Ant Deterrent

[roy2cebu]

What type of knife are we talking here....carving, table, pen, muggers? And what exactly is a knife "tip"?....something you give to a dodgy taxi driver?

[Mr Lee]

What type of knife are we talking here....carving, table, pen, muggers? And what exactly is a knife "tip"?....something you give to a dodgy taxi driver?

Sorry, it really does not matter, a pocket knife is what I was talking about but a steak knife would work as well, it is just a matter of measuring an approximate amount and then about ten times that amount in sugar to attract them. You can use a soda bottle cap of boric acid and ten caps of sugar, if you are going to put a lot out, or a quarter cap and ten quarter caps of sugar and then whatever necessary water to make a wet paste.

[roy2cebu]

Well, I made the mix and wow! Think I have discovered there's at least 4 nests within the house....and that's only where I've placed the mix. Will see how it goes over next few days

[Dave Hounddriver]

(patiently waits to read results and wonders if it is only the ants with turbans committing suicide or all denominations)

[Dave Hounddriver]

:bash: (patiently waits to read results and wonders if it is only the ants with turbans committing suicide or all denominations)

It seems I waited for a long time to hear back about Roy having any success with his borax but no matter. I have a new story to tell. It seems Australia sells a product called Ant-Rid which consists of Boron as the active ingredient. The instructions say that it works as other posters have described (and as of 3 weeks ago it was available in Cebu at Ayala Mall in the hardware store on the main floor near the Bo's Coffee stand). So I found an old bottle of it in the tool shed of the house I am renting and I tried it. I tried mixing it in with sugar, jam, peanut butter, anything I could think of but the ants would not eat the tainted food. I was starting to think it just does not work until looked at the bottle of ant rid. I can see this on the top when I look with a magnifying glass: (8)80 . . . . and now I am thinking that bottle has been in the shed since before August 1980. Hmmm and the owner tried to sell me this house saying it was only 15 years old. I kinda suspected he was stretching the truth. So my next project is to pick up a fresh bottle this week and give it another try. Wish me luck.

[Jollygoodfellow]

:bash: (patiently waits to read results and wonders if it is only the ants with turbans committing suicide or all denominations)

It seems I waited for a long time to hear back about Roy having any success with his borax but no matter. I have a new story to tell. It seems Australia sells a product called Ant-Rid which consists of Boron as the active ingredient. The instructions say that it works as other posters have described (and as of 3 weeks ago it was available in Cebu at Ayala Mall in the hardware store on the main floor near the Bo's Coffee stand). So I found an old bottle of it in the tool shed of the house I am renting and I tried it. I tried mixing it in with sugar, jam, peanut butter, anything I could think of but the ants would not eat the tainted food. I was starting to think it just does not work until looked at the bottle of ant rid. I can see this on the top when I look with a magnifying glass: (8)80 . . . . and now I am thinking that bottle has been in the shed since before August 1980. Hmmm and the owner tried to sell me this house saying it was only 15 years old. I kinda suspected he was stretching the truth. So my next project is to pick up a fresh bottle this week and give it another try. Wish me luck.

DaveI tell you now it works but you don't mix it with anything,just put a few drops here and there,job done.

[Dave Hounddriver]

I tried that with the stale bottle I have but it dried up very fast. Is that normal. When I get a fresh bottle and put a drop here and there does it matter that it dries up fast? Or maybe I should put the drop on a few grains of sugar or something?

[Jollygoodfellow]

I tried that with the stale bottle I have but it dried up very fast. Is that normal. When I get a fresh bottle and put a drop here and there does it matter that it dries up fast? Or maybe I should put the drop on a few grains of sugar or something?

Here in Australia from my experience is that it does not dry up that quick,you may not know but it could be that it is being consumed by the ants,only monitoring will tell as they form a group around the bait,drinking and chatting I guess.Where I live is similar weather to the Philippines so should be about the same affect.

[Mr Lee]

I tried that with the stale bottle I have but it dried up very fast. Is that normal. When I get a fresh bottle and put a drop here and there does it matter that it dries up fast? Or maybe I should put the drop on a few grains of sugar or something?

Here in Australia from my experience is that it does not dry up that quick,you may not know but it could be that it is being consumed by the ants,only monitoring will tell as they form a group around the bait,drinking and chatting I guess.Where I live is similar weather to the Philippines so should be about the same affect.

Put some into bottle caps and if you find it dries up quickly, then add some water to it. I have not used that one but I use the regular boric acid mixed with sugar as in my posts above and I find that I usually had to add water daily because it would dry up since we keep the aircon on. I also found sticking in pieces of cotton balls into the mix was a good way to just put those around in hard to reach places once they were saturated daily. The cotton balls seem to stay damp longer.

[Dave Hounddriver]

So I went back to True Value in Ayala and all the Ant-Rid they had 3 weeks ago is gone and the staff have no clue. They did have a couple of substitutes that seem good. I bought 1 lb of Roach Prufe for 595 Pesos and it says the active ingredient is Boric Acid. Then I bought a box of Ant Killer Liquid Bait for 450 pesos that looks to be similar to the ant rid. Will keep you posted.