Non-toxic Red Ant/Black Ant Killer

[jlm195650]

I work at a ranch during the season and take care of things during the off season. Now we have a problem with Red Ants/Ants under every feeder. I have been looking for a natural non toxic solution and wondering if anyone else has an idea or used something in the past that work. Desperate for suggestions before bow season kicks off. Thanks in Advance.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Diatomaceous earth.

 

[OldPhart]

Diatomaceous earth.

Yes, this is the best stuff out there. Just get it from any pool store or Wally World. It works by drying them out completely. I'm going to start trying it on fire ants. the stuff I use is excellent but too expensive. It's called Advion.

 

[Eastexasrick]

DE. They sell 20# bags at the feed store, very reasonable. We use it on the chicken coop, and all around the feeders.

 

[jlm195650]

Awesome folks. Thanks very much. Will get some tomorrow and begin using it. You folks are life-savers....literally!

 

[General Zod]

It's been a good 40 years since I saw red ants anywhere...the fire ants killed 'em off up around Austin and to the north.

 

[Shady]

has anyone actually tried DE and had success and not just read how wonderful it is.

I found a scorpion in the house. I was told DE was the most wonderful stuff. I placed said scorpion in a Tupperware container with 1" of DE in the bottom. After a week he was still running around happy as could be.

Get some get a scoop of ants and see what happens in a controlled test lol.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

has anyone actually tried DE and had success and not just read how wonderful it is.

I found a scorpion in the house. I was told DE was the most wonderful stuff. I placed said scorpion in a Tupperware container with 1" of DE in the bottom. After a week he was still running around happy as could be.

Get some get a scoop of ants and see what happens in a controlled test lol.

I was using DE 25 years ago, with great success.

Of course, it was when used with the large aquarium filter used for special cleaning of my tanks.

 

[Texasjack]

Fire ants got wiped out here, at least for a while. The Rasberry crazy ants showed up and killed them off. Of course, they're also a giant PITA, getting into electrical systems (including cars) and such.

 

[OldPhart]

In a past life, I bred Weimaraners and always had 3-4 dogs around the house. I never had a flea or ant problem as long as I refreshed the DE every 2-3 weeks.

 

[Otto_Mation]

I don't know if it meets your non-toxic requirement because it kills them but I have always used Amdro. Works great. Sounds like DE is probably your best solution though.

 

[Coonan357]

We moved into this house about twelve years ago. A large metal-sided hen house came with the deal. It hadn't been used in quite a while. It was massively infested with stick-fast fleas. We didn't know this at the time though and stocked it with chickens. The flea infestation was so bad that some of the chickens died. Using Vaseline around the eyes and such helped quite a bit, but it wasn't until we got a 20lb bag of diatomaceous earth from tractor supply that the flea problem vanished.
I haven't spread any in quite a few years and we still don't find any fleas.

 

[Eastexasrick]

We moved into this house about twelve years ago. A large metal-sided hen house came with the deal. It hadn't been used in quite a while. It was massively infested with stick-fast fleas. We didn't know this at the time though and stocked it with chickens. The flea infestation was so bad that some of the chickens died. Using Vaseline around the eyes and such helped quite a bit, but it wasn't until we got a 20lb bag of diatomaceous earth from tractor supply that the flea problem vanished.
I haven't spread any in quite a few years and we still don't find any fleas.

Same results on the coop.

 

[oldag]

Not-toxic and 100% effective. Takes a little while, though. Those buggers are hard to pick up.

 

[msharley]