Crazy ants !!

[herewego]

When camping,have any of you had crazy ants get in your RV,reason i ask is we have them bad on the Texas Coast,i have found a product from BASF that will kill them and they will not come back,its the only stuff out that we have found .... Just asking ..this stuff was 100 bucks pint . 1 oz per gal ...

[Clayton4971]

We had carpenter ants once and the only thing I found was a product that the only place I could find it was in south Texas called Bengal like the tiger . That stuff worked great for me . Now days it's hard to find a chemical strong enough to kill anything

[slabat]

try cayenne pepper around the camper, it wont kill them but they hate it and they will stay away.

[eng45ine]

Give Delta Dust a try, the product has been outstanding for killing bees, the packaging says that it is very effective for ants. I purchased my one pound container from Amazon.com.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by slabat

try cayenne pepper around the camper, it wont kill them but they hate it and they will stay away.

Comet dusted around the tires and jacks is supposed to stop them too.

[bucko]

Seeing as how the only "entrance" way for ants to get into a camper would be from the axle wheels, and front jack stand, would placing a dust (as recommended in the previous posts) be effective from them getting into the camper while storred?

I had what I call sugar ants (those tiny ones) get into our house one year. I called an exterminator, who did an alright job of ridding them, but it was costly IMO. I googled some simple recipes and found that using green jelly or peanut butter mixed with some sort of dust powder (can't remember its name) is effective too. The worker ants carry it back to the nest, feed the queen, and that eliminates the colony.

[FPM III]

All the liquid spray commercial preparations I've tried were a joke. I could almost swear I once saw an ant walk through an application I put down, turn around and flip me the bird. The only commercial product I've ever read RVers having success with is a product called Terro. Although, I've never used it to confirm their claims.

What I found to be effective was boric acid- obtainable from any pharmacy. I dust it, or mix it with water and sugar until it's the consistency of pancake syrup. Then, using a small brush (I use one of the DW's old make-up brushes), I apply it to the areas where I see ants. Carpenter ants especially love the syrup.

Boric acid doesn't work immediately like you see in the Raid commercial where the bugs holler "RAID!", then explode or fall over dead. However, you should expect to observe noticeable results within a few days. It may take multiple applications to completely eradicate the nest.

Boric Acid acts upon the ant's digestive system and they literally starve to death. It's hard to see with small ants, but with large ants like carpenter ants, you can see that when under its effect will not look as robust and their movement will appear erratic.

From what I've read on the web, boric acid is about as toxic as table salt and sometimes used in a 5% water solution as an eye wash. However, to be safe, I wouldn't apply it to any areas that could be accessible by pets and children.

[bucko]

That's the stuff I added to the mint jelly, or peanut butter; boric acid! I found it in white powder form. After about a week of watching the ants circle around the mixture I made with it on small pieces of cardboard on our kitchen countertops, they were gone!

A whole lot cheaper and mor effective IMO than what we were paying to have the house treated for them critters. According to the web sites I found this on, the worker ants carry this back, feed the queen, and when she dies, the mound dies.

[us71na]

Terro is essentially boric acid and sugar water

[BCx213]

Friend of mine had carpenter ants at his house, he used boric acid too, he mixed it with suger water and in about a week and a half, they were gone. He applied it a few times..it does work. I had a few around ghe my house soI tried it too....they are gone too. You can get it at the pharmacy and it is pretty cheap.

[milw156]

I use the Mule Team Borax and honey mixed about 50/50 and microwaved until fully dissolved. I just drizzled some around the nest entrance. Took a couple days before I noticed a difference. They either moved away or died, but they are gone.

[RoyBraddy]

We go down to LAKEWOOD RESORTS in Myrtle Beach SC just about every late Sep or early Oct for mini family reunion. That place is alive with those small what I call sand ants.

I have done all the things you are suppose to do around the tires and anything that touches the camper coming up from the ground.

We usually make our five day visit without too many problems.

Most of the time when we leave LAKEWOOD we go the high country route back to Virginia which puts us spending a coupe of night in the Smoky Mtns ELKMONT Camp. There is no telling how many thousands of these small sand ants we have transported over the years from SC to TN haha...

Better to unload them in TN then VA I guess...

Roy Ken

[herewego]

We started taking a pump up sprayer,pre mixed..

[kodes]

We've used the terro traps at home and they work great. Boric acid mixed with water might also have worked just fine (since it's the same stuff) but due to having little kids and a dog I didn't want to spray everywhere. Literally saw a line of ants going to and from the Terro trap for hours, then the next day they were all gone.

[namusmc65]

I also used a pre mixed sprayer. Spray all around the campsite as well before we set up if possible. Then spray all the entrance ways. Does anyone have a problem with lady Bugs? We live in south Georgia and they have swarmed here twice in the past two months. They get in all the openings. They get in my barn and in the 5th wheeler, but not the house. There is something about the 5 wheel color that seems to attract them. They get in by the 1,000's but die in a day or two. Just a big mess vacuuming them out!!!!!

[FPM III]

I had a problem a few weeks ago. I kept being awakened out of my sleep by something inside my sweats crawling on my leg. I figured it was an ant, but couldn't find anything when I tried to feel for it. After about three repeat episodes, I went into the bathroom and removed the sweats. When I turned the leg inside out, one of those ladybugs fell onto the floor with a thud. Sleep went uninterrupted after that.

[Old Blue]

On the Boric Acid mixed with water how much do you mix per gallon of water we have ants out by our wood pile every year and I would like to try this.

[MrKong]

For spray, I like Demand CS. Its the only thing I have found tough enough to kill even stink bugs and Carpenter bees. On the inside, I put out Terro liquid on cardboard.

[tee-bone]

I think Borax is the powder you are talking about Bucko.

[jd99336]

Normal laundry Borax is the aforementioned boric acid and there are online recipes for brewing the sugar/borax/water solution (can't remember the proportions). It apparently is effective (although I used it at home and will have to get back to see the results) in that the workers take the product back to the nest where the young feed on it and die ultimately killing off the colony.

Pouring it on concrete leaves a stain (which does wash off with water) so some form of container that the ants can easily access is preferred.