeat treatment for three days in a row minimum.
3. Something like a steam cleaner can also be very effective (I have been told that using a steam cleaner can be good for spiders and other creepy crawlies. Very non-toxic.).

If you can't find the nest then I would try this:

Ant Trap:

Ant Trap Recipe:

Into a 600mL soft drink bottle add the following:
1. 300mL warm to hot deionised/purified water (they don’t like treated town water).
2. 100mL white vinegar (Woolworths home brand is fine).
3. 7 tablespoons of raw sugar.
4. 4 tablespoons of golden syrup.
5. 6 tablespoons of treacle.
6. 1 heaped teaspoon of vegemite or a teaspoon of dried yeast.
Shake to mix and ensure all components have dissolved. Ready to use immediately either outdoors or indoors.

Outdoors:
1. You will need a small soft drink bottle ~600mL or smaller.
2. Punch holes ~pencil size or slightly larger in the top section of the bottle.
3. Fill the trap about 30% full with trap liquid.
4. You will need several trap bottles.
5. Place traps somewhere the ants seem to be congregating but where the kids and chooks won’t get to it. (The trap liquid is non-toxic but the chooks will probably want to eat it too due to the treacle component. I remember from growing up that they went crazy for molasses.)
6. You can also part-bury the bottle into the ground or put it inside a besser-block. This will help to hide it from the chooks and the ants like the dark.
7. The ants fall to their death and drown a sweet death.
8. No more ants.

Indoors:
1. Baby food-sized jar (no lid).
2. Place in the locations around the house where the ants are forming a trail.
3. Fill the bottle to about 1.5cm with ant trap liquid.
4. Watch the ant corpses pile up.
5. Change the liquid when there are too many ants in there for the trap to be able to drown them or the liquid has dried out.

Good luck.

[Chelli]

They are great tips, thankyou so much for posting them!

[~*Twilight~Zone*...]

Sprinkle talcum powder around. I've find that it gets rid of ants.