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 Veteran
Posts: 140
 
| My gelding was attacked by fire ants today while he was eating his grain. They got into his grain bucket and got his muzzle pretty bad, its all swollen, oozing, and peeling. We gave him some Dex and are keeping a close eye on him. We are just over ran with the nasty buggers. I was cleaning stalls yesterday with an aluminum handle pitchfork and about 80 of them decided to take up residency in the handle, yah that was a nasty surprise lol..... Has anyone had a problem with them in their barn? If so how did you get rid of them/treat for them? We are just at a loss at what to do. We've tried a lot of baits/poisons but we have not really found anything that works for very long. Anyone have input or suggestions? I forgot to ad we are in Florida
Edited by lilac lane farm 2014-07-09 7:10 PM
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| I use white corn meal. I pour it liberally on the mound and they are gone within a few days. I don't know why it works but it has for me. I live in East Texas so I am very familiar with the nasty bugs! |
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 Horsey Gene Carrier
Posts: 1888
 
Location: LaBelle, Florida | Once my place floods with the summer rains, the fire ants move up to the barn (built up).
I have to put bait out, perimeters of barn, about every two weeks. I just put a line all the way around. Otherwise, they move into the stalls.
I also have free ranging chickens, so I have to put the bait out after they go up for the night, otherwise, I have dead chickens.
I'm in SW Fla as well so it is a PIA between the fire ants, mosquitos, and flies (depending on the time of year).
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 437
| We don't have them in AZ that I am aware of but diatomacious earth controls scorpions so why not ants? |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| Tempo, works for up to 3 months, once dry safe for pets and people. I mix it twice as strong as recommended for the barn and spray around the bottom of walls, inside and out, stalls, sides of trash bins that hold feed, everywhere. Great stuff. You can also sprinkle tide powder detergent around the nests outside on the ground and they'll very down to the queen and kill the entire nest. |
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Veteran
Posts: 140
| kasaj2000 - 2014-07-09 8:27 PM
Once my place floods with the summer rains, the fire ants move up to the barn (built up).
I have to put bait out, perimeters of barn, about every two weeks. Â I just put a line all the way around. Â Otherwise, they move into the stalls.
I also have free ranging chickens, so I have to put the bait out after they go up for the night, otherwise, I have dead chickens.
I'm in SW Fla as well so it is a PIA between the fire ants, mosquitos, and flies (depending on the time of year).
Â
What kind of bait do you use? |
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Horsey Gene Carrier
Posts: 1888
Location: LaBelle, Florida | Whatever is on sale....I have found that the cheap stuff works as well as Amdro
I usually end up with Spectracide or some generic like that. |
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Fire Ant Peddler
Posts: 2881
| I use Raid in the horse trailer and on buckets (all the way around the outside). It will keep them off for over a week. About the only product that works well around the house is an Ortho product that comes in a brown plastic bottle. It stinks to high heaven but seems to work best. I use it in the pasture but don't like to use it in the stalls. Right now the fireants seem to be eating my Fly Predators. I haven't figured out exactly what to put out that won't kill the Fly Predators |
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| Locate your fire ant mounds and pour a half cup of diesel gasoline in the center of the mound .. the fumes will kill the queen and all of her children in a matter of hours!! ..
When I had fire ants I did this around the perimeter of the barn and carried a 5 gallon can of diesel and put a glug of diesel in as many mounds as possible that were in the pasture, fence lines, yard etc etc .... no fear of fire since the amount of diesel is small and the loose dirt in a mound lets it soak deep into the mound immediately. ... The problem with the store bought poisons is they seem to just make the ants mad and meaner ... watch the poisoned mound and you will see it will not be a total kill ... the fire ants will just move to the edge of the old mound and grow a bigger mound ..... the small amount of diesel is a hard kill and the mound does not come back alive!!
If you wait a while the little tiny ants from Venezuela that are invading north Texas and Oklahoma will kill all of your fire ants ... these new ants have small circular mounds within a few inches of each other and minor stinging capacity ... but they are running around by the millions and come looking for you to crawl on you and your clothes ..... lol .. ..
Now that our small rains are over ... it will give me time to play with several poisons and see if any of them work on these new ants .... until they invade your area you will not believe how many ants are running around that you can barely see ...
