Ants

Correct JT

PS. It is better for the environment than insect spray, cheaper and more effective.

The ants you are talking about are ginger ants and will eat through wiring including you vehicle, fridge and trailer, etc.
The best solution is to put talcom powder around your vehicle. The cheap home brand is all you need and it will do the trick.
Do not park near or under trees as they will drop from the trees.
If you have a power cord running to your camper, spray that with surface spray.
Do it when you set up and it will prevent them getting in.

Thanx for ID of ants.
On these occasions too late for talc trick & power cord _ first action taken when discovered. They were already in. Problem was getting them out!
Even tried wiping around where they entered (in & out) with surface spray on tissue – no go. Found the only way was with the bread as above.

In peak season, NOT easy NOT to set-up under trees in C/parks.
In Top End heat, who would park in full sun when there's shade?
One indication that ants are a prob is check if other campers have (van) legs in pans of water or smell like a baby's bum!

Is there a gadget you don't have yet Wolfie?

Cheers

Pete

i dont believe it works...give me a lend of it to test....

ps will they work on swmbo's

Wolfie,
You are getting as much stuff as Roachie. LOL.
Cheers,
Bros.

a 3 ton delica?

Yeah but Roachie's stuff is all hardwired in or bolted on, Wolfie is the portable widget Mr Gadget!

An electric fence for ants!

Are you serious Wolfie, this thing works?

Pity about the hefty current draw

Ray, .75 amps is not much, considering the benefits derived.

The process is an old one, developed in the States, during the late 70's, for farmers, along the flood-plains, who use fresh water floods to irrigate large strawberry crops. They worked out, that ants never seemed to come above ground in great numbers after dark, or during wet weather. The finding was an accident waiting to happen, as one of the guys working some of the plantations, used to work on seismic studies during the off seasons, and he was aware of the anomalies present, during these dark and wet times. As it turned out, the magnetic flux lines, or something, are changed when the sun is overhead, and are also changed when the relative humidity is VERY high, so they set about finding how to isolate the frequencies that insects use as their alarm clocks, and change them, making them think it's wet, and dark outside. Seems to work quite a treat.

I believe the system is used widely overseas in some of the vegetable industries as well. It was only a matter of time before we got it here, like we did with mozzie zappers, and those ultra violet light thingies that attract flies, then zap them.

Wolfie

That's amazing stuff Ian. I'm considering the benfits of these devices around the home as I live in an ant infested area and the little monsters are proving more difficult to control every year. At times things are so desperate the mind turns to weapons of mass destruction but we just can't seem to find any.

I wouldn't use the DSE units for home Ray, as you would need quite a few. There are larger units available, which use either 110 - 240 volts, and connect to the earth on your household supply. It does the same thing, as well as also giving you the voice capability we all know about.

They are available in the States, but do not, for some reason, pass our codes here, something to do with pulsing, or something... not sure.

Anyway, they'll send you one over. Mem Mes me if you want their email.

Wolfie

Amazing stuff on this forum. Interesting gadget.
Now termites are not related to ants, so would they work on termites as well at home ??
Got any web sites for reference?

Big shakeup in the termite industry at the moment with the building code requiring 50 year life spans (maintenance allowed) on termite protection, now houses are deemed to have a 50 year life span.

We have had both an ant and termite problems at home.

The termite problem is a whole different kettle of fish, as they are never interested in daylight, ever.

They will follow tree roots, for quite a distance, and this is how they normally traverse, unless a new colony is going to start.

The termites also have this uncanny ability to be able to work out the geographical orientation, as can be seen in the Northern Territory, with the placements of their finned towers, but on what system they use, is yet to be determined.

Wolfie

I have found that SHOUTING at ants works well.

I walk along their trail and find their nest and then shout;

"WTF DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING HERE, HUH? GO AWAY IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL LAY SOME POISON DOWN!!!!"

Must be something in the vibrations as the ants leave shortly afterwards.

Willem, there is, believe it or not, some credence in your statement.

In India, some of the Buddhist Monks who live in the mountains, have taken it upon themselves to never bring harm to any sentient beings, and ants, come under that category.

Now, we have all probably seen the photographs, or film files of monks who use a broom, and sweep the path ahead clear of ants, so as not to tread on them. What you HAVEN'T seen, is the other method used, although there is much practice involved.

The higher Monks, can resonate their voices, and use circular breathing, in a walking meditation, to actually paralyse ants, and other living beings.

The American defence forces were quite interested in this method, back in the 60's, and tried, unsuccessfully, to record the harmonics, and frequency of their tones. Since then, the Monks have abstained from this practice, as nowadays, a simple recording could easily replicate the sound, what with better microphones, etc., and the Monks believe that one should follow the righteous path, and earn the talent, instead of copying it from a tape, and using against other humans, to inflict harm.

Wolfie

OMG this stuff is interesting but I think in Willems case it's the rocket fuel fumes scaring the ants away :)

Actually Ray, there is also something in your statement as well.

You see, any lizard, that eats ants will have it's nostrils placed higher on its head, so as to vent off the Folic acid, that is given off when the ants are chewed. The smell of Folic Acid will ward off the other ants.

Wolfie

Ray....LOL

Wolfie

And when those lizards mate they produce Frolic Acid

Willie, I just spat out Bourbon & Coke on my keyboard!

Gotta log out, turn off & clean it...

...bye...

you all are trying to make me believe somthing that i know cant happen arnt you

How many days now until April 1 ?

Mike

Entomology is one of my hobbies.

It started when I was a kid, and I used to pull the wings off flies, then it progressed to super gluing sewing pins to ants, and turning them into real soldier ants with lances.

As I grew older, the novelty wore off, until one day, I saw my first Red Back spider encased in a clear plastic gearshift knob at Repco, and I knew then, that that was to be the turning point for me.

When I go away with Tracy, we draw rectangles on the inside of our windscreen, with a chinagraph pencil, and after a 1000 km trip, we tally up the dead bugs in each rectangle, and work out who the winner is.

Okay, I'll come clean...

EVERYTHING I posted, except the Folic Acid thing, is crap. Couldn't help myself. I was at work today, thinking of those poor little buggers working at DSE, taking calls all day long about Ant Guard!

So, there ya go.... it was all shlt. Can't let ya all go on all night, can I?

Wolfie

If I have a heart attack and die from laughing Wolfie, my wife will hound you to death as well. I'm trying to write a note as I type.............. Wolfie did it........

you baaastad
i was starting to belive you......hahaha

What a cack! That was better than 'The Glass House' on Ch 2 just then. Creative genius at the most demented level. Thanks Wolfie.

You're a champion Wolfie :-)
Bloody brilliant.

"EVERYTHING I posted, except the Folic Acid thing, is crap. "

. . . . errrr, and that should have been Formic Acid.

Mike

wolves are pests hehehehe