These buggers are driving me mad. What's worse is that they are attacking my young animals now. I can get rid of them out in the open organically, by many different methods, but they have monstrous dens under my barn foundation, my patio, my house, screenhouse and anything else to heavy to pick up and move. I am going to have to use poison. It stinks. What is the best least toxic fastest killing poison to use on these evil creatures straight out of the pits of hell?

-- Dreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), July 15, 2001

Answers

Amdro is a poisoned bait that the worker ants carry back to the queen and ultimately kill the mound. Follow package directions being especially careful to apply several days before rain so ants will have time to carry it away. Most farm supply, Wal-Mart, and hardware stores carry Amdro. It is expensive, use sparelingly.

Considering your soil type and climate, however, you are not likely to have much impact. Be careful not to leave dead carcasses or oily garbage where the ants can feed on them. Early in the season fire ants seek sugars and late in the season they seek oils and fats.

Fire ants are so bad here in Alabama that one of our ag universities, Auburn University, even looked into importing ant eaters. I can't remember if it was yuppies running over them or rednecks eating them that caused the experiment to fail, but anyway Auburn doesn't recommend ant eaters as a solution.

-- Rags (RaggedReb@aol.com), July 15, 2001.

We used Ambdro, sometimes in large quantities;) Can't say that it got rid of them. We only hoped to keep them at bay. I've heard they can be particularly vicious with just born creatures.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), July 15, 2001.

One of the folks on the Christian forum suggested using yeast..skeptical, I dumped about a quarter of a cup over a large mound........it worked.....four days later no ants at all...then, thinking I had hit the jackpot, I treated another mound..smelled like bread baking on the lawn because of the sun..it attracted the hens who then ate all the fireants..works for me and the hens seemed to enjoy it, although they did sneeze and wipe their beaks alot on the grass. I have read recently that some states are going to use some sort of tiny fly from somewhere..????Australia.....this fly lays its' eggs on fireants who then take the eggs with them into the mound..eggs hatch and the new flies exit the mound...the scoop is that because the fireants find the flies "annoying" ( hey, I'm NOT making this up), they will not leave the mound while these flies are zipping around..hence they do not forage, many starve, and the ant population is severely decreased...go figure....try yeast.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), July 15, 2001.

Brilliant thinking!! Let's introduce another species we don't have here. Sheesh.

The ants really ate up one of my buck kids' tail. He must've fallen asleep and they attacked because he didn't have the scoots or anything. I just have such a hard time stepping off the porch anymore without getting chewed by them, too. Now what is the deal with these fire ant eating chickens? Mine sure don't eat them. I tried the cornmeal as well and I swear the ants were considering leaving me a tip. Didn't do diddly on them. I'll give the yeast a try, as I haven't heard that one yet. I'm sure my birds will eat it up on me though....guess I can set a board on top of it. It seems like they are swarming right now. We really need some rain here, and when it gets super dry and hot the ants seem to come on full force. Thanks folks!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), July 15, 2001.

My brother told me recently he dug some fire ants out of his garden, tossed them over the fence to the chickens thinking they would eat them. He noticed they were actually biting the hens, and soon afterward they ran his broody off her nest...I do have another friend who says the hens in the chicken tractor eat them...I think I started that rumor on the Christian forum about the yeast. Never actually got around to trying it.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), July 15, 2001.

I have never tried this one, but a landscaper swears this works with ants . . .

Cover the mound with grits or oatmeal and allow time for the ants to take it into their burrow (he allowed 24 hours was about right). Then pour boiling water into the hole, swelling the oatmeal or grits in the burrow, crushing the little buggers against the walls.

I'm not sure fire ants will take this bait down . . . but give it a try; sounds cheap enough and isn't poisonous to animals / environment.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), July 16, 2001.

HEY DREEN,

Just tried a triple attack and ran off a Fire ant colony.

