Sciencemadness Discussion Board - How to kill or at least repel or block ants?

How to kill or at least repel or block ants?

antiboy - 5-5-2019 at 05:52

Hi. I am being attacked by ants. They want to kill me.
How can I kill them so they don't kill me?
I am interested in household and common and natural (salt, water, plants) chemicals instead of poisonuous ones and damaging for environment (Cl, As, Pb, cyanides...).
I already tried putting NaCl in their tunnel through which they are coming into my home, but although with a bit of delay, they just dig through that tunnel. Now they are simply passing through salt tunnel.
I am talking about larger faster ants, not those small ones that are not that big issue and not so fast.
I also took picture of one of them and became scary because he looks like monster, except not noticable from distance because they are small. He looks extremely angry and ready for war.
My current method of handling is to step on them with foot until they turn into juicy dead body. Can't find better solution. In fact, even if I block them from coming into home, there are so many outside and they have built their base under home and can find it via pheromones and will probably just stand in front and wait or find another way.
Outside there are also other ant bases (homes) and I am talking about hundreds of thousands of ants, of which probably third is under my home, probably feeding their queen or something.

[Edited on 5-5-2019 by antiboy]

j_sum1 - 5-5-2019 at 06:10

Sugar syrup with dissolved borax. Feed generously for several days. They will die.

fusso - 5-5-2019 at 06:40

Can this kill cockroaches?

Sulaiman - 5-5-2019 at 10:43

Boric acid sprinkled in dry places where arthropods may make a trail is fairly effective.

Ants ... so many types.
In UK I used Nippon brand ant poison with great effect.
When I deployed the same product against some ants that invaded my home in Malaysia,
they returned to their nest - to bring their relatives back to my kitchen for a feast

antiboy - 5-5-2019 at 11:00

Maybe your product expired. Btw I am very well aware of existing chemical solution like these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Pesticides and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Insecticides
But I am looking for much more common stuff than borax or common chemicals like HCl or bleach. Something at least as natural and as common as table salt or water. Something even even old folks would know how to use. Is there some abundant, free, natural product in unlimited supply? I would of course use animals ant eaters who eat thousands of ants if I planned to stay for longer on the same area, but I am looking for quick natural solution. Many people on internet advised salt, lemon, vinegar and god-knows-what, and none worked. Is there anything weaker than chemicals but stronger than let's say water? Also if possible to use some natural trick that mother nature teaches us such as lowering temperature to freeze whole ant bases then digging them out and moving them to another location in frozen state, aka simulate winter or even just rainy weather (they are inactive at specific weather and time, mostly in morning and always in rain). What makes ant know when it will rain? Pressure, water, dark sky? I would use this solid freezing and excavation but as I said I need quick solution, least effort.

[Edited on 5-5-2019 by antiboy]

kulep - 5-5-2019 at 11:06

Borax is as common as it gets. A kerosene and water emulsion works too, but some people don't find dead dinosaurs very natural

Chemetix - 5-5-2019 at 11:20

They hate clay, I sprinkled dry clay around where they were coming out a wall and into my kitchen, wiping some on the surfaces around the hole. They got the message and eventually went somewhere else. Took about a week for the message to get to everybody.

karlos³ - 5-5-2019 at 11:52

Isn't celite something that acts on them, drying their trachea out when they crawl over it?
Or is this only true for other arthropods like mites, not ants(because they reach a higher level?).

OT, now I have to think of the ants on stilts experiment

Sulaiman - 5-5-2019 at 12:42

I don't know what it is but this type of chalk sticks are popular
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-Miraculous-Pests-Control-Cha...

Morgan - 5-5-2019 at 15:06

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman

I don't know what it is but this type of chalk sticks are popular
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-Miraculous-Pests-Control-Cha...

It's possibly that stuff they use in dynamite, diatomaceous earth.

[Edited on 5-5-2019 by Morgan]

kill everything

sodium_stearate - 6-5-2019 at 07:28

chlordane

karlos³ - 6-5-2019 at 08:46

Quote: Originally posted by Morgan

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman

I don't know what it is but this type of chalk sticks are popular
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-Miraculous-Pests-Control-Cha...

It's possibly that stuff they use in dynamite, diatomaceous earth.

[Edited on 5-5-2019 by Morgan]

Isn't diatomaceous earth the same as celite?

