How do you get rid of ants?

[puddin]

The ants were very small and black. What do you mean by forcing the colony to split? I put the plant outside to treat it, it didn't come back inside until I was sure they were gone, and the other orchids didn't have any ants crawling out of them when I watered them.

[justatypn]

What great advise, burning there butts to, making them hyper, double standard go away-no come back-no go away, drowning them and watching them do the backstroke and not to mention offerring them an Italian nationality . Ants come with the territory where there is moisture and fungus. Look closely at the medium and don't forget to come back again in 10 days with your chemical of chioce and preventative every 3 months.

[Charles]

Really tiny? Like 1/32 inch? Might be pharaoh ants. Be careful not to use any insecticides. You might force them to divide.

A colony of ants can travel by picking up eggs and marching in different directions. A newly hatched baby will be a queen unless treated with a certain sterilizing hormone at hatch. This is how they survive being pressured. A small contingent of workers takes a small group of eggs and off they go. Normally, they swarm and make new colonies. Winged queens and drones fly out and make babies. Each queen is a potential new colony.

If you found ants out hunting, the colony is nearby and they are going to be missing their workers. Enough workers disappear, may trigger ant plan "B". Migration and pseudo swarming.

Be careful. You could open a real can of worms if you don't watch the pressure.

[justatypn]

If you found ants out hunting, the colony is nearby and they are going to be missing their workers. Enough workers disappear, may trigger ant plan "B". Migration and pseudo swarming.

[Gin]

I just got an education in ants 101 ! I find them in the greenhouse off and on and use Terro . Home Defense around door stiils inside , and foundation outside . I don't have a cat have heard the Boric Acid in Terro can make cats sick ? not sure about that little gem of info. Gin

[Charles]

The main ingredient in Terro is Boric acid. It can be used as an eye flush. It is not very high on the toxicity list.

A good rule is to put it into something that only ants can get into. We used to remove switch plates on people's walls in their home and let a small amount run down inside the wall. It does not take much. A drop about the size of a pea will kill many ants.

Ants:102
Only the zygotes can eat solid foods. The babies. The adults can not eat solids. Liquids only. That is why aphids are so popular among ants. Ants will farm aphids. Carrying them to and from flowers so they can eat and give off nectar for their ant shepherds to eat. Farming.
The ants in the colony will carry solid food back to the nest to feed to the zygotes. They in turn regurgitate the digested liquid. That is their function until they mature. Constantly fed and regurgitating for adults.
Terro kills by being in the adult when it is carried back. It kills slowly, so the ants do not catch on. If solids are used, and the zygotes begin to die, the ants stop feeding it and move out. Terro can not be avoided as such.

[Dorothy]

Ants are aphid herders?
I can imagine the jokes the ants must have about them.

[dave b]

Originally Posted by Dorothy

Ants are aphid herders?
I can imagine the jokes the ants must have about them.

aphid and mite 'herders'. Pretty brilliant for an insect.

[Gin]

Not long ago I saw a segment on TV. about ants they showed ants with red heads hauling mealie bugs on top of thier heads moving them around to start a new farm , is this so Charles ? Gin

[Dorothy]

Thank God ants are the size they are .. imagine what they would have in store for us!