1st I put one pack of quick actin yeast on the mound sprinkle liberaly all over. In 15 minutes the little devils had cleaned up their mound and the yeast was gone.

2nd put 2 handfull of instant grits (quaker) takes about hour and they'll move that into the ground.

3rd we used a full 10 oz bottle of Citrus Magnese (liquid laxative) Cheap version of Sparkling Water Laxitive.

Next morning Not one fire ant in sight. Read over at About.com that ants can't pass gas. heheheheh guess grits, yeast and poop medicine just naturally makes for a poor diet.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), July 16, 2001.

I had 7 different mounds about our acre and a half and what we did was a "shovel relay". the three of us took a shovelfull of ants from each mound and intermixed the ants from one mound with the next one to it. After 3 shuffles two days apart , the mounds all seem pretty much dead from the fighting that erupted.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 17, 2001.

The problem here is that the ants are all under foundations. I can at least move them out when they are in the open and in mounds as opposed to full on metroplises just with the baking soda first, and then pouring white vinegar on it. This doesn't seem to work under foundations and concrete patios. If I only had seven mounds per acre, I would be thrilled! There are probably seven under my barn alone, and about one hundred on the three acres I mostly use. Two under the floor off my coop for sure.

Thanks for all of your ideas folks. I'm trying the yeast, and then if that doesn't work I will have to use poison. There's a time when you need to pull out the big guns. My neighbor must be sending all of his ants over here to visit as I see him out with a red bag every two weeks just like clockwork!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), July 17, 2001.

Man oh man, it's getting worse!!!! Evidently the nematode spray that I bought from Jeffers and sprayed around my house foundation had some kind of affect. The ants were coming down the insides of my walls last night and they were biting me in bed!!! Arrgh. It's usually not this bad, something weird is going on in Antland. They also were after stuff in cabinets. Not sugar ants, but fireants. Guys, this stinks! I put the yeast out too....I really hope it works. Thanks again!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), July 18, 2001.

Doreen? You still out there? Are you ok?

-- Nigella Crow (Nigella@comcast.net), March 03, 2003.

My Uncle was told by a man who owns an exotic farm that "Rio Birds" eat fire ants. The guy has some on his land and has no problem anymore. They look like small emus, about the size of a chicken with grey feathers, if I remember right. I can't be sure of the spelling, or proper name of these birds but maybe it will help.

-- Aaron Franz (starkgp@yahoo.com), April 17, 2003.

Have you ever tried Orthene? It stinks like rotten eggs, but seems to work pretty good against the little demons! It also can be obtained from Walmart.

-- Michael Torrence (michaeltorrencesr@att.net), April 20, 2003.

I have been using Bayer Advanced Lawn Fireanter Killer So far so good. I am even noticing mounds of regular ants moving back in the yard. An exterminator said that will work for awhile until they dilute the concentration. I have noticed when I treat a mound there are tons of dead ants on the surface and many times the mound collapses. Only kind so far I have seen do that. Let's see if it still works this year.

-- Carolyn (hown@charter.net), April 29, 2003.

Natural Insecto Formula 7 is the best new product on the market today for killing fire ants. www.soilmateofgeorgia.com is the only distrubitor that I know of.It is a liqued plant extract concentrate that is mixed with water @ one ounce per gallon of water, and it takes about 3 to 5 gallons of the mixture to kill a average size mound Dead Ants Dont MOVE !

-- Don Cornelius (dcorneli@bellsouth.net), November 09, 2003.

If you have animals outside of cages that can get at the poisons after applied do not use them. I used Amdro in our back yard and our dog ate all I sprinkled on the mounds and then five days later died a horrible and painful death. Go with grits or cornmeal, they make the ant blow up on the inside, but several applications may be needed. Also research "benificial nematodes" for fire and control, this can be bought at organic gardening stores. I have also heard of a guy using human urine, but I have not tried that one.

-- stephen farda (blackatz@swbell.net), July 25, 2004.