I think the chalk sticks have another use...
Nobody else remembers from childhood how ants are seemingly not able to cross a drawn chalk line?

MrHomeScientist - 6-5-2019 at 10:19

Two new accounts in one day, and now resorting to sockpuppeting? That's a new record low for you, PhD.

phlogiston - 6-5-2019 at 10:36

Dishwasher soap blocks the ants we have here quite well.

Morgan - 6-5-2019 at 14:04

"How to use it: Draw a chalk line wherever you want to keep away crawling insects."

d. e. bug chalk - Diatomaceous Earth Chalk
http://www.habitationessentials.com/store/p1/d._e._bug_chalk...

Herr Haber - 7-5-2019 at 04:11

Quote: Originally posted by sodium_stearate

chlordane

A couple of years ago a scabies problem almost led me to synthesize massive amounts of chloropicrin.
The first idea was HCN but then I thought of my neighbours :mad:

fusso - 7-5-2019 at 04:26

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist

Two new accounts in one day, and now resorting to sockpuppeting? That's a new record low for you, PhD.

Hey everyone, stop giving serious replies to this thread. OP is PhD who's recognised as a longtime troll by longtime members. Stop giving serious replies so he cant accomplish what he want.

[Edited on 190507 by fusso]

DrP - 7-5-2019 at 05:23

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman

Ants ... so many types.
In UK I used Nippon brand ant poison with great effect.
When I deployed the same product against some ants that invaded my home in Malaysia,
they returned to their nest - to bring their relatives back to my kitchen for a feast

Yea - I've noticed foreign ants are tougher... I once saw a load of rather large ants in Greece... they were about a cm long (much bigger than UK ants). I was young and decided to step on one... it popped back up and walked off... I stepped on it and scrapped my shoe over it, spreading it along the concrete, thinking that this would destroy it. I got a huge surprise when I lifted my foot to see a tangle of ant limbs that slowly started to untangle themselves and 'pop' back up to a full standing ant and that just went merrily on it's way - seemingly indestructible!

Quote: Originally posted by fusso

Stop giving serious replies so he cant accomplish what he want.

Sorry - wanted to reply to Sulaiman with my ant anecdote.

[Edited on 7-5-2019 by DrP]

MrHomeScientist - 7-5-2019 at 08:15

Antecdote?

Corrosive Joeseph - 7-5-2019 at 09:27

Quote: Originally posted by antiboy

Hi. I am being attacked by ants. They want to kill me.

This is priceless.......... And not one reply......... Nobody even batted an eyelid.

Quote: Originally posted by karlos³

Isn't diatomaceous earth the same as celite?

Yup.......... and also keiselguhr and cat litter 'stuff' and about 20 other things.

Regarding the imaginary ants.......... I thought Borax was traditional.

/CJ

morganbw - 7-5-2019 at 15:01

Quote: Originally posted by fusso

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist

Two new accounts in one day, and now resorting to sockpuppeting? That's a new record low for you, PhD.

It looks like Ph.D. has started a nice thread. He is gone so let the thread go where threads go. I am enjoying reading it.

No Help

sodium_stearate - 7-5-2019 at 17:34

This is not a good place to ask about methods
for getting rid of any kind of pests such as insects or
animals.

All you are going to get if you ask those sorts of questions
here are boo-hoo, so sorry the pests must die.

Like I said, if you want to get rid of ants, get some
chlordane. There will not be much of anything else
alive in the vicinity either.... :cool:

andy1988 - 7-5-2019 at 17:38

Diatomaceous earth causes insects to dry out and die by absorbing the oils and fats from the cuticle of the insect's exoskeleton. Its sharp edges are abrasive, speeding up the process [1]. You can find it in a bag in the gardening section of stores, sometimes it isn't sold pure and is mixed with other stuff.

EDIT: Molasses fertilizer tilled into soil, found in agricultural stores (50lb bags mixed with silage or whatever). It drives fungal growth, which overtakes ant nests and drives them out of the area. It is an "organic" pest control method. EDIT2: It is the explanation I'd read on an "organic" grower website, I can't find the reference.

Quote: Originally posted by fusso

Hey everyone, stop giving serious replies to this thread. OP is PhD who's recognised as a longtime troll by longtime members. Stop giving serious replies so he cant accomplish what he want.

