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organicbermuda
Joined: 28 Apr 2006
Posts: 19
Location: Waxahachie,TEXAS
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: Fire ants in house? |
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I had a pair of pajama pants laying in the floor in our bedroom for about 2 days and last night I put the pants on and was stung by several ants!!! I'm not sure if they are fire ants or not but they left pus filled sores all over my legs. Anyways I sprayed the baseboards where they were coming in to the bedroom with orange oil, soap, and water. So far no more ants but how can I keep them out? I put D.E and boric acid outside by the brick weep holes they were coming in through. Any suggestions for prevention?
Also why were they all over my pants?
Jason |
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Tony M
Joined: 31 Mar 2003
Posts: 1088
Location: McKinney,TEXAS
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| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject: fire ants |
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Sure sounds like fire ants, you probably have a colony outside or under the house and they are getting in the house to forage. If you had some perspiration on you pj's that would attract them. Look for where the ants coming into the house and deal with the colony.
Tony M |
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Health Helper
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 56
Location: McKinney,TX
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| Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:47 am Post subject: |
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Yes, you would have fire ants in your house. We had lots of problems in our previous house with fire ants coming in the house. In our closet, fire ants all over our dirty clothes in a laundry basket was a constant problem one summer until we found out why they were coming in.
Move all your dirty laundry out of that area and keep it somewhere else for a week or two while killing the colony. To fix the problem long term, look outside that area of your house. Look for a water source (or a sprinkler drainage problem) and fix that. We had a water faucet that dripped when used outside our closet wall. We also had fire ants coming in the center of the house in the kitchen. That colony turned out to be under the house by a water faucet on the other side of the house that also dripped when we ran our drip hose. We fixed the wet water problems, and our problem with fire ants coming in the house went away.
To get rid of the ant colony that is currently coming in, put some boric acid laced chicken on a piece of cardboard in your closet if you don't have pets or small children that can get to it. The ants will come in by the thousands, devour the chicken and take it back to the queen. It might take two or three treatments to wipe out the colony, depending on the size. Fire ants are looking for protein, not sugar and I have found they like my leftover chicken 'stuff' from the pot after making chicken stock better than raw hamburger or peanut butter. Be patient, and be careful. One or two ants can still be alive (and mad) on your clothes after washing the infested clothes in your washing machine! |
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Tricky Grama
Joined: 06 Mar 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Plano & land at Dodd City,TEXAS
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| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 9:04 am Post subject: fire ants |
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ANTS IN YOUR PANTS!!
Had this happen when fire ants were in my compost pile & I dug out some compost to add to a potted plant. I too, have the bites react like you did. Not fun. Also had the ant problem w/one room in a new home. I think the boric acid trick finally worked, but it did take several treatments.
Good luck-
Patty |
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