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#1 Posted : 05 April 2005 09:43:00(UTC)
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Posted By M MacDonald Morning, How do I get rid of ants once and for all? The little pests have came in to hide from the rain again. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Michelle
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#2 Posted : 05 April 2005 10:14:00(UTC)
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Posted By Richie Michelle, You need to employ a pest controller of repute to put down a jouvenile hormone. The hormone is taken to the egg layer and no more eggs are viable. Ants do not live that long, and the adults can easily be controlled with a free to the public insect spray. You can minimise the amount of insecticide laid down, for instance within a food room, by employing residual insecticide (Crawling insect spray, for instance) in a barrier system which the ants will not wish to cross. This is best done by a pest controller to ensure a complete job. Good luck. P.S. The UK gets off very light concerning ants. Continental europe in comparison is usually over-run by them, making them very hard to control. That is where the barrier system is employed to great effect. Richie.
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#3 Posted : 05 April 2005 12:52:00(UTC)
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Posted By John Webster Does it work on Decs as well, and get rid of both little pests at the same time?
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#4 Posted : 05 April 2005 13:33:00(UTC)
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Posted By M MacDonald Hi, Thanks for your replies - I had a laugh at the Decs one! lol I have been advised that we have tried all of the above and nothing has worked. I might need to enforce a no food in lockers rule as this may be attracting them. We'll keep on fighting them. Thanks again Michelle
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#5 Posted : 05 April 2005 15:04:00(UTC)
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Posted By Allan St.John Holt My dad used to say that the most effective control was a liberal application of a special mixture of black peper and sand. The idea is that the pepper makes them sneeze and they knock themselves out on the sand..... Allan
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#6 Posted : 05 April 2005 15:35:00(UTC)
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Posted By Tony O'Keefe I would send them on the CITB managers safety test, the probability is that they will be sent to the wrong address and wander aimlessly through the streets until dying of old age. Tony
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#7 Posted : 05 April 2005 15:59:00(UTC)
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Posted By Peter MacDonald Build a small scale model of Edinburgh Castle and advertise a suitable concert (say Adam and the Ants). Have them que outside the model. Apparently this is highly dangerous and will lead to swathes of Ant fatalities. Joabs Worthe Historic Scotland
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#8 Posted : 05 April 2005 16:12:00(UTC)
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Posted By David J Jones Was given a tip a few years ago by an old'n'bold "rat catcher" - buy some Nippon ant killer, unobtrusive and easy to use. Look for where they may be gaining access, lay the Nippon which is then taken into the nest as food and after a few days or so Roberts' your fathers brother! Ants gone. Regards David
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#9 Posted : 05 April 2005 16:30:00(UTC)
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Posted By Bev My mum finds where their nest is and pours a kettle full of boiling water down it. It must be a hideous way to die but it's environmentally friendly so, what they hey, you can't win em all. You better do a RA for wandering round with a kettle full of boiling water.
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#10 Posted : 05 April 2005 17:16:00(UTC)
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Posted By Merv Newman Um. I've never heard of an accident or an illness related to ant infestation. Entomologists (insect specialists for the ignorant) insist rather that ants are very clean little beasties who know how to deal with infected brethren. They eat them. Is this a practice we could apply to industrial diseases ? Could you eat someone with dermatitis ? Gross, but interesting, yeah ? Merv
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#11 Posted : 05 April 2005 22:50:00(UTC)
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Posted By Chris Pope You should look on thecaretaker website which has discussion forums and have discussed this one recently
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#12 Posted : 06 April 2005 20:04:00(UTC)
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Posted By Paul J Williams I am affraid to say it but in my experience (20 years in env health) you will never fully get rid of em unless you find and destroy the nest, which is usually inaccessible. In most cases you can only control the numbers and will need to keep treating on an annual basis.
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#13 Posted : 07 April 2005 08:52:00(UTC)
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Posted By Chris Black In Response to Merv's post, the most effective way to eat someone with dermatitis would be in small instalments. sand them down regularly, collect the detritus and use it as parmesan in the canteen.
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#14 Posted : 07 April 2005 08:57:00(UTC)
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Posted By Pete Moran Try the old Dutch remedy of a copper coin placed in a corner or somewhere on their run ....they seem to have an aversion for some reason and retreat or take another route.......might be worth gluing the coin down though!!
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#15 Posted : 07 April 2005 10:05:00(UTC)
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Posted By Lilian McCartney Hi Michelle, I recently had ants in my kitchen and I tried to find the 'ant run'. Apparently, if you can destroy the route left by the scout ants the others won't come in! Anyway, it didn't work. I tried ant bait boxes, they knew what they were and ignored them, I tried 'Bounce' sheets and sneezed watching them trying to carry it off, I tried bleach, I tried ant powder and then I read them the HSW Act. Not sure which one worked but they moved outside, I see them in the garden now. perhaps they'll come back in the winter. I also stopped leaving food out, even for very short periods and also didn't leave any water sources (as that was what they appeared to be after). If all else fails, give them a name and keep them as pets. They're interesting to watch trying to carry things loads of times heavier than them. Lilian
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#16 Posted : 08 April 2005 13:55:00(UTC)
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Posted By J Knight Install either a Giant Anteater or a Green Woodpecker. These are not ideal solutions as Giant Anteaters can rear up and rip your stomach out with their huge claws, and Woodpecker calls can exceed the first action level in short bursts in a confined space. However, they are both very effective ant hoovers. You could try large blue butterflies, but they are hard to get hold of (the caterpillars mimic ant pheromones and get taken into tthe nests where they eat the ant larvae) John
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#17 Posted : 08 April 2005 14:37:00(UTC)
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Posted By J Knight And of course there's always a chimp with a thin stick (thanks Jon) but once they learn sign language they go off and work in marketing and you have to replace them, John
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#18 Posted : 08 April 2005 14:46:00(UTC)
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Posted By Jonathan Breeze My colleague in marketing who sits opposite, is not very happy with that last comment John. I can tell by the way she is gesticulating at me and waving her ruler!
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#19 Posted : 08 April 2005 15:07:00(UTC)
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Posted By J Knight Do you understand sign language then, Jon? John
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#20 Posted : 08 April 2005 19:12:00(UTC)
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Posted By Merv Newman The ones outside pubs ? yeah
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