I am often amazed by ant behavior. At my farm in Canada we had built a laboratory onto the house using pine and cedar. I was sitting in there one day and could hear the ants talking to each other in the wall with clicks. We found their path, which was a garden hose stretched across the yard and point of entry, a small hole in the old cement. We killed a bunch of the ants and spread the bodies along the hose, sprayed some toxic shit inside the hole and plugged the hole with foam.
This diplomacy worked. They moved out of the lab [obviously more cracks and holes] and mostly left the house alone.
When I moved into my Mexican dwelling, the ants were everywhere inside and out. My friend helped me with the initial nuking. We sprayed Raid Max (heavy shit) in the house and along window sills. That was months ago. The door is open all day but there is no sill anyway and for the most part they stay out of the house (so far). They seem completely cognizant of my boundaries. In return, they get a supply of water from me when I water and nutrients from the compost bin, etc.
Two groups have ventured into the kitchen and I put out a mix of sugar, water and boric acid. Once they realized this was poison which was killing their babies, they stopped coming in. This is not a for sure treaty but it seems to be effective so far.
The following article discusses evolutionary disguises which allow rove beetles to enter ant colonies to feast on their young.
https://www.cell.com/action/showImagesData?pii=S0960-9822(17)30198-7
This diplomacy worked. They moved out of the lab [obviously more cracks and holes] and mostly left the house alone.
When I moved into my Mexican dwelling, the ants were everywhere inside and out. My friend helped me with the initial nuking. We sprayed Raid Max (heavy shit) in the house and along window sills. That was months ago. The door is open all day but there is no sill anyway and for the most part they stay out of the house (so far). They seem completely cognizant of my boundaries. In return, they get a supply of water from me when I water and nutrients from the compost bin, etc.
Two groups have ventured into the kitchen and I put out a mix of sugar, water and boric acid. Once they realized this was poison which was killing their babies, they stopped coming in. This is not a for sure treaty but it seems to be effective so far.
The following article discusses evolutionary disguises which allow rove beetles to enter ant colonies to feast on their young.
https://www.cell.com/action/showImagesData?pii=S0960-9822(17)30198-7
