I Sprayed Big Red Ants & They Just Laughed!

[Old Moparz]

Wow, never saw these things near my house before until today, they looked like carpenter ants but were red. Went out to the garage & happened to notice more than a few in one corner so I watched the trail of them to see where they were going. I had some plywood & a few things leaning against the wall & moved it to look & that's when they got "upset" & charged at me.   

I moved more stuff & saw more ants, then felt them on my leg & brushed them off. I stepped on some & the others must have seen me do that & got really pissed off & called for reinforcements. The trail stopped at this new sliding glass patio door that was still all packaged, but I knew I had to find where they were going.

I had to spray to keep them off my shoes, so I started to squirt the buggers with no effect. I slid the patio door out & saw 100's of them with remnants of what looked like gravel & dirt they must have tunneled through. I sprayed more but all they did was grab eggs & run, or attack me. I laid the patio door down, cut open the box & saw 1000's with piles of white rice looking eggs.

Since the spray I used just got them wet & pissed off, I grabbed some wasp & hornet spray this time. This stuff stopped them right in their tracks & the problem was solved. This should send the message to other ants to stay the hell out of my damn garage!   

This is what they looked like, but not a photo I took. My wife stole the camera this weekend to bring to a bluegrass festival.

[Tilar]

I hate ants. Especially those damn fire ants that are in Texas.

[Charger RT]

glad you got them under control. When I grew up up north I thought there were only 2 kinds of ants. red and black. Since I moved down south I have found there are more then you can count. I have had ants so small here in my kitchen I almost didn't see them. I found ants in my desk at work a few weeks ago. Fire ants are the worst they will climb all over you and they will all bite you at the same moment like some one yelled attack. I have turned car Air conditioners on at work and had ants and ant eggs come flying out the vents.
Good luck keeping them away.
Tim

[A383Wing]

I gotta remember that wasp spray...sounds like it worked good

[RD]

carb cleaner works just as good as wasp spray and its cheaper

[MoparManJim]

carb cleaner works just as good as wasp spray and its cheaper

WORD! 

[Todd Wilson]

carb cleaner works just as good as wasp spray and its cheaper

Yup! Always have some brake cleaner on hand for bug fights.   Fire ants will jack you up. They will set up shop and you will have a big giant anthill in your yard in no time.


Todd

[ChgrSteve67]

The low craw field the Air Force uses is infested with Fire Ants.

I remember looking down to see both of my arms completely covered and then BAM they all got me at the same time.
My arms looked like I had alergic reaction to something and itched like hell.

I don't miss Texas for one second.  And roaches so big they should be required to have license plates.

[Todd Wilson]

I don't miss Texas for one second.  And roaches so big they should be required to have license plates.

Thats no poopoo!  Giant roaches.  My mom and sister live in Dallas and they call them water bugs............I say they are roaches. My little brother years ago down there had some big Oscar fish in a tank. It was an agressive fish. We'd catch those roaches outside and throw them into the tank and that fish would snatch them as fast as we could throw them in. Dont know where that fish put them all but he ate them non stop for 10 minutes.


Todd

[mikesbbody]

These Water Bugs you talk of, don't know if they are the same one's but in Thailand they eat them! yes I tried a few and they were ok.

[Old Moparz]

carb cleaner works just as good as wasp spray and its cheaper

I get the Spectra wasp & hornet spray at Home Depot at 2 cans for $5. The carb or brake cleaner runs around $3 per can, so maybe price is a regional thing.

I looked out in the garage early this morning & all I saw were some dead ants. I know I swept out all the dead ones last night after I rearranged some junk along the wall, so these must have been out on R&R & came back to ingest some leftover wasp & hornet spray. 

[71ChallengeHer]

Sprinkle white pepper all around the walls of your garage. Ants hate it. 

[nh_mopar_fan]

I miss diazinon.

Damn FDA.

I went out and bought a couple gallons of the stuff when they announced it was being pulled off the market. I'm now out.

