Help!!!! Big Ant Nest

Caelma · #1 06/01/05, 01:38 AM

Was cutting down waist to chest high grass and
stuff in the pasture. Came across this ant hill
about shin almost knee high and about as wide as a tire rim.
Redish/black ants, med sized.
What would be the best way to get rid of the ants?

MaryNY · #2 06/01/05, 04:48 AM

I've heard the best way to settle this situation is to find a second nest, shovel some of the ants from nest #2 into nest #1 and vice versa (if the second nest is on your property) and be sure to scuffle up the top of the nest real good while you do it! This is supposed to tick off the ants in each nest really bad and they will kill off the offending "foreign" intruders - and the intruders will try to kill off the ants in the nest. You repeat this procedure for a few days and pretty soon . . . no more ants! I hav heard and read on other boards that this really works. Oh, and your description sounds to me like those critters might be fire ants . . . so be careful.

bare · #3 06/01/05, 05:18 AM

Just wondering.... Is there some compelling need to kill the ant colony? Doesn't sound like they are doing any harm. I've got quite a few of those huge piles around my place that must be ancient, their hills are so large. I don't run equipment, just pasture, so they don't bother anything.

marvella · #4 06/01/05, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bare

Just wondering.... Is there some compelling need to kill the ant colony? Doesn't sound like they are doing any harm. I've got quite a few of those huge piles around my place that must be ancient, their hills are so large. I don't run equipment, just pasture, so they don't bother anything.

ditto. ants clean up all kinds of garbage. i wonder, there must be a huge food source nearby to support a colony that large. i wouldn't want to find out what those ants have been keeping cleaned up all this time. if they don't threaten your home, i hope you'll consider leaving them there.

fordy · #5 06/01/05, 05:27 AM

.......................One gallon of 87 octane will route those little stinkers quicker than you can say "Bye Bye baby" . fordy..

gilberte · #6 06/01/05, 06:13 AM

Be careful, isn't one gallon of gas about equal to one stick of dynamite

oz in SC · #7 06/01/05, 07:31 AM

I guess you don't have fire ants in Idaho and Tennessee??

If so you wouldn't need to ask why you should get rid of them...stand anywhere near their nest and they will swarm over you.

Judy in IN · #8 06/01/05, 07:39 AM

I've been told that Rhea will destroy fire ant nests. Now that the Ostrich craze is over they are very cheap. That would be 24/7 all natural fire ant protection.

OD · #9 06/01/05, 07:50 AM

Yeah, they'll clean up everything, including people. I heard about a man that fell out of his deer stand & broke his leg. By the time he was found, fire ants had finished him off.
If a cow has a calf close to a mound, they will cover it up & blind it or kill it before it can get up.
Don't feel sorry for fire ants.

Wilbursmommy · #10 06/01/05, 07:59 AM

I'm in Georgia, and yes I would destroy the nest. If you are in the South, then those are probably fire ants. Fire ants can kill newborns of any type of animal. They are attracted to blood and meat and any kind of protein. I use DE, but a hill that size would take more than that. Also, you can expect the hill to be 3 to 4 times deeper than it is high. Fire ants do not bite, they sting. They are also known to swarm on you quietly, once alot of them are on you, they send out a signal and they all sting at once. Had that happen to me 2 summers ago. I wear long sleeves, long pants, and boots in the garden and they still got me when I didn't notice I was kneeling in a nest. (Not all of them are tall) Each sting feels just like a lit match has been held to your skin, and the burning doesnt let up for awhile. By the next day, each sting is a pus filled blister. They can get you through tight fitting clothing too. (like knees that are kneeling) My BIL is a exterminator and he said if you disturb the nest, they move the queen deeper underground. If they queen stays alive, so does the colony.

We have burnt big nests with gasoline, but its very dangerous. They sound like miniture popcorn kernels popping.

SteveD(TX) · #11 06/01/05, 08:29 AM

I don't think fordy said anything about "burning" the nest. Gasoline alone will kill them. Pour a cup of gas into the mound, cover it over and the fumes will kill most or all of them in minutes. But I don't do that anymore. There are lots of treatments that are better for the environment.

