October 26, 2011, 09:21 AM | #1 |
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Red Ants Around Feeder
So I setup my feeder about a month ago and now there are about 10 red ant mounds all around it and making off with my corn. Are they going to have any kind of effect on my deer activity? I was thinking about spraying them but didn't want to introduce that new smell out there since I do bow hunt this area.
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October 26, 2011, 01:06 PM | #2 |
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heck yes they will destroy your hunting. what deer wants to suck up a mouthful of ants with every bit of corn?
Two suggestions. First, move the stupid feeder 30 feet or more. Second, make ant killing traps. Get a few quart sized plastic containers. Using a paper punch put dozens of holes in the top. run superglue completely around the top, gluing lid to base. Mix a 3 to 1 quantity of plain borax, find it in any grocery store with laundry detergent, and plain cane sugar. add water until you get a heavy solution, then add about 1 ounce propylene glycol (pharmacy) per cup of to prevent it from evaporating. Antifreeze may work just as well. Bury several containers completely up to the lid with no more than a cup of the poison in the container, and refill as necessary using funnel or turkey baster. This will kill your ants quicker than a fly swatter. This assumes that they will go for the sugar. |
October 26, 2011, 01:33 PM | #3 |
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Fire ants or red harvester ants?
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October 26, 2011, 01:35 PM | #4 |
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Don't worrie about the ants. They are a common problem in Texas. I actually have a mound in the pen with my feeder. I have several camera pics showing turkey eating them. If u really feel its a problem, just get some amdro and sprinkel it directly on the mount. It dosent take much and it dosent have a smell.
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October 26, 2011, 01:39 PM | #5 |
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Red ants are native and shouldn't be a problem, many animals eat red ants including my dogs.
fire ants are different story, they are invasive and they will kill many animals that birth and nest on the ground.
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October 26, 2011, 02:37 PM | #6 |
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Rickyrick has a point. Many people mistakenly call fire ants "red ants" . So, which one are you talking about. Texas has both.
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October 26, 2011, 03:32 PM | #7 |
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I'm pretty sure their red ants
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October 26, 2011, 03:35 PM | #8 |
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Permethrin is what kills fire-ants. I buy from the co-op "Hi-Yield 38 Plus" termite control concentrate with 38% permethrin. Garden
Supply Centers typically sell a 25% concentrate. One ounce of concentrate per gallon is plenty strong enough to kill fire-ants. I've killed them with 1/2 ounce per gallon. I've used a pump-up sprayer and an agricultural sprayer on the back of a tractor but mostly I just mix it in a 2-1/2 gallon plastic Round-Up jug. 2 ounces of concentrate in the jug filled with water is enough. I carry one on the riding mower when I mow the grass. To kill a fire ant hill, the queen has to be killed. If it's a single mound, then in the center of the mound will be the tunnel that goes straight down into the nest. In a large hill, the queen might be three feet down in the ground. Using a pump-up sprayer, spray the top of the mound to keep them from wandering over to your feet, then poke the wand around in the center of mound until you find the hole going down. For large mounds inject a much as a pint. If you use the jug, just pour a little around on the center of the hill until you can see where it starts going into the ground.Then pour about a pint into the hole. They will be dead in five minutes. Some nests don't have a central mound but are spread out over an area maybe four feet in diameter with no central mound. These are multiple queen nests and each hole must be located and poisoned. These may require multiple applications to get all the queens. Good Luck! Persistence is the key. |
October 26, 2011, 07:02 PM | #9 |
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Man I'm glad I live in Wisconsin. No fire ants here.
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October 27, 2011, 07:35 AM | #10 |
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Wcar,
I think I'll just move my feeder!! |
October 27, 2011, 09:12 AM | #11 |
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I wish I could move my house!
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October 27, 2011, 11:54 AM | #12 |
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If they are bad enough to make you want to move the feeder, it sounds like fire ants and not red ants.
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October 27, 2011, 12:20 PM | #13 |
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I am suspicious because he said mounds, red ants don't make mounds particularly, over time the gravel and debris build up but not to the point of being called a mound. Red ant holes are usually a large flat area cleared of vegetation with distinct paths radiating outward.
Red ants are not outwardly bothersome unless provoked to a greater degree than it takes fire ants. Red ant bites are quite painful. Red ants will fight with red ants from other colonies, therefore, others colonies should be a significant distance away. It could be possible that its a very old colony with multiple entrances. Fire ants mound up quickly, overnight, and are steep. They can have several in one area and can be spotted from considerable distance. The mounds are unstable and resemble finely ground coffee at times. Fire ants will attack with very little provocation. While individual bites are not as painful, they attack in force and the multiple bites can make you ill an cause death in the weak. The bites form ous filled blisters.
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October 27, 2011, 02:58 PM | #14 |
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A cheap wipe-out for fire ants is a mix of a cup of gasoline, a cup of the cheapest liquid detergent you can find, and five gallons of water. I drag a bootheel through the mound, and sprinkle about a gallon from one of those "rainwater" sprinkling-type water cans used on flowerbeds.
So far, so good. I've had no problem in keeping a south Georgia yard free of the little devils. Ambro will do in red ants, I'm told by a neighbor. |
October 27, 2011, 03:51 PM | #15 | |
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October 27, 2011, 05:05 PM | #16 |
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Most likely a very old colony probly decades old. I would say that they would be difficult to completely eradicate. They should go away for the winter soon.
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October 28, 2011, 02:32 PM | #17 |
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I didn't realize they wouldn't be a problem in the winter time. If that's the case, I'll just leave the feeder since winter's right around the corner.
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