Van Legs raised to avoid ANTS - any problem?

Thanks Ken

Ours is also a tandem and kept level for the frig, in case I forget to adjust it when we get lucky enough to prepare for another run.

Gets a slight wobble up when bouncing in and out with gear if the legs aren't down, but for the time that takes I feel sure I can keep the ants at bay.

All the best.

Regards - Phil

hi
havent all you van owners worked out that legs on vans are only there to act as bump stops when making love to stop the suspension from bottoming out and alerting the neighbours as to whats going on in the van while in a caravan park etc
the older ya get the slower ya get

caravan legs are viagra stabilizers in this modern world
for god sakes get with it

Mazcan – I reckon just put legs down each the time you stop, just in case you get lucky, or hang a sign on the door “When the van’s A’rockin don’t come A’knocking.

A while ago i was driven mad with ants in our kitchen. Ended up being the toaster they were after. We dont have one in the van, father does.

Makes sense OG - seems they will seek out scraps or moisture, so barring access initially may be the way to go.

Thanks for the feedback - P & J

Ditto

John and Jean

Thanks Bow & Nan and John & Jean

Therein lies the secret by the sound of it - 'No legs - no Ants'

Will monitor results with ours up for a while.

When we picked up this van 3 years ago, it had been sitting in the dealers yard for quite a while and he advised the previous owner had stored it in a shed for some time prior to that.Well the only issue we had with it initially was the water would not flush in the toilet.

When we pulled the pump out to check that - the whole clear tube was chockers with ants. They had obviously sussed out the moisture was available and moved in.

Haven't had that particular problem again, but did pick up a few passengers on our last visit through our southern wheatbelt here in the west.

Seems our drier conditions are conducive to ant movement in recent months.

Cheers - P & J

Thanks Notso

Yes the tyres can get a bit 'lumpy' if left for too long. We do have a bit of room to just move them along a bit if the van is being left for an extended period.

Cheers - P & J

hi phil and jill
and notso
yes your quiet right about the nylon tyres we had a set on our truck and if we loaded it with grain and left it over night
next day the tyres would be slapping on the road for the first few k's until they warmed up

in respect to ANTproblem for some unknown reason ants dont like to crawl over tyres in most cases
and much prefer wind down jacks /power cables and the front caravan jack with the wheel on it or safety chains
i use -lorsban- you can buy it from rural outlets about $30 a ltr
mix 10-15 mls in ltr of water and spray around wheels and stands and also pour down the ant holes it has a pungent smell for a while but it works better than all the other lolly water items thats on the market but make sure you wear gloves

ANTS send out scouts to hunt for food sources when the many hundreds of scout ants find food it excretes an odour on the trail as it returns to the nest and crawls down the hole the worker ants are waiting and rush off on the odour trail to get the food
some of you may have noticed the odd ant on its own wandering aimlessly around that is the scout ant looking for food
you will see a hord of the little buggers heading off in a direction of the food source they have found but we dont know about
if the the scouts returns to the nest without finding food or marking a trail it is killed by the nest ants
i learned these facts by watching a document late one night on tv a german guy had spent many years studing ants
there are several tyes of ants in each nest the scouts /
the workers to collect food and then
the queen ants and
the hatchery/nursery ants that look after the eggs and hardly ever leave the nest only when the eggs have to be shifted to a new location and a
warmer sight to aid in the hatching process
or to get away from an adverse weather problem or a human with a bottle of poison
its a well organized system and thats why we struggle to beat them they work 24/7
and as we all know they sneak around with the humans and infiltrate everthing we own
survival of the quick and the smart
cheers

Thanks Mazzcan - I've heard of 'dog eat dog' - but sounds like it also applies to 'ant eat ant'.

Certainly have wondered why you get the odd one here an there - at home or in the van - now we know.

Very informative.

Cheers - P & J

instead of Lorsban try Dursban same chemical without the pungent odour chemical added designed for use around pavers etc in domestic areas

pepermint oil. they dont like it... also try vinegar....

Thanks again guys - the list is building - all very useful input.

Cheers - Phil

Thanks Mazz - At the risk of 'getting in deeper', you could say the titles apply accross the board ..... :O)))

I was wondering the same thing - this person does realise that the legs are only to stop the caravan from rocking/tipping while you walk around inside, don't they?! They're not for securing the caravan in position - that's what brakes & chocks are for!

I certainly wouldn't put the legs down for storage unless you were likely to be moving around a lot inside for packing/unpacking or cleaning - it's just another thing the ants can climb up, and delays your next trip further (making it take that much longer to hook up to the car)! :-)

Thanks Tim - The legs are stabilisers only - no problem there with legs up on flat ground was my consideration, but I won't put the brake on as I believe this only leads to rust setting in whilst left for any length of time.

Regards - Phil

Hi Bantam - are you sure you didn't live next door some years back?

Our neighbour quite often went to war on the ants with petrol & I suspect that was about the time they shifted camp over to our block....

Guess the method must work - thanks for the reminder.

Cheers - Phil

hi bantam
i had a lot of problems with black bullants on a property i had just out of bunbury a few k's and i found that pouring a ltr of petrol down the hole at night when they were all home and throw a lighted match sorted them out there was a big whoof as the petrol exploded down the hole next day not a bull ant in sight
they were 25ml long with yellow nippers and a very painful bite if they got you
when you approached near their nest they would come at you from all sides real nasty lot they were
they used to take over the white ant nests that were in the old tree stumps or just dig their own holes and make tracks across the paddock in the grass also had very large infestation of the savage red meat ants they are also very agressive and even harder to irradicate, thats another story
cheers

Yeh as I say, best not to light the petrol, because as it burns it will draw quite a bit of it back up out of the soil.

Left to soak in it will penetrate very deep and the fumes will do the job.

cheers

sorry but i found the explosion killed them as it was quiet a strong force blew the top of the hole out

Thanks Pop

The practise seems fairly widespread. I have found the granules effective at times too - until the wild & wooly changes in weather we have been experiencing recently.

The weather doesn't seem to deter our lil mates though - they seem to be out foraging through rain, hail, sleet or snow --- err hang on, that is probly getting a bit carried away. :O)))

Cheers - Phil

Fleggie go for a trip - the ants couldn't keep up with your driving!
Xmas cheers Lockey & Heather

Thanks for the feedback Dodg - duly noted and will consider the handbrake issue.

Have a look below - seem me ole mate John L has the answer - just get outa town.....

Cheers all

Regards - Phil

Thinking napalm may be the next move MM - just crawled around half in garden half on driveway under the van trying to clip the cover straps together - lil blighters mounted an all out strike en masse. Enough is enough.

Cheers - P

Have pondered the same line of thought for some time Keith, after reading in one of Len Beadell's records about the observation that ants would not climb the tyres of his trucks.

The problem these days (at least for me) is to determine just exactly what is 'rubber' and what is 'pretend rubber' - such as the nylon or neoprene products I believe are mixed in these days. I feel sure this point was raised here on EO some time back.

Been going to experiment, but haven't got around to it yet. Perhaps someone else has an opinion on that? Meanwhile, the legs are staying up and the tyres/jockey wheel are 'under observation'.

I am fairly certain it is not just food they are foraging for after finding the 'loo' tubing totally blocked when we tried to flush the pan for the first time. Fortunately that was at home when trying everything out prior to our first trip away in this van.

Cheers - Phil

Great stuff 1080 - till it gets wet & windy unfortunately.

Regards - Phil