ANTS: Good News Vs Bad News

Many | Aug 24, 2014 | Yosemitest

[Yosemitest]

ANTS: Good News Vs Bad News How many of you are familiar with Fire Ants?
How many of you wished they would go away?

THE GOOD NEWS:
Fire Ants are leaving.
THE BAD NEWS:
“Rasberry Crazy Ants” (in honor of the Texas exterminator that discovered them), a.k.a. "Tawny crazy ants" , and scientifically know as Nylanderia fulva as driving them out.

"I want my Fire Ants back!" is being said by many across Mississippi.
Because these Rasberry crazy ants are much harder to control, and they get into everything.

They get into the insulation in your home, into your electronics, into your wiring.
They will drive you CRAZY!
Here's an excerpt on controlling them.
Management: What can you do for them?

Many of the typical control tactics for other ants do not provide adequate control of the tawny crazy ant.
Because colonies predominantly nest outdoors, reliance on indoor treatments (see Rasberry Crazy Ant Fact Sheet or YouTube Video) to control these ants foraging inside structures is not effective.

Cultural control: At the foundation of any IPM strategy are cultural control methods beginning with the removal of harborage
such as fallen limbs, rocks, leaf litter, and just about anything sitting on the ground that isn't absolutely necessary.
Cultural methods can also include altering the moisture conditions in a landscape.
Crazy ants prefer humid, wet conditions so reducing the amount of irrigation, repairing leaks, and improving drainage should help.

Avoid spreading this species to new locations: Anything being moved from an infested area should be inspected for ants and treated before transferring it to a new site.
Food sources should be eliminated or managed.
Specifically honeydew producing hemipterans should be managed.
Often, products containing the active ingredient imidaloprid or other systemic neonicotinoid are a good option for hempiterans.

Chemical control: Effective products involved with the treatments are not readily available to the consumer**.
If you suspect your house or property is infested with these ants, call a professional pest control provider.
After treatment, or when making multiple applications over time, piles of dead ants must be swept or moved out of the area in order to treat the surface(s) underneath.

Tawny crazy ant workers are not attracted to most bait products (see B-6099, "Broadcast Baits for Fire Ant Control")
and the most attractive product they are attracted to (Whitmire Advance Carpenter Ant Bait formulation containing abamectin (Label and MSDS),
see E-412 "Carpenter Ants") does not offer enough control as a standalone treatment, and should be used in conjunction with contact insecticides.
Maxforce® Granular Insect Bait is also highly attractive but has yet to be tested in the field.

There are treatments available for this ant that offer temporary "buffer zones" using contact insecticides applied to surfaces,
such as those containing acephate, pyrethroid insecticides (bifenthrin, cypermethrin, cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothin, permethrin, s-fenvalerate, and others) or fipronil.
These treatments are often breeched within 2-3 months post application.

PCOs need access to an entire infestation in order to achieve an acceptable level of management.
Otherwise, the population will rebound from surrounding, untreated sites within a month.


**Note for Professional Pest Management Personnel: According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the following products have received expanded use approval through Section 18 Quarantine Exemption from the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the control of these ants.
These are only available for use in counties with confirmed infestations of the tawny crazy ant.
See product labels and supplemental labels for specific use directions: This exemption will expire on November 1, 2015.
Termidor® Section 18 Label

Talstar® Section 18 Label

[jmmec2014]

This is my first post here (long time reader!) but I had a problem with these ants and the pest control company didn’t have a clue; of course the baits didn’t work, etc...

Fipronil solved the problem and killed off the entire colony. I purchased Termidor (it is mentioned in the article) since it is Fipronil; same chemical used in Frontline for pet flea & tick control. If you haven’t tried Fipronil, then get some Termidor and I bet it will solve your problem. I apply it twice a year - spring & fall when it is dry & no rain for several days - takes about 15 minutes to spray outside along the foundation, power boxes, windows, etc.

You can buy Termidor online, such as Amazon, etc... Works great on these ants, and other insects too.

[Vision]

This stuff works great.

http://www.terro.com/

[Aria]

LOL!

[RedMDer]

FReepers, Let's go!
Everyone needs to donate!
All contributions are for the current quarter expenses.



Two percent a day keeps the 404 away.

[jespasinthru]

Personally, I happen to like ants. They’ve been around a lot longer than we have, and they are vital to the Earth’s ecosystem. As far as they are concerned, humans are just a temporary nuisance and an occasional source of food. Instead of complaining about ants in the insulation, just put it in perspective. At least America doesn’t have massive hordes of voracious, inch-long army ants marching paths of destruction through our neighborhoods.

[djf]

It is not widely known, but bees and ants are quite closely related.

