Ants

BABY POWDER

Yep, baby powder.

Refer thread 64848


Ian

When I was a kid I remember Dad mixing together Icing Sugar and Plaster of Paris.
Didn't deter ants but sure stopped 'em in their tracks.

DB

If you can get it, Lorsban in a spray bottle and you will never have an insect problem if sprayed around your van when you set up.Make sure it is diluted to the right strength (usually 100:1 ) as it is very strong stuff.

Borax?

Kero sprayed round drop down legs and around--NOT ON tyres

I used RP7 Silicon Spray on the little blighter's that were in my van 2 weeks ago and haven't seen an ant since, so I think if you sprayed all items touching the ground with diesel or some other oily based product that might deter them, Baby Powder would get blown and washed away after a while,

Any surface spray has worked for me, but in the short term. But as you want it for longer term, the Lorsban option above will give you that long term solution. Cheers Tony

The theory goes that ants will not walk on rubber and that they only get in by climbing up the stabilisers once wound down.

So if you're storing you van with only the jockey wheel, all points of contact with ground are rubberised and they won't get in.

I've only ever had ants get into a van when stabilsers have been wound down, so perhaps the theory is correct.

Cheers,

Jim.

Those tiny black ants have just cost me a computer monitor. It suddenly stopped working, I had a look and found a trail of the little devils coming up the back of the desk and into the monitor, where they'd made a nest and shorted it out. Even after I'd cleared them all out it still wouldn't work. $200 later and I'm back on line. Not happy!!!

Jon

Just buy the cheapest TALCUM powder that u can find and spread it liberally around , to ants its like walking on a field of marbles ,their legs literaly break and fall off ,,,cheap and non poisonous solution. lol. ;)

You deed not hear this from me!!!!!

Dursban = Lorsban is a trade names, the compound is clorpyrophos, as others said it is very effective, and quick results, but only for a short time, no more than 2 or so months, very smelly for a short time, for a longer solution you need Thermidor it is carried back to the nest and destroys the colony, last about 3 years, very dangerous, need a permit, or be a good friend of a farmer!!!!

lived in a caravan for years
best trick is to keep all sweet stuff in the fridge including the sugar

1. you could get one of these:best ant deterrent

we had a problem with them when we first bought our van and got it home as they looked like they had set up home in it permanently. tried the ant rid etc and only had the jockey wheel down for support, no stabilizers down, and got rid of them over a couple weeks. actually i opened the ant rid bottle for a look inside at the contents and the closed it back up and thought i would do it later on. i forgot to do it and left the ant rid bottle in the plastic shopping bag at the time and the bottle must have had a poor seal as when i got around to getting it out to do the job a couple weeks later, there were dead ants thru-out the bag and the van ant problem was gone and bottle was empty. i had left the bottle in the bag loosely tied up and sitting in the kitchen sink with the sink cover over the top. its the best job i have ever tackled - got it right without any effort

if there is something in the theory of ants dont like rubber and if this is right, why dont the make the feet on the wind down legs/stabilizers out of rubber or just use rubber blocks to support the wind down legs ??

We use a surface spray on the stabilizers and behind the wheels on the axle etc plus on the jockey wheel. It lasts for only about 3 months when the van is stored. Powder is good but blows away and is easily washed away.
Ants DO climb rubber. When we were camped on the Darling near Brewarrina a few years ago rain set in and we could not move (black soil) and the ants climbed the tyres on both vehicle and van and literally set up camp in the tread until the rain was over.