ANTS....

Mike Cork · June 04, 2024, 11:45:56 AM

I am constantly fighting ants climbing my extension cord and getting in my boat. I truly believe they are living in it somewhere as I see them caring food into the boat. I spray and spray, so much so I'm afraid I'm effecting my carpet and glue. They walk right past baits...

Search as I might I can't find them in the boat. I can follow the trail and one day it will go into the rub rail, so I spray, the next day into a compartment drain, so I spray. It's an endless battle. I've started pulling the electrical plug after charging and reinstalling the night before fishing but it's not helping, it's like they wait and then jump on the super highway when it's open again.

I've hung the cord from the roof of my carport and they still find it. Maybe it's a way out and they just use it to get back.

Any new thoughts? Any help would be much appreciated.

Capt. BassinLou · June 04, 2024, 12:06:56 PM

Get a water bottle cap, honey, and some borax. On the underside of the cap, apply a few drops of honey and sprinkle in some of the borax powder. Mix the honey and the borax powder. Place the cap around the highest concentration of ants.

Ants will be gone in 2 days!

SHC286 · June 04, 2024, 04:32:06 PM

Crushed red pepper! Not kidding, they hate it. Had trouble with them getting into the house, different poisons just made them move. Sprinkled crushed red pepper everywhere they were invading, no problems anymore. Now I sprinkle it around my rose bushes, car port, swimming pool, septic tank (they nest there, I hope they're not going for a swim). Basically at my new home, the house is about the only place they're not that interested in. But it works, and you can clean it up with a Dustbuster.

Princeton_Man · June 04, 2024, 05:18:41 PM

Quote from: Capt. BassinLou on June 04, 2024, 12:06:56 PMGet a water bottle cap, honey, and some borax. On the underside of the cap, apply a few drops of honey and sprinkle in some of the borax powder. Mix the honey and the borax powder. Place the cap around the highest concentration of ants.

Ants will be gone in 2 days!

This works.

apenland01 · June 05, 2024, 01:19:18 PM

I always use Amdro for ants, never fails. Since it's a granule, you can sprinkle it anywhere on the ground around the boat and leave a few granules in a lid or something on the boat.

The borax tip is very good as well....

Donald Garner · June 05, 2024, 08:41:13 PM

I use Ground Cinnamon to get rid of the ants at school. Just sprinkle it around the entrance way and any trail you can find them in your boat.

They will be gone over night. I'd leave it down for a few days and use the vacuum to clean the mess up.

Mike Cork · June 07, 2024, 08:12:06 AM

Great stuff guys. I feel renewed and ready to do battle again

amazing how such a little creature can get in your head

Hobious · June 08, 2024, 11:16:35 AM

holy PTSD!!

I had an ant invasion in my house. I wupped them eventually but it took awhile. (they will be back).

I think the easiest solution for you is to make a Moat. fill a bucket with water, and stick a mid section of your extension cord into it. the ant will never get past the water obstacle.

let me know if you want to use the two poisons that solved my problems.

and don't spray. they avoid it. if you do spray, you have to use a not deterrent spray. essentially something they don't avoid because of the smell. I use a product called Phantom. it is like magic. the pro guys use it.

Mike Cork · June 10, 2024, 08:22:03 AM

Bucket of water is a great idea... except I live in Louisiana and standing water creates millions of blood sucking Vampires (mosquitos)... I have thought about going back to hanging the cord and covering a section with grease

I must say the cinnamon really changes their attitude they don't like that at all. Boric Acid isn't working so I need to find some Borax.

Right now, I've not hooked the cord up for a few days and I have the ground covered with the Boric Acid. I figured they would find a new way into the boat via the ants in it exiting, but non issue at the moment.

Hobious, I would be interested in a all your solutions.

Hobious · June 10, 2024, 11:35:10 AM

the two pro-solutions is

Phantom spray. this is a non-deterant spray. this means you spray it, and the smell doesnt affect them at all. they will traipse right thru it and take it home on their bodies and it is game over. I would spray it into openings I find them coming into my home. they keep using the hole and after 1.5 days, they are gone. dead. I kill the entire colony. ants can have multiple queens. if you spray them with RAID, they send out an alarm that they are under attack and the colony will divide. one queen goes one way, the other queen another. your problem will explode since you now doubled the population (eventually). (I bet this happened to you)

second option is Advian Ant bait. they blows away boric acid which is the same as the stuff you can buy from a grocery store. TERRO. ants change diets. sometimes they want sugar, sometimes they want proteins. most baits are sugar based.

my third option is that I stuck a bunch of bait traps in my yard. seems to help, but my main strategies are those two above.

I fired my pest control service because I am doing better work than they do. I have the advantage of seeing them come into my home.

I hate our California ants. odorous or Argentina ants. tough to battle.

Hobious · June 10, 2024, 11:36:06 AM

put a slight oil slick in the water bucket. in Texas they use Diesel. I just spray a blast of WD-40. the oil slick makes it no-go for skeeters. (at least I think it works - been years)

J.W. · June 10, 2024, 12:07:44 PM

Over 'n Out granules has worked for me on fire ants. I used to have a serious problem with them getting in the house during the hottest part of the summer and finding any kind of food in my pantry that wasn't sealed in airtight containers. They were even getting in our closets and eating fabric softener off the clothes!

I tried tons of stuff that didn't phase them. I broadcasted that Over 'n Out stuff around the house, not expecting it to work either, but the ant trails were gone in about an hour after I spread those granules. I do it about once a year in the summer now (about time for me to do it again). They sell it at Home Depot, it's not cheap though, about $50 for a bag, but it'll cover a large area.

Mike Cork · June 11, 2024, 09:10:06 AM

I use Over and Out throughout the yard, the fire ants can easily get out of hand around here and take down small animals. But it doesn't seem effective on the little black ants.

I found them on the boat again and used the good eyes of my grand kids to follow them home... Since the extension cord wasn't there, they used the tongue jack, then down along the trailer all the way to a rear strap and up into the boat. Still no clue why the boat...

So I had the boys follow the trail from the boat through the gravel and into the yard, over a couple sticks and tons of grass to a tree with a big knot in it 20 yards away... I nuked all of it Yesterday so we'll see if I at least changed their direction. If I'm not careful I'm going to drive them into the house LOL. But I've beat them there

J.W. · June 11, 2024, 10:42:37 AM

Quote from: Mike Cork on June 11, 2024, 09:10:06 AMI use Over and Out throughout the yard, the fire ants can easily get out of hand around here and take down small animals. But it doesn't seem effective on the little black ants.

I found them on the boat again and used the good eyes of my grand kids to follow them home... Since the extension cord wasn't there, they used the tongue jack, then down along the trailer all the way to a rear strap and up into the boat. Still no clue why the boat...

So I had the boys follow the trail from the boat through the gravel and into the yard, over a couple sticks and tons of grass to a tree with a big knot in it 20 yards away... I nuked all of it Yesterday so we'll see if I at least changed their direction. If I'm not careful I'm going to drive them into the house LOL. But I've beat them there

I missed that it was those little ants. I think they're called pharaoh ants or sugar ants or something. Yeah, Over 'n Out doesn't seem to work on them.

Bigbass201 · June 16, 2024, 05:48:50 AM

Ants are pain in the butt. I use those Terra traps with the liquid in them. Put the darn things all over the place. They make a huge line and bring it back to their nests and it kills the group of them. I might try that red pepper around the house. I haven't tried that one before. I did do the borax. It killed the ants that went to it, but didn't kill the ones that were still in the nest. You probably have that ant nest somewhere in your boat.