Boric acid + sugar water.....ant control....does it work?

[Mmathis]

I have been battling outdoor Carpenter Ants. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but they invade my turtle habitat and I fear for the safety of my box turtles. My summer project has been to eliminate all wood from the habitat and surrounding area -- and I had a LOT of tree branches and such placed all around as well as buried to make walls, etc.

Have been using diatomaceous earth with some degree of success, except that it doesn't get down to the dens [I read that Caprenter Ants can have numerous "satellite" dens, and that eliminating one section isn't going to get down to the queen/eggs/larvae....] and it bothers me a lot that the DE will also harm beneficial insects!!

I've been researching the DIY boric acid + sugar water method. Everyone raves about how well it works....but does it, really?

 

[sissy]

I use 20 mule teem borax for washing clothes .It is pet safe and ants here were horrible .From tiny ant to large ants ,they are all gone

 

[Tula]

I believe @addy1 said this solution will also attract and kill honey bees

 

[sissy]

yep sugar in attracts all kinds of bees and even hummingbirds

 

[IPA]

It's a little long but good info regarding carpenter ants. Treat (I mean imagine) the habitat a little like your house. It seems mitigation may be the best option.

https://bct.eco.umass.edu/publications/articles/controlling-termites-and-carpenter-ants/

 

[addy1]

I believe @addy1 said this solution will also attract and kill honey bees

Anything with sugar will attract honey bees, esp if we are in a nectar dearth, i.e. lack of enough nectar to keep the bees fed.

We currently are feeding them a lot to keep them alive until the small fall flow we have. Then get them ready for winter. A bit of sugar and they attack it.

 

[IPA]

Anything with sugar will attract honey bees, esp if we are in a nectar dearth, i.e. lack of enough nectar to keep the bees fed.

We currently are feeding them a lot to keep them alive until the small fall flow we have. Then get them ready for winter. A bit of sugar and they attack it.

Do they make a bee feeder that non bee keepers can easily purchase, kind of something along the lines of a hummingbird feeder?

 

[addy1]

A hummingbird feeder without the bee guards. If there are honey bees around they will swarm it!

Never put out store bought honey for them it can contain American or European foulbrood spores , if our hives get that we need to burn the bees and equipment.

 

[addy1]

Here is a shot of some dry sugar, it is dark, the bees should be home. I use it to 1) do a bit of open feeding, 2) test nectar flow, they won't touch if there is real nectar out there. I know there is no nectar out there, so besides adding gallons of sugar water to the hives, I occasionally put out some dry sugar for them. They are hungry!

 

[addy1]

One thing you could do @Mmathis , get some #8 hardware cloth. The bees can not get through the mesh. Make a wire box around your boric acid and sugar water ant trap, it will be totally safe from the bees.


1/8" Hardware Cloth
All 8x8 mesh has 1/8" openings which equals 64 openings per square inch.

 

[Mmathis]

One thing you could do @Mmathis , get some #8 hardware cloth. The bees can not get through the mesh. Make a wire box around your boric acid and sugar water ant trap, it will be totally safe from the bees.


1/8" Hardware Cloth
All 8x8 mesh has 1/8" openings which equals 64 openings per square inch.

View attachment 103544

@addy1 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! For this suggestion!!!! After I read comments last night regarding bees.....what can I say! I was so depressed! But, at the same time, felt a little angry [a gut reaction] that it seemed my original question wasn't being addressed. I slept on it, and I'm OK now, but I also tried to come up with ideas for ways to protect the bees! I actually came up with a similar idea and when I logged on just now, was going to post and see if you guys thought it would work!!! @addy1, thank you for your proactive approach! Home Depot, here I come! Oh, and thank you for the size info -- something I wouldn't have known about if not suggested by a bee-person!

@IPA And I thank you for the article. Believe me that mitigation steps are in the works -- that is, as much as one can mitigate under my circumstances. Because I live in the South, humidity and "wet" are things we can't do a lot about, but I have been making major strides in clearing out as much wood and other places the ants might nest. When I started this turtle habitat years ago, I wanted to make it as "natural" as possible so I collected all kinds of cool looking tree limbs and other interesting pieces of wood. Back then, I didn't know any better..... And it's amazing [REALLY!] to see just how much wood I used! Sometimes I'd use it to make a small retaining wall, so over time, ended up with buried wood. Not good. It looked very nice, but little did I know......until the ants started showing up!

 

[addy1]

If you can't find some, try ace hardware if you have one near you, I did not see it at Home depot or lowes, up here. Let me know I have a roll of it, use it all of the time. I could stick some in a big envelope and ship it to you. You would not need real big anti bee cages for those ants.

I have put out ant bait, but only when buried deep under vegetation, the dry sugary bait stuff. I found out the opossums like it also, the bees will not dig under plants to eat it. We fight ants in the house the entire time we are processing honey.

 

[Mmathis]

If you can't find some, try ace hardware if you have one near you, I did not see it at Home depot or lowes, up here. Let me know I have a roll of it, use it all of the time. I could stick some in a big envelope and ship it to you. You would not need real big anti bee cages for those ants.

I have put out ant bait, but only when buried deep under vegetation, the dry sugary bait stuff. I found out the opossums like it also, the bees will not dig under plants to eat it. We fight ants in the house the entire time we are processing honey.

Thank you! I checked my HOME DEPOT app and it shows that they don't carry anything less than 1/4". But I did find some on AMAZON and am in the process of ordering a small roll. What my plan was.....glass baby food jars with ant-sized holes punched or drilled into the tops. Thought I would put out several throughout the habitat, partially buried.

 

[IPA]

@addy1 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! For this suggestion!!!! After I read comments last night regarding bees.....what can I say! I was so depressed! But, at the same time, felt a little angry [a gut reaction] that it seemed my original question wasn't being addressed. I slept on it, and I'm OK now, but I also tried to come up with ideas for ways to protect the bees! I actually came up with a similar idea and when I logged on just now, was going to post and see if you guys thought it would work!!! @addy1, thank you for your proactive approach! Home Depot, here I come! Oh, and thank you for the size info -- something I wouldn't have known about if not suggested by a bee-person!

@IPA And I thank you for the article. Believe me that mitigation steps are in the works -- that is, as much as one can mitigate under my circumstances. Because I live in the South, humidity and "wet" are things we can't do a lot about, but I have been making major strides in clearing out as much wood and other places the ants might nest. When I started this turtle habitat years ago, I wanted to make it as "natural" as possible so I collected all kinds of cool looking tree limbs and other interesting pieces of wood. Back then, I didn't know any better..... And it's amazing [REALLY!] to see just how much wood I used! Sometimes I'd use it to make a small retaining wall, so over time, ended up with buried wood. Not good. It looked very nice, but little did I know......until the ants started showing up!

I guess some of the issue you will run into is that those ants are part of the natural habitat. I like Addy's advice regarding the screen but I would be concerned that there are some small mason bees and small wasps that are extremely beneficial to the garden that could get through the mesh, sorry . Seems like removing the damp wood, but they still like the damp, get them from the area and killing the queen is the only way to get rid of them.