What do you use to kill ants?

Genetic sequencing is growing rapidly as you know. One of the leading edges is to figure out animal diversity at the community level from sequencing ... well, everybodys' blood. They use mosquitoes as 'community blood collectors'.

Mosquito traps blow out CO2 and the skeeters come a runnin. well, a flyin. Then the white lab coat guys take those microliters of blood and sequence the DNA. What amazed me, according to the local expert, is that they can get the reptiles and amphibians as well as the (perhaps more obvious) birds and mammals.

If there is some endangered species in your local whereabouts, the mosquitoes bring you the blood thereof. Even if they are rare. The DNA barcoding does the rest.

So, other than that, I am hard pressed to think of a reason for mosquitoes to exist. Could not gambusia fish find some other aquatic fish larva to eat?

So, I see 'em, I kill 'em. The bar-coders kill 'em too, it is a necessary part of the procedure. Not tap-squeeze-release. Those folks depend on not trapping out all of their agents. In my home/castle, they all must die.

We have 'tennis racquets' here that have an electrified wire mesh, batteries, and a bit of circuitry. They convert small insects to plasma (like on the sun, not blood plasma) in a most satisfying way.

But the bar-coding of community-collected blood is pretty spiffy.

I kill ants too, but they must be guilty of some transgression. Culicidae are born guilty.

If you walk on trails in the Costa Rica forest, keep moving. Army ants use those trails also and they are not disposed towards sharing. Army ants are pretty darn serious.

A closely related ant, Paraponera, is just insane venom-wise. But more insane than the tribes that use them for manhood rituals? Um, maybe not

Bullet Ant Ritual: Deadly, Yet Still Practiced | Scienceray

Made into a glove'o'pain. Man'o'man...

 

Another ant with attitude

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camponotus_saundersi]Camponotus saundersi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

You attack me, I blow myself up and spray poison all over you.

So, for C. saundersi. the answer to the tread question is 'another ant'.

 

I use the exact same method to kill both aunts and uncles. Gender should not be a major consideration.

 

Fascinating. As far as I know, there isn't any active mosquito-borne blood research around here, so they're still fair game.

I think I've heard enough of that story already. Owie.

 

It is for mosquitos. It's only the females who are bloodthirsty.

 

So once everything (that a mosquito bites) gets sequenced, then it's mosquito elimination time for sure.

Fortunately, I thought the reason might be far different. Something like; mosquitos are such efficient blood suckers, that they displaced vampire tarantulas or even vampire woodpeckers from the food chain. (i.e. something far worse than a dinky mosquito did not fill the evolutionary void).

 

Pretty much the same for us ... borax & a mixture of honey and pancake syrup .... yum yum. It takes a LONG time for them to get enough back to the queen, but after a couple weeks? all gone.

 

I cannot distinguish Culicid gender, so I give them equal treatment. Zap.

The ants we see are not really either gender. Suppressed from birth. In some species they can sprout a pair (so to speak) and replace a missing queen.

Perhaps unique is the "Argentine ant", which have several queens, and casual acceptance of workers among colonies. Yer typical ants will fight with any non-nestmates, even conspecifics. But these ones are much more laid back and it has apparently helped them to spread widely..

The notion of a global supercolony is somewhat unsettling

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_ant]Argentine ant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

I understand that all the blood-suckers except leeches can pass diseases to humans, often rather gruesome ones. So the universal dislike of hemophages seems justifiable.

Reduvid beetles are pretty grim. They take a blood meal while you are asleep, and take a dump nearby. If you get infected it is from contact with that poo. Can be without symptoms for 10-20 years, then your trypaonome population blossoms and you die. The lucky recipients get an early (acute phase) and seek medicines effective at that stage. Otherwise, Chagas disease kills you.

Vampire bats are interesting because they locate food sources by infrared, instead of the ho-hum CO2 that other blood-feeders use. Other than these bats, only snakes appear to use night-vision goggles.

But overall there are quite a few blood feeders, and could the world struggle along w/o them? I'd guess so. But poisoning their food source seems problematical. In that it is our blood

So unlike the ants.

