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Ant trouble--Pictures!

I have an ant problem:
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I need to get rid of these pests! I know, there are gonna be some people out there who say that "there cool, don't kill them," and I agree, I've had lots of fun whatcing them, especally there realationship with the predators in my artificial enviroment--Nepenthes and Drosera! Its been a grand feast. But I'm moving soon and besides I'm not sleeping in a room with ants crawling around me for any long period of time.
My parents have a pesticide that they say I can use if I want. Its called "Combat Source Kill," and its main ingredient is Hydramethylnon. As the title suggests, its one of those pest killers that poisons the Queen so that the colony dies out.
My question is, since the Queen and many of the ants are living in the soil of one of my plants (probably either my Nepenthes x "Lady Pauline," Nepenthes alata, or Nepenthes truncata), will the poisen the ants bring back into the colony have negative effects on my Nepenthes, even in such small quantites? I read something saying that it was ok for houseplants, but then Nepenthes aren't your typical plants.
Here's a link: http://www.dialcorp.com/index.cfm?page_id=193&pid=2
Many thanks!
 
That should have no effect on your plants; those insecticides target the specific chemistry of the insects specifically some of their internal and hormonal reactions, and won't bother your plants at all, even when they all die out. - Rich
 
buy more plant's :p
 
I had a mini ant infestation of my terrarium just a couple weeks ago... it was really bad for about 3 days and I didnt know what to do... and then I woke up one day and they were gone and all my plants especially my S. Scarlet Bell were all doing this :blush: then flourished ... the coolest part was all of my VFT seedlings that were too small for even the smallest fly just destroyed those ants :) I didnt realize till they all reopened with carcasses.... it was cool...
sorry I know I had no suggestions for you... just got me to thinking...
 
Same here. One of my plant stands has ants and just yesterday I found them in my pantry.

Hey! I have ants in my pant...ry. hehe

I put some ant discs down but I think they might have been fried from the package sitting on top of stove. :-/
 
PAK: uggghhhhh thats bad. :jester:
I don't think getting more plants is really much of an option for me since I'm almost all out of space. The Nepenthes I have right now are doing a pretty good job right now, actually. You can't see it in the picture but the "Lady Pauline" pictured is half full of ants.
Anyway, thanks for the info on these traps! I'll put some out now.
 
Hey! I have ants in my pant
That reminds me of a woman I gave a cp tour to a few years ago. She was fascinated by fireants. She said that she just had to see what it was like to get stung. She played around with them got a few stings.

Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. While sitting at the table her eyes got really big and she said that she thinks she has fireants in her pants. She waited another minute and then she said that she had to go to the bathroom. She got up really fast and started heading to the bathroom.

Halfway to the bathroom she started screaming and pulling off all her clothes, right there in the restaurant.

The last part isn't true, I just wish it was true because she was hot.
 
That reminds me of a woman I gave a cp tour to a few years ago. She was fascinated by fireants. She said that she just had to see what it was like to get stung. She played around with them got a few stings.

Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. While sitting at the table her eyes got really big and she said that she thinks she has fireants in her pants. She waited another minute and then she said that she had to go to the bathroom. She got up really fast and started heading to the bathroom.

Halfway to the bathroom she started screaming and pulling off all her clothes, right there in the restaurant.

The last part isn't true, I just wish it was true because she was hot.

mccain4140.gif


Thanks for the laugh - that was great.
 
um, I know a cool solution! Replant the 2 plants you kind they are nesting in and put the soil in a container (outside of coarse) and take the soil and place an escape proof lid and place it over it. Get a few test tubes/pieces of pipe and make a water resavior and cover them with paper leaving the entrance open. Place those in the container and wait. The ants should move in queen and all to the tubes so you can either release them all without killing them or have your own ant colony! how big are the ants? At first glance the look like formica or lasius, or maybe P. imparis.
 
  • #10
They look like "carpenter ants" to me, they're everywhere around my place! - Rich
 
  • #11
PAK: uggghhhhh thats bad. :jester:

What? It's true. :)


Halfway to the bathroom she started screaming and pulling off all her clothes, right there in the restaurant.

The last part isn't true, I just wish it was true because she was hot.

You are so full of it. LOL Well at least the first half was true. :p

Those ants in the pic are definitely bigger than mine. I just have those little black ants. Still...they are annoying.
 
  • #12
Here is your solution. We have ant troubles in my house every summer, and this stuff works wonders. I'll probably end up giving you more info then you care to know, but if you want to take care of the problem go to the store and pick up this stuff called "Terro." The product has changed over the past few years. It used to just be a bottle of this goo, and you put a big blob of it on a piece of cardboard. Now they make these convenient little plastic traps so people can't get to the poison. Anyways, just stick a trap wherever you see an abundance of the little critters, and let it go. After a little while they will swarm to it, and as gross as it may be, DON'T touch it. They carry the poison back to the nest, and in a few days your ant problem is solved. They take the food back to the queen, she dies, and no more ants! We've been using it for years and years, it's really a great product. (And no, I do not work for them.)
 
  • #13
Here's a solution (maybe). I've heard that ants don't dare pass chalk lines. Just draw a chalk line all around pot, or something.
 
  • #14
Chalk lines! LOL! no that wont work at all! The shape of the thorax doesn't look right to be carpenter ants, witch usually nest under or in decaying wet wood. The little black ants PAK was talking about are pavement ants or tetramorium caespitum. I have your solution, just send the plant with the ants in it to me and you wont have any more problems! You really don't have to kill the queen, is this in a terarium or just a window sil? If you put the plants in a terramium just put vaseline around the sides (a thick coating not thin) just where you can't see it. Then the ants can live with your plants and all you have to do is feed them some honey or dead bugs a few times a week!
 
  • #15
That stuff in ant discs is whatever Ant was talking about ("goo"). I always thought it was boric acid because that is what you use for roaches and it works the same way essentially. It sticks to them and they carry it back to their homes.
 
  • #16
I didn't say anything about goo or ant traps.
 
  • #17
Chalk lines! LOL! no that wont work at all!

:p. I'm not sure of that either. I just heard it somewhere with the chemicals blah, blah, blah.
 
  • #18
I think that people thought that because when the ants come up to it the spend a while smelling it because it is new to them.
 
  • #19
I think that people thought that because when the ants come up to it the spend a while smelling it because it is new to them.

True.
 
  • #20
I had some serious problems last year with fire ants. I don't know what it is about me, but they ended up in my bed on two different occasions and on my couch once. My room is on the second story, so they had a ways to travel. They didn't end up in anyone else's bed or couch (and it wasn't due to food or anything like that). My dad ended up having to spray both inside and outside to prevent them from coming back in. I don't know right off what chemicals were used, but I can find out if you need them.

Crystal
 
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