Troll isn't an appropriate label for Ph.D and I don't think it fair to call him that. Troll indicates a malicious intent. Disabled would be a more appropriate label. He's written elsewhere the misfortune of being through a psych-ward, homeless, and the intention of innovating. Honestly I'm impressed that he does not try to scam or steal like so many others would in his unfortunate situation "I tried stealing too, but don't like that feeling...", and aspires to do better, but has difficulty doing that where he is and from whatever ailments he suffers from. Which is why he keeps coming back here I suppose.

He reminds me of a long time commenter on phys.org, who for years would push a fringe physics theory every opportunity he could. Again and again, others would criticize it as lacking evidence or whatever. Eventually when he posted something personally identifiable (last name and first initial I think), we discovered he was a elderly professor emeritus, with an office, honorable title and such at a university which had all been stripped of him after he was convicted of inappropriate conduct with a grandchild. So we speculated he was really hurt, trying to... leave a legacy or redeem himself somehow. It explained the maladaptive thinking.

EDIT: In Ph.D.'s last post he's angry at his situation... I do take pity on him. I do genuinely think he's disabled.

Ph.D. on this forum we want to promote high quality material. Non-contributive material is removed. Have you heard of MIT OpenCourseWare? I think it would help to further your education as time permits.

[Edited on 8-5-2019 by andy1988]

DrP - 8-5-2019 at 00:34

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist

Antecdote?

hahaha! Yea that's funny. I almost deliberately spelled it that way to make the pun but thought someone might think it was my dyslexia rather than a joke. lol.

fusso - 8-5-2019 at 10:32

Bedridden? How dare u claim that w/o photo proof?!

[Edited on 190508 by fusso]

fusso - 8-5-2019 at 11:40

Did I say a photo must contain any body parts of u? y dun u take a photo of the surroundings?

[Edited on 190508 by fusso]

fusso - 8-5-2019 at 11:45

And, mental hospital is where u shud go. then u can b genuinely bedridden.

Abromination - 15-6-2019 at 12:04

Pour 3 gallons of boiling boric acid solution down the hole until they stop coming out for good. If that doesn't work, cast with molten aluminium.

Edit: just now realizing this is PhD

[Edited on 6-15-19 by Abromination]

pneumatician - 19-10-2019 at 13:47

the simple method is if the nest is in a wall... put cement, silicone... stopping the hole and end of the problem, if in earth be creative, nitric acid, sulfur on fire and cover with a bell, molten metal, your putrified pee, dry ashes, sea mud...

rockyit98 - 20-10-2019 at 05:28

Quote: Originally posted by fusso

Can this kill cockroaches?

can kill cockroaches using NaHCO3 or Na2CO3 .i think you can mix them with flour and water.after they eat, acidic nature of digestive system will make CO2 and they explode and die.

AJKOER - 22-10-2019 at 14:37

Spray around a very dilute solution of copper acetate.

Great for constructing a barrier that bugs will not cross.

Copper ions are highly toxic to insects, a major commercial pesticide is copper ammonium salt.

It is also problematically toxic to small animals, fish,..
------------------------------------------------------------

Dilute solution of copper acetate can be prepared in 20 minutes by the action of vinegar, dilute H2O2, and a touch of sea salt on copper metal. The electrochemical reaction is best jump-started in a microwave for a minute or less. Replenish H2O2 as needed.

[Edited on 22-10-2019 by AJKOER]

Pyro_cat - 27-10-2019 at 16:16

A party strobe light down in a crawl space or attic disrupts the activity of insects and drives out rodents.

And its non toxic !

SWIM - 27-10-2019 at 17:27

Quote: Originally posted by Pyro_cat

A party strobe light down in a crawl space or attic disrupts the activity of insects and drives out rodents.

And its non toxic !

Nontoxic maybe, but it still gives me a headache.

Tsjerk - 28-10-2019 at 02:07

I just ordered some precursors to make difluorodiphenyltrichloroethane, the fluor analog of DDT. I will post the results.

I'm having a big fight with aphid and I'm not planning on losing it.

Herr Haber - 28-10-2019 at 07:44

Quote: Originally posted by Tsjerk

I just ordered some precursors to make difluorodiphenyltrichloroethane, the fluor analog of DDT. I will post the results.

I'm having a big fight with aphid and I'm not planning on losing it.

Oh, funny, I just found 100ml of Bromobenzene this weekend and was thinking about doing the bromo analog