Killing Ants By Natural Methods
Posted by Owen Jones in Uncategorized, tags: allergy, ants, disease, environment, gardening, health, home, home improvement, house, illness, landscaping, other, outside, pests, UncategorizedAnts appear to be pretty harmless to most people. In most temperate climates, ants do very little damage, although red ants bite people all all around the world.
However, there are more dangerous ants in warmer climes and some of these ants can even become responsible for hospitalzations and even a couple of fatalities. Red ant bites itch and even hurt, but imagine a baby falling into a red ant nest.
What if that infant fell onto a fire ant nest or a red carpenter ant nest? Carpenter ants can get tp an inch (25 mm) long and a bite can draw blood. There are poisonous ants in South America and exploding ants in Southeast Asia, although they will not kill people.
Soldier ants are quite scary too. In fact, the number of hazardous ants in the warmer countries can get very worrying.
Indeed, just a fortnight ago, my dog was covered in big red welts all around his stomach and under carriage. He was obviously in great pain when he walked and was off his food.
It has been very hot here in Thailand this summer because the monsoon was late, so he probably dug a shallow hole in the soil to keep cool.
He was probably swarmed by ants whilst he was asleep, but could not shake them off before they bit him. He was in a very dire way for three days.
Some ants are vegetarians but others will gladly feed on meat, if it is available. Most ants will consume dead pests and small, dead mammals. Most will also attack fit animals, including humans, if they feel attacked.
One trouble is that insects can become resistant to chemical treatments and sometimes this immunity is localized, so it is better not to use chemicals if you can help it.
Chemicals may also present a hazard to children, which makes keeping them and using them risky too.
Boric acid is a derivative of boron which is a natural product. Boric acid or borax is extremely effective at destroying bugs that take food back to their colonies, so this includes ants and termites.
It can be blended with sugar and water to make it more attractive to ants or can be spread around the backyard with no danger. It is harmless to children, pets and mammals alike.
Cayenne pepper is a further deterrent-cum-killer. Cultivate your own cayenne peppers, liquidize them, add to boiling water, then spray over ants and ant runs once it has chilled. It will not eradicate a colony, but it will stop foraging ants.
Corn meal is a method of ant and cockroach extermination. Spread it around, when the pests consume it, it will expand with their digestive juices and cause them to blow up. Not very nice, but satisfying and effective all the same.
There are other natural treatments for destroying or deterring bugs too, some are favourites of one country or local people.
Why don\’t you enquire among the older folks where you live and find out what their parents used to make use of to control ants and other pests the natural way?
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is currently involved with home ant infestation problems. If you would like to know more, go over to our website at Bugs Infestation.
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