Predators of the fire ant?

[Randolph XX()]

it is Solenopsis invicta, the newr one i guess
we also have S. geminata which has been invading taiwan for more than a decade
S.indagatrix and S.tipuna are local sps in Taiwan

 

[Ronj]

I'm betting its another form of Solenopsis, not the fire ant's we think of as S. invicta and others. Sounds more like a native sp which right now the name escapes me. Argentines and Fire ants are both pests argentines have much greater numbers but no sting, Fire ants less numbers but a sometimes painful sting that some are allergic to. I wouldn't tell you to bring argies since your in Taiwan, you would get into A HUGE ammount of trouble from the government for doing this as these ants have already taken over parts of western us, and western europe, as well as parts of australia im told.

I was thinking the same thing about the type of ant. I am in fire ant country and have yet to see them enter the house. Not that it really matters much. The only way to rid yourself of these critters is chemically. There are chemicals that can be used as spot treatment that really work, and there are broadcast chemicals that you use one time on the entire yard that guarantee no more insects within that area. Your sensitivity to chemicals, is that a physical reaction or your fear of the children being around the area? If it your concern is for the children then the chemicals will have little affect if used as directed and spread out over a larger area. Maybe you could take a short vacation and have the areas treated while you are away. Other then that, sorry, I doubt there are any insects that can be used to fight these ants, or we would have them right here in Fire Ant Central!

What about boric acid? I know this works on roaches, German, not the good kinds, and you lay out a very small line of this, and when they clean themselves, whammy! Just a thought? Or, what about those little ant hotels, you know, they check in but never check out? Good Luck, Ants can be a real pain!

RonJ

 

[Ronj]

I too hate fire ants. Over the years I have developed an allergy to their bites. My Dr. told me that I'm the worst he's ever seen and in the top five in the US! Anyway, I control them in my yard using granulated ant poison (it just runs them out of the yard I think. When they do make it in, I use a barrier of boric acid around the outside edges of my house, and use ant spray inside that is labeled for inside use and don't leave a toxic residue. I know some of these things aren't an option for the original poster, but someone my benefit from this information.

Sorry, missed your post or was writing at the same time. So boric acid works on ants too huh? I was just guessing! Good to know.

 

[Randolph XX()]

http://www.fireant-tw.org/main06/入侵紅火蟻專刊/美國防治入侵紅火蟻的理論與實務111-132.pdf
http://www.fireant-tw.org/main06/入侵紅火蟻專刊/對台灣入侵紅火蟻疫情之觀想建議133-152.pdf
http://www.fireant-tw.org/main06/入侵紅火蟻專刊/由德州經驗談成功防治入侵紅火蟻之道15-34.pdf

 

[dtknow]

From your description is Pheidole, the most developed ants to fight fire ants.

They don't look like Pheidole. Those all have very distinct castes correct? These here ants appear to all be of one caste as far as workers are concerned. We do have teeny yellow Pheidole here and while they do form decent size colonies I can't see them fighting the fire ants unless they use that "midget advantage" the fire ants use on the above said species(tiny ants climb onto a bigger one to kill it). That said I did observe a lone fire ant being pulled to pieces by a swarm of these guys.

 

[Ganoderma]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions!!! And thansk for those links randolph. I think they are fire ants, but i really cant say. i can also say i suck at taking pictures...they are small fast and bite! i got 7 stings on my feet, 9 on my leg, and 1 on my finger getting htese few pictures! they are starting to really get!

i should point out that our "yard" is concrete with sand on it, VERY dry...but there is a ditch (concrete) that runs along it so they have water. Our hous eis concrete/brick and its like a townhouse style. the houses are conected, if that makes sense. so perimeter work is only so effective, i will try it though.

my sesitivity is mostly the fact i get vilontly ill even when i use a houshold cleaner. i have gon eto the hospitol after spraying a bunch of raid type products at soem wasps. it is also for the children, but mostly me. We run a school 6 days a week minimum, have many pets/plants including large aquaria, so evacuating is not really that possible right now.

i have been trying the soap method....i swear they eat soap too

here are a couple pics, if you need more, ok....but they are painfull! and a videa, 3.2mb. The video shows a VERY small amount of what we have. there are maybe 100+ of those little nests in our yard :wall:

found a decent link on flies vs ant. http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/

 

[juggalo69]

I noticed when I lived where there were fire ants that if you urinate on the nest it will cause the ants to relocate the whole nest. Kind of an unusual method but I found that I could keep the nests out of my yard by just letting nature take its course.

 

[Ant Worker]

Thanks for the images, gives me a better understanding of what they are!
I'll do some keying and stuff see what they turn out to be, although I'm sure they aren't S. invicta but another solenopsis sp.

 

[Ronj]

I noticed when I lived where there were fire ants that if you urinate on the nest it will cause the ants to relocate the whole nest. Kind of an unusual method but I found that I could keep the nests out of my yard by just letting nature take its course.

This news just in.... School Master Caught Peeing on Ants!

I just don't think that would be a good idea for some reason. I would like to know how you "noticed" that urinating worked! There has to be late night drinking story here somewhere!

There are some granular pest control that you also water into the nest. This is really some of the older pesticides and labor intensive. I would think if you were careful, or had someone else do the deed for you, good old Amdro would be most helpful. Very little is needed, you just spread it around the outside of the nest, and they take it right to the queen. WIthin in a few days the ants are all dead. Good luck!