And I can't believe there are ant huggers here. Ants can be very destructive to animals, plants, and humans. A couple of small colonies of harvester ants decimated several new pine trees I planted a couple of years ago. They will do the same to certain food crops. Fire ants are born killers. If a mama cow drops her newborn calf near one, they're capable of killing it within an hour or two. Ditto with a sick or injured animal. I've also heard about people being severely injured and even killed such as the farmer falling off the tractor. Years ago a neighbor's small child was playing in their back yard after a rainfall (when the new mounds tend to pop up). Ending up sitting down in the grass near a nest when Mom wasn't looking. A trip to the emergency room saved her life. Barely. I say get rid of them.

bare · #12 06/01/05, 08:47 AM

Nope, ranchlady is in Washington and they don't have fire ants either. Nor are the redblacks harmful to anything I'm aware of. Judging from how the cattle like to hang around the mounds, they are benificial to the vegetation nearby.

oz in SC · #13 06/01/05, 08:55 AM

Well,never mind then...

Be VERY thankful you do not have fire ants...thay REALLY are a PITA....

BaronsMom · #14 06/01/05, 08:56 AM

In our area, we have large field ants...some are black, some are red/black and make huge mounds of soil on the ground.

If they are in a pasture, I'd leave them alone. Ants are beneficial - you just don't want them in the house. I've noticed the big red ones are more aggressive when you stomp near their nest - they really come running out! But, just back up - no big deal.

I'd have a whole different opinion if dealing with fire ants which thankfully we don't have but have experienced when we've traveled down south. Flip flops are not a good choice for footware near fire ant nests!

This year, we've had field ant mounds show up "in town" and they are unsightly in yards. If peole don't want them there are ways to deal with them without using gasoline.

If you want to know what to do, contact your county agent. If you need help finding your local office, send me a PM and I'll help.

MelissaW · #15 06/01/05, 09:47 AM

When I get a big hill near the house where little toes might be in danger (mind you, we don't have fireants), I boil a full kettle of water, pour it over the hill, then sprinkle borax on top. It does the trick every time (but be warned, it WILL kill the grass around the hill, and it won't grow back for some time.). Best of luck!

crashy · #16 06/01/05, 09:50 AM

I am in Washington too and those black/red ants bite HARD!!! We call em **** ants. If you light the nest on fire I dont know if they are spitting or peeing but they spray out the fire and if you get what ever thay are spraying out on your skin it burns...The fastest way to get rid of them is the gas method you only need a little bit like a cup or so. But if your animals are running free I would block the area out so they dont get in whatever you do to the nest cuz those lil ants will be VERY mad!!!

The **** starts with a p and then a i and then a couple s's hope that worked LOL

BaronsMom · #17 06/01/05, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crashy

The **** starts with a p and then a i and then a couple s's hope that worked LOL

Got it - my mom use to call all sorts of things that name when they were fiesty. "Don't be a ****ant" :haha:

SteveD(TX) · #18 06/01/05, 10:25 AM

Had no way of knowing where she was, since her profile doesn't say. So KEEP THE DANG ANTS.

Love them.

Pet them.

Make ant farms for them.

Let them aerate your soil and make your crops and pastures flourish!!

Me, I just kill 'em.
:yeeha:

I found out Sunday that harvester ants will do serious damage to a cemetary.

I hadn't been to see my parents graves for over a year. The red ants had built so many mounds around their markers, that the markers had literally sunk several inches. My grandparents graves were completely buried. It will probably cost me a few hundred bucks to have someone reset the markers. The cemetary won't let me till out the soil and remove it.

Caelma · #19 06/01/05, 10:42 AM

Well the person weed wacking waist high grass
almost got swarmed by them.
It could of been a critter or my granddaughter
(God forbid)
It's out of here. I'm not fencing off an area for ants.

Hey crashy what are the big black ones?
They keep coming in the house.
Drive me nuts but the cats think
they're great entertainment.
I think they bite to cause sometimes
the cats jump back like they've been bit.

hollym · #20 06/01/05, 10:58 AM

We had a big pile in Montana where I didn't want them to be, due to kids. I put lots of cucumber peelings on and around the nest. They moved.

Orange oil repels fire ants, don't know about others?

But we had two warring colonies one time and I spent hours watching them, it was fascinating! Boy I used to have a lot of time on my hands, lol.

hollym