But if you see a reduvid bug. don't squish it w/your hand! Use something disposable. Remember it is their poo that gives you Chagas.

 

I see that leeches are now also being used as DNA samplers

Leeches are DNA bloodhounds in the jungle

At the risk of sparking a bit of paranoia, I will attach a picture of the reduviid bug. Chagas is not a big-time disease outside the tropics, but it will not greatly harm you to have a metal image of a bug that it is not wise to touch.

If you really want to get involved, pop it into alcohol (no touch) and send it off to your states - I don't know? Ag extension service? public health office? An internet search would identify the correct place.

 

It's becoming clearer that North America is rather wimpy when it comes to blood suckers. It looks like the professionals inhabit the tropical areas.

 

I work for the Spectracide® brand, so you could say I’m partial to Spectracide® products against ants, but I truly do believe in them. If you’re defending your home and yard against something like ants, you need something that you know is going to work. Sometimes pesticides are just the best tool for the job.

One step to controlling ants inside your home is to try to get them before they come in. Products like Spectracide® Ant Shield® Outdoor Killing Stakes and Spectracide® Ant Shield® Home Barrier Insect Killer can help with that. You can find more info on those at spectracide.com/Products-and-Solutions/Ant-Shield.aspx

 

waddayouguyshave, a program that scans for pesticide chat?

 

Anteater? Or any other beneficial insect that feats upon other insects. I hatched Praying Mantis eggs a couple years ago (saw a few babies) and tried lady bugs. I can't say how well they did, though, because I don't see many Ants at my house anyway.

I'd imagine rubbing alcohol would work, maybe bleach if you want the contact killer stuff. Otherwise, those granuals that you spread and they carry back to the nest work pretty well.

 

Bisco, I think your guess is correct

The chemical being offered up here

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyhalothrin"]Cyhalothrin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


lambda-cyhalothrin (Spectracide Triazicide) NYS DEC Letter - Registration of a Major Change in Labeled Use Pattern 4/03

is available under other brand names as well, if interested. It is *a chemical*, and some folks may have psychological reactions to that. It kills crawlies in the same way it could kill *you*, if exposed to a sufficient dose. The Cornell ref describes it as 'not very acutely toxic' so there you go. Suit yourselves. It is by far not the most toxic chemical you can just buy, for what that may be worth.

Cornell also advises not to use if surface waters are not far 'downstream' from your site, in that aquatic organisms are very sensitive.

My personal reason to not use such is that they are so broad spectrum. It is not obvious to me that I want all crawly life forms in my soil to die. Your eco-sense may vary.

Neither mantids nor ladybugs generally feed on ants, so they won't help you here. They could help in the garden though.

Is anyone familar with ant lions? They are pretty nifty

AntLionDen.com - Antlions, Doodlebugs, Ant Lion Zen Dens & Science Projects - What is an AntLion?

 

FL_Prius, I do not underestimate N Amer blood feeders!

Horse flies, deer flies, black flies etc. are all locally available to make your life miserable. Here they are not spreading much disease. Just 'flying scissors'.

 

While having been a meal for just about any insect that bites, I've managed to avoid the horsefly bite. No small feat for living on a farm raising cattle. However, my brother succeeded where I failed (or is it the other way around). His description was scarier than the actual event. He made two points very clear

1) Horseflies are designed to bite cows and horses. He pointed out that cows have a leather covering....so when a horsefly bites a human, it's like penetrating tissue paper with a nail gun.

2) Horseflies, unlike mosquitos, don't need painless penetration. In fact, there is no mistaking what the horsefly is doing to your body.

 

The most serious Tabanid (horsefly) gets its blood from hippoptamus. They are leather covered, to say the least.

I know this is an ant thread, but ants in N Amer. are mostly pretty bland. the (chemically) flamboyant ones are tropical.

Actually, army ants get as far north as Nebraska, but they are quite rare at the fringe. Seeing army ants in their full 'Satanic' glory should be on ones' life to do list.

 

When we had an any problem, Cinnamon on the ant trail ended the problem.

 

I suppose if you don't want to use borax or any other chemical - you can invest in THIS method:

:eyebrows:



Is that natural enough?

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