 

[Ganoderma]

I am close to using it for the back yard....i just cleaned up a bit and pulled soem concrete up (by accident) and it was RED....must have been tens of thousands...i don't normally react to bugs but these things left a bunch of small wite bumps...i dumped about 40 gallons of HEAVILY　soaped water, this weekend i will be taking EVERYTHING out but the concrete. my house and my 3 neighbors. they are too much we find more and more inside everyday....i have a pot with a bonsai tree in it, today i unpotted to root prune and there was another nest in that! arg...

anyway when i dig everything up i'll keep the camera close, the moving red dirt was really something amazing to watch....and so was killing it.

 

[lwbfl]

Good luck, those are some mean looking critters!

 

[Beth-Tex]

Am wondering also if these are the true fire ants as we have fire ants also & when one disturbs a nest or the dirt around the nest, these buggers swarm & bite something fierce & the bite feels like FIRE......that's why they call them fire ants.
I am very allergic to the bite & swell up badly & get infection from a bite. There have been dogs & other small animals that have been swarmed & have died from their bites. We have to use pesticide that is put directly on the mound & it kills them in a few hours. We use Ortho fire ant killer......have no choice but to use that stuff as we can't afford to be run out by these buggers......but.....they do not get into the house......they stay outside.
After we've treated a mound, we are very very careful to keep the dog away because of the poison & the birds n' other critters don't go near that stuff.....it stinks like rotten cabbage or something similar but it works.

Beth

 

[Ganoderma]

again, i am no ant person and i am not sure myself what they are....theres thousands, they are small, red, and do sting! I brok e out in a MASSIVE sweat last night and my ankle swelled quite a bit. seems i got a good amount of bits on my legs...it didnt hurt too much in the day but that night it burned a lot.

Anyway i have done more soap....my wife wants to use DDT......long story short i said if she bought that i would go back to canada

I am thinking using the nicotine trick as many pesticides are made out of nicotiana, an di think i may grow some N. rustica for this purpose shoudl it ever come back. for now i will buy some pipe tobacco.

I think cleaning the back yards right out will do a lot. i hope. i am also putting all my plants on some kind of small pedistal and put boric acid around it. that will hopfully keep them out of my plants...i gota trim a bunch so the leaves dont touch the ground or wall though :8o

i think i will have to get pictures of dead ones, they move kind of fast and are tiny...my camera skills are sub-par.

 

[Ganoderma]

I went out again to dump more soap.....I counted 73 piles of dead ants measuring from 2x2" to 5x9" and a good 1/2" deep! LOTS dead....the scary thing is they are relocating now...half of our backyard is crawilign with the things, they are everywhere! here are a couple pics, please excuse teh quality, its almost dark now.

There were little ants with wings! are these the ones that go about breeding? I killed them all just in case, but why wings? i also got a good amount of eggs being moved. I still have hope

Close up of dead ant worker. Boiling water works.

One of the new places they moved to, this took them about 8 hours to do that.

really hard to see but anything blury in this pic is an ant. i need a bette rnight camera, but there are probably thousands of little @#$@$%s here, thats before i disturbed them!


One of many piles of dead ants...LOTS died, LOTS more lived :wall:

This is a small part of our yard with the last remaining "garden" waiting to be torn down that is dose #2 of soap.

 

[ErikH]

I don't live in fire-ant country, but the as far as the ants we get in Illinois go, soapy water works, and so does powdered Cayenne pepper. If you get them in the house, try leaving powdered cayenne along the walls where you saw them for a few days. It seems to make them go back outside.

 

[Stylopidae]

I know they sell pure nicotine sulfate as a pesticide. Given your sensitivity, I don't know if it would hurt you.

The nice thing about tobacco is that it apparrently works as a fertilizer, from what I hear. :?

 

[lwbfl]

Ant genocide!

 

[Natco]

I am so sorry to hear about your problem! I am a firm believer in Integrated Pest Management, but unless the other things you have tried are working better than it sounds I would call an exterminator for advice. There are organic pesticides, though I would be very surprised if they would be up to such a daunting task. I realize you have sensitivities, but perhaps there are some chemical options here. I am somewhat chemically sensitive myself, and I apply pesticides nearly every day at work. As long as I do it correctly I have no side effects. If the things you are trying now do not work feel free to send me a private message, and I will be happy to consult some very good honest close personal contacts I have in the pest control agency. I will explain your sensitivities as you have here, and see what they think. I can guarantee they will give truthful advice. In the mean time I hope it does not come to that, and good luck.

 

[ilovebugs]

If you haven't already poured boiling soap on your garden, you might want to give coffee grains a try. my parents have always done this when there was ants near the house. I'm not sure how it works, but in a few days, it seems to have gotten rid of them (not sure if it makes them leave or die though...)

also, I've heard grits does well (I don't know if you get grits there...) suposedly they expand in the and and it kills them. maybe coffee works the same.

 

[Ant Worker]

Hi! Thanks for more photos! I'm wondering, how long are these workers and do they have a soldier/major ant caste?

As of now im thinking something like Wasmannia, a pretty widespread invasive species. S. invicta has been reported in Tiawan before, but the colors are completly off for S. invicta leading me to Wasmannia or maybe some other form of Solenopsis. How long are the workers in mm? I'm not familiar with ants from that far east, I usually deal with different NA, SA, and europe ants along with a good number from australia. ;(