That stuff rocked their world.

[resq302]

bob, if those are new doors/windows, I would call up whoever delivered it as they might have other problems with ants too.

[Old Moparz]

bob, if those are new doors/windows, I would call up whoever delivered it as they might have other problems with ants too.

Don't worry Brian, the door was something I picked up at Home Depot & has been in the garage for years so that wasn't the culprit. It was one of those special order things that someone didn't want, or that the order was screwed up so HD discounted it. I had planned to swap out a swinging atrium door for a slider anyway, so when I found the Pella for only $500 with the screen in the right color brown I couldn't pass on it. I just don't want to start another big project yet.  

[jeryst]

WD40 and PB blaster works really well too, on any insect.

Last summer, some wasps got into our wall and built a nest. Occasionally, one would find its way into the house, and make its way up from the basement. I tried to spray them with wasp and hornet killer, and they just ignored it. Plus, its very toxic. Tried several different brands with no effect. They must have been some weird type of mutants.

One day, one was flying by, and I grabbed a bottle of cleaner, called "Mean Green" that my wife bought at the dollar store. The wasp dropped like a stone
as soon as the stuff touched it. We eventually had to call in an exterminator because there were just too many, but we always keep a bottle of that stuff around
now, just in case. At a buck a bottle, its a great deal.

[charger490]

i have a log cabin and i have ants,mice,bees,hornets,wood chucks,possums, lady bugs,and robbers.
i use wasp spray
either
pb blaster
i also use 20 mule team borax around the foundation
the robbers i shoot with the shotgun
i also use bounce dryer sheets in my cars to keep the mice out.
sometimes i get a j witness come around and i just open the door and talk non stop about my cars and they leave

[Brock Samson]

         

[rav440]

Sprinkle white pepper all around the walls of your garage. Ants hate it. 

is that you what people in eastern pa. call salt ? 

[71ChallengeHer]

Sprinkle white pepper all around the walls of your garage. Ants hate it.  

is that you what people in eastern pa. call salt ?  

No white pepper is like black pepper but white. Keeps ants out. Google it.   Actually, salt is what I put in the edge of my margarita glass. You know the stuff PENNDOT doesn't know anything about.........

[rav440]

Sprinkle white pepper all around the walls of your garage. Ants hate it. 

is that you what people in eastern pa. call salt ? 

No white pepper is like black pepper but white. Keeps ants out. Google it. 

i will  thanks for the tip 

[71ChallengeHer]

Look up. 

[rav440]

Sprinkle white pepper all around the walls of your garage. Ants hate it.  

is that you what people in eastern pa. call salt ?  

No white pepper is like black pepper but white. Keeps ants out. Google it.   Actually, salt is what I put in the edge of my margarita glass. You know the stuff PENNDOT doesn't know anything about.........

lol true . they dont have salt to use . coz fat ed uses all of it on his large side of fries with his philly cheese steak

[71ChallengeHer]

Sprinkle white pepper all around the walls of your garage. Ants hate it.  

is that you what people in eastern pa. call salt ?  

No white pepper is like black pepper but white. Keeps ants out. Google it.   Actually, salt is what I put in the edge of my margarita glass. You know the stuff PENNDOT doesn't know anything about.........

lol true . they dont have salt to use . coz fat ed uses all of it on his large side of fries with his philly cheese steak

no kidding

[Old Moparz]

MMMMM, I love a good cheese steak sandwich.   


We don't call them grinders in NY either.   

[Topcat]

Years ago hiking on a trail in Costa Rica, I came upon a massive group of Army Ants walking across the trail. I checked em out but I didn't dare mess with them. Pretty cool looking with those huge pinchers.

[Todd Wilson]

Years ago hiking on a trail in Costa Rica, I came upon a massive group of Army Ants walking across the trail. I checked em out but I didn't dare mess with them. Pretty cool looking with those huge pinchers.

What the heck were you doing in Costa Rica? Running cocaine for the Drug Lords?


