This year brought new arrivals. We've always had fire ants, but what are known as "crazy ants" have arrived. They don't bite (at least I've never been bitten) and are tenacious foragers. Their big problem is their attraction to electricity. They'll fill a junction box, or a circuit board, and eventually short it out. I've experienced their destruction on a project where they filled the computer on a changeable message board, and the only repair was complete replacement.
So, I spray them when they're around the house, carefully watch outside electrical appliances, and have to accept they're here to stay. One good thing is they will overwhelm fire ants. Where last year mounds were all in the yard, this year hasn't revealed but a few. Still, they're an invasive species, and I don't like having to deal with them.
Chickens will take care of them if that is something you can do.
ReplyDeleteMy yard is a morning gathering place for chickens, geese, turkeys, and even an occasional peacock. I've watched the geese eat the ants, but there are so many, they either get bored, or filled with all they want.
DeleteAxle grease. I use it on the trunks of trees I want to protect from leaf cutter ants- it might work for you.
ReplyDeleteIf that's what I have to do, I'll give it a try.
DeleteAnts got into an electronic recorder mounted on a natural gas meter I maintained. The factory rep told me that ants were attracted to the hum put off by the electronics.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. Electronics seem to suffer more than anything else.
DeleteThe "crazy ants" are the ones that are referred to as the "super colony." Unlike other species of ants, you can scoop up a bunch, take them across an ocean, dump them into another colony and they will be accepted as members of that colony. They're spreading throughout FL and driving fire ants out by their sheer numbers. The only saving grace is they don't sting like fire ants.
DeleteOn a tangent, years ago we had an infestation of caterpillars that were munching on the fresh leaves of the laurel oaks. I took duct tape and wrapped it, sticky-side-out, around the trunks of our trees about 48" above the ground. The traffic jam of caterpillars was hilarious. It looked like the L.A. expressway at rush hour. 😎