Always look on the bright side of life?

Hi,

I have used cinnamon to fend off ants.

A good non toxic choise.

Cheers


Åke

Damon join the club!
Two years ago I had this happen to me and it was a disaster. I had no idea ants had infested my work shop and train room until I noticed a line of ants on a wall one day. They were nested behind framed photos on the wall, in boxes of stored electronics, in cupboards and in my train boxes. They were nested with thousands of eggs which when they are damaged release something greasy and probably formic acid as it destroys electronic boards. They were in a closed box containing a tank engine set with wagons and were nested in the loco! I had to ditch a spare laptop which was completely ruined internally. I spent a good two weeks getting rid of them all and now I am totally paranoid whenever I see ants.
They were the common small black ants we see in Brisbane and a pest guy I spoke to recently said it has been a plague year in Brisbane.
So good luck and be vigilant!
Howard.

There's always one, isn't there?

They are definately ants -- common black ants like Howard had problems with. The house was checked for termites about 6 monthes ago, and we're clean.

I set off the insect bomb, and there are no signs of life in the boxes, so perhaps I've managed to kill them all.
Even if not, it will be a whole lot easier if most of them are dead or gone elsewhere.

I bought some outdoor-strength surface spray, and I'll go over the outside wall where I think they gained access.

The biggest problem is that they left brown tracks in the seams of the boxes and manuals, which doesn't wipe off easily.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, guys.

Spoke too soon...they're still there...

When I was back home in Australia last year, I had to clear out ants that had essentially invaded and taken over the underside of her back porch, which of course was covered in concrete, so it was a matter of getting to the cracks after I had dusted everything and killed what I could. Any tracks left on the shelf will of course bring them back, but a thought on the manuals and boxes for attempting cleaning, I would try a non scented generic baby wipe and GENTLY brush at it. The non scented wont leave your manuals smelling like a baby and you don't need the added expense of a name brand when generic will work just fine. I've used them to clean manuals before with success

Worst thing they ever did was take dieldrin off the market...... who cares if it supposedly causes cancer, at least it did what it said on the label.
Killed ants..... along with just about everything else with more than 2 legs.

Lets take a moment and thank a Militant Environmentalist or Greenie for their continued struggle and insistence on banning what were great chemicals and thus the deprivation for the rest of us of a great once in a while genocide of the occasional ant colony and other multi legged life....

And as for the "they cause cancer" argument, well so does my microwave and my pop tart!

Grrrrrr bloody ants . When we did our first European holiday back in 98/99 we were away for 13 weeks . Arriving back home I left all the "M" purchases up in the house for a few weeks until I went down to the train room which was built under the patio slab. After settling back into the rigors of shift work again I decided that I had a need to go & play trains & so wandered down with my arms full of goodies . When I opened the door to the room I could smell a bit of odour but didn't know where it was coming from until I started organising a train to run & found a pile of light brown mud under a controller . The more I looked The more I found until a decision was made to start lifting track when I found almost all of the under board timber supports had been white anted . Total removal of the track commenced immediately & I eventually found that I had to knock down all the interior walls & ceiling until I ended up with a brick shell . We called in a pest company who then ended up spraying the whole of the house & a few trees which may have been holding the main nests .


Since all the good chemical treatments have been banned from future use in Oz all that is left is a watered down non permanent treatment which really does no good . We lived in the Lower Blue Mountains west of Sydney & heard of many sob stories regarding White Ant attacks over the future years from various neighbours ,the worst being one house that slowly fell to the ground while the occupants were sleeping . No insurance cover will cover this problem . I would suggest a full house check every 6 months unless the house is full brick & then at least every year . Forget the bigger pest companies & go to the smaller family owned ones as they can at least spend some time doing a full inspection .


Cheers Tom in Oz .

Not meaing to pick on our friendly neighbours from across the pond but how to you pronounce Aluminium?

As a Victorian I have to say that the thought of drinking a carton of XXXX to be nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment!!!

drinking the first glass of this stuff at 10am, as I remember many years ago was a torture but than who still drinks this stuff is beyond my comprehension, live has become much more pleasant and easier to cope with since given up drinking and smoking many many years ago, especially when a friend of mine, a Publican asked me (after falling asleep in the toilet) whether I'll be going home, it is past closing time and to be quite honest the state I was in I couldn't tell you if there were any ants about.

John