Todd

[resq302]

Years ago hiking on a trail in Costa Rica, I came upon a massive group of Army Ants walking across the trail. I checked em out but I didn't dare mess with them. Pretty cool looking with those huge pinchers.

What the heck were you doing in Costa Rica? Running cocaine for the Drug Lords?


Todd

Hey, he has to pay for the charger somehow!

[70charginglizard]

you guys are funny..

great story. Made my day. 

[skip68]

ANTS ARE THE CREEPIEST CREATURES IN THE WORLD! (next to chuck) lol! THEY ARE GANG MEMBERS! Kill one, and they bring every "homey-ant"  they know, to invade your life! Eeeuuugh! Gross! I can deal with snakes, spiders, squirrels in my room, la cu ca rochas, anything else, but ants! Mrs.skip68

[twodko]

Too funny! Where else can you go from chiggers to pinchers to cocaine to philly cheese steak to possums............!!!!!

Tom

[chargergirl]

No kidding this has been a wild convo...red ants do serve a purpose...let them live under your pine trees and your tick population with diminish nicely. When the tick jumps out of the tree...they land on the ant hill and, for the ants, they are a delicacy.  When I had a couple acres I would "move" them under the pines...just attempt to poison them and they move.

[jeryst]

No kidding this has been a wild convo...red ants do serve a purpose...let them live under your pine trees and your tick population with diminish nicely. When the tick jumps out of the tree...they land on the ant hill and, for the ants, they are a delicacy.  When I had a couple acres I would "move" them under the pines...just attempt to poison them and they move.

OK. How do you "attempt" to poison them?

[resq302]

Too funny! Where else can you go from chiggers to pinchers to cocaine to philly cheese steak to possums............!!!!!

Tom

West Milford!   

[twodko]

You poison them by making them listen to Nancy Pelosi's voice over and over and over..........

Tom

[Old Moparz]

Too funny! Where else can you go from chiggers to pinchers to cocaine to philly cheese steak to possums............!!!!!

Tom

And with a thread that I start, there's still a good chance for other completely unrelated topics being added to it, too.   

But back to red ants for a moment.... 

I was outside cutting down weeds the other day & decided to check on the area where the red ants were & sure enough, they were still around. This time they were on the outside of the same garage wall. Since I paid for a gallon of it, I sprayed more of that stuff that makes them wet & pisses them off when my wife said she has Diatomaceous Earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth  She poured it all along the base of the wall & they're gone. I don't recall why she had it, I think for her garden. 

[resq302]

Funny that you mention the ants are back.  I was pressure washing our keystone retaining wall getting it looking all nicey nice for the party on Sat and all of a sudden, I feel something biting me on my right forearm.  Low and behold, I notice a small black ant on my arm.  I look up towards my elbow and see about a dozen more, look back towards my shoulder and see about two dozen more.  Well I guess when I was power washing the wall, I must have hit the ground where the wall meets the driveway and blasted up a nest all over the wall and me.  Once I showered up to get all the critters off of me,  I went back out to find a crack in the driveway where weeds had been only to have a ton of ant eggs and probably a thousand plus ants crawling all over.  That crack is now concreted over!

[71ChallengeHer]

Thanks, I got bit by red ants , weeding the other day.  Those little things hurt. But I was pissed off at the car and really pissed by the time I was done. I needed a beer.

[A383Wing]

give the ants a beer...watch 'em stumble around

[Old Moparz]

Looks like I don't have to bring any ants, you have plenty of your own.   

[resq302]

Looks like I don't have to bring any ants, you have plenty of your own.   

Bob,

Im good on ants.  Hell, I even have plenty of uncles.   

[chargergirl]

You poison them by making them listen to Nancy Pelosi's voice over and over and over..........

Tom

Naw...that just drives them to the pines...lmao! Diatomaceous Earth is the only way to kill them. Some, here in the south use instant grits...it's the only thing it's good for. The ants eat it and supposedly die...they don't.