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Veteran
Posts: 140
| Thanks everyone for the info! I really appreciate it! |
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Expert
Posts: 1226
| So the tiny ants that kill fire Ants, they don't bite? |
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Veteran
Posts: 150
Location: Okla | I have had more luck with baby powder-of all things. I live in ok so we really have them here, and after over hearing this option to use in a store, I went to the dollar store, picked up several of the cheapest kind, and powdered their little behinds. (Smells good to outside now) . Hope it works for you as well as it does for me.... |
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 Ima Fickle Fan
Posts: 3547
Location: Texas | heidiinaz - 2014-07-10 10:25 AM So the tiny ants that kill fire Ants, they don't bite?
If she's referring to the "crazy ants" that are coming, I'm not sure if they kill but do know they will make the fire ants move on.
HOWEVER, be careful what you wish for. The crazy ants are HIGHLY attracted to electrical boxes, etc. and are causing a LOT of damage in their wake. |
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 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | BARRELHORSE USA - 2014-07-10 12:12 AM Locate your fire ant mounds and pour a half cup of diesel gasoline in the center of the mound .. the fumes will kill the queen and all of her children in a matter of hours!! .. When I had fire ants I did this around the perimeter of the barn and carried a 5 gallon can of diesel and put a glug of diesel in as many mounds as possible that were in the pasture, fence lines, yard etc etc .... no fear of fire since the amount of diesel is small and the loose dirt in a mound lets it soak deep into the mound immediately. ... The problem with the store bought poisons is they seem to just make the ants mad and meaner ... watch the poisoned mound and you will see it will not be a total kill ... the fire ants will just move to the edge of the old mound and grow a bigger mound ..... the small amount of diesel is a hard kill and the mound does not come back alive!! If you wait a while the little tiny ants from Venezuela that are invading north Texas and Oklahoma will kill all of your fire ants ... these new ants have small circular mounds within a few inches of each other and minor stinging capacity ... but they are running around by the millions and come looking for you to crawl on you and your clothes ..... lol .. .. Now that our small rains are over ... it will give me time to play with several poisons and see if any of them work on these new ants .... until they invade your area you will not believe how many ants are running around that you can barely see ...
^^^ This |
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  If it Ain't a Paint it Ain't!
Posts: 8519
Location: Mansfield, Tx | My horse laid down in an ant pile I guess and has bites on her butt and belly... I'm put med. on them but I'm afraid it's going to scar her?
or will it go away with time? |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | FlyingJT - 2014-07-09 8:50 PM Tempo, works for up to 3 months, once dry safe for pets and people. I mix it twice as strong as recommended for the barn and spray around the bottom of walls, inside and out, stalls, sides of trash bins that hold feed, everywhere. Great stuff. You can also sprinkle tide powder detergent around the nests outside on the ground and they'll very down to the queen and kill the entire nest.
^^^^^We don't have fire ants up here but I spray the fence line down with Tempo to keep the ticks down also. It is very water soluable so if you spray it outside you will have to reapply after a heavy rain. Inside you shouldn't have to reapply as often. Extremely safe for animals and humans which is why I go this route...plus it kills more then just ants...spiders, crickets, most creepy crawlies. |
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Expert
Posts: 1857
| docschic - 2014-07-10 12:24 PM
FlyingJT - 2014-07-09 8:50 PM Tempo, works for up to 3 months, once dry safe for pets and people. I mix it twice as strong as recommended for the barn and spray around the bottom of walls, inside and out, stalls, sides of trash bins that hold feed, everywhere. Great stuff. You can also sprinkle tide powder detergent around the nests outside on the ground and they'll very down to the queen and kill the entire nest.
^^^^^We don't have fire ants up here but I spray the fence line down with Tempo to keep the ticks down also. It is very water soluable so if you spray it outside you will have to reapply after a heavy rain.  Inside you shouldn't have to reapply as often. Extremely safe for animals and humans which is why I go this route...plus it kills more then just ants...spiders, crickets, most creepy crawlies. Â
It also kills flies! |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | RunningOnPaints - 2014-07-10 1:24 PM My horse laid down in an ant pile I guess and has bites on her butt and belly... I'm put med. on them but I'm afraid it's going to scar her? or will it go away with time?
They go away with time. Otherwise, my hands and legs would be more scarred then they are from hitting barrels! |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Or......you could just buy an ant eater  |
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Veteran
Posts: 140
| aggiejudger - 2014-07-10 11:40 AM
heidiinaz - 2014-07-10 10:25 AM Â So the tiny ants that kill fire Ants, they don't bite?
 If she's referring to the "crazy ants" that are coming, I'm not sure if they kill but do know they will make the fire ants move on.
HOWEVER, be careful what you wish for. The crazy ants are HIGHLY attracted to electrical boxes, etc. and are causing a LOT of damage in their wake.
Actually someone just the other day told me about the crazy ants, we do have them in our area |
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