A single honeybee can carry enough neonicotineoids back to the colony to kill hundreds of others.

[Yosemitest]

Sounds good.
But living in the woods in rural Mississippi is a real challenge.
At least the fire ants stayed with their nest and didn't bother you unless you bothered them.
They were easy to control.

But these little crazy ants go everywhere.
They don't seem to sting or bite, but they get into everything.
The humidity around here seems to feed them, and after studying them on the internet, they don't seem to have any natural enemies that will eat them.
They drive everything else out.
You can't leave food out for the cats and dogs, or the chickens, because in no time, these crazy ants get into it and the animals won't touch it.
Regular ground or yard ant power seems to help. but one heavy rain and you have to spread the poison again.

[Yosemitest]

We’ve used it before and it worked on other ants.
But these little crazy ants don’t seem to be affected by it.
Two weeks have gone by and it hasn’t even slowed them down.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/guide-to-crazy-ants.html

“Courtesy of Daniel at TheRegister.co.uk:

“You forgot what is probably the best method of which I am aware... nematodes. Those parasitic little buggers won’t bother the adult ants, but can totally wipe out a colony by eliminating the larvae and queens. Of course, if you’ve tried chemicals and failed, you’re screwed - the pesticide residue will kill off any nematodes you add, and who wants to live with electronics eating ants for a year or two while you wait for the soil concentrations to drop off?

Also, while I’m not as confident in it, I suspect that DE (diatomaceous earth) would work quite well as a border control in places where you can keep it dry (such as along the baseboards of your house, especially useful while waiting for the nematodes to do their thing). Just make certain you use food grade DE - pool grade has been treated in all sorts of nasty ways, including high heat that causes the silica to melt and recrystallize, making the dust dangerous to humans as well as insects.”

Don’t know if this works. I don’t have these ants. He is referring to Parasitic, not root knot nematodes. Spray them on the colonys, wash them in. Hunt and destroy time. In theory, they reproduce, they continue on until the food—larvae-is gone.

[Vision]

Have you called the company?

[Yosemitest]

We've noticed the loss of honey bees around here and in the woods.
Permethrin like that used in Sawyer Duranon Permethrin Insect Repellent seems to be a major killer of bees.

[Yosemitest]

No, but like it the start of the article said,

... "MANY of the typical control tactics for other ants do not provide adequate control of the tawny crazy ant. "

[Yosemitest]

Nematodes?

Now HOW am I going to get them into the insulation of my house?

[Yosemitest]

"inch-long army ants ..."

You haven't been around the ceder trees of the southeast United States, have you?
We got them (also knows as "Carpenter Ants"), but they're few in number, and not a problem.

[jmmec2014]

I should have written “colonies” for “Fipronil solved the problem and killed off the entire colony.”

There were many (many) colonies of these ants all around: in the trees, along the power line that goes to the house, in the house, etc...

I tried some of the other remedies mentioned by others in this post. These ants are not attracted to baits or any natural remedies. Waste of time.

I finally came across Fipronil (via Termidor) and sprayed it according to directions. The ants walk through the Fipronil, it gets on them, and they carry it back to their colony where it passes ant-to-ant and soon (not immediately) kills them all off.

Within 3 days of spraying Fipronil the ants were significantly diminished in number. Within 5 days there were stragglers here and htere. Within 7 days they were gone.

A $60 bottle of Termidor has a shelf life of 5 years (which really means 10 years) and I’ll probably use it up within 6-7 years spraying 2x a year. The pest control company charged $100 to lay out worthless baits on their first and only visit. Termidor is my pest control company now.

[Yosemitest]

I've mixed yeast with sugar dissolved in honey and set out in a jar lid.
The ants eat it and the yeasty expands inside of them and they explode.
It took several days to work, but after about 5 days, other types of ants quit coming.

But the mixture stinks a little, looks bad, and is just too slow.
I haven't tried it on these crazy ants.

[Yosemitest]

Is this what you're talking about?

Termidor SC Termiticide 20 oz.
Active ingredient
fipronil: 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-(trifluoromethyl) phenyl)-4-((1,R,S)-(trifluoromethyl)sulfinyl) -1-H-pyrazole-3-carbonitrile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1%

[Axenolith]

Just dust around all the cracks and edges with diatomaceous earth.

[jmmec2014]

Yep, that is the product, “Termidor” (Fipronil). It is well worth your time to read the reviews at Amazon. Get it, follow the instructions, and be amazed.

http://www.amazon.com/Termidor-SC-Termiticide-20-oz/dp/B004FEJ4IQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408933570&sr=8-1&keywords=Termidor

[Don W]

I also use BORAX mixed with table sugar. Dry. The ants seem to die within a few days.