Those blasted ants!!!

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to need a cuppa and some cake to get me through reading it all

@entity62
Darrell, if I could make money from this then I wouldn't complain too much. A sculpture like that would sell for quite a few $$$.

@el_draco
Tassie is actually on my list of places to visit. I'm guessing your "Inchmen" are the same, or at least similar to our inch ants. They're the kind that you can't kill unless you set them on fire. Sounds like your ants are a lot crankier than ours though. On a side note- 12 year old scotch might be better than a cuppa and cake to get me through all this typing!

@brian nordstrom
The guilts are more for all the other insects that get killed in the process. Perhaps the ginger ants are just trying to see how things are made? They might be the engineers of the ant world

@Boozlefoot
I found Borax in the cleaning aisle at Coles. Not sure what the price was but if it works then I'm sold.

@pmrid
Ant-Rid seems to be pretty popular. That might be the way to go.

@AussieTrooper
Yes please to an echidna! If you know where to get one then let me know too

@guipago
I thought the chemical warfare was helping, but lately it seems to have made things worse. They're work patterns are all over the place and there's no defined trail at all in some spots, just masses of ants running all over the place.
Is there any recommended way to get an ID? They're so small and fast that it's hard to get pictures. I don't know anyone who could do it for me either. Maybe next time one crawls up my leg I'll smack it instead of doing a full on squish.

@Weird1
Cinnamon also works well inside. All you have to do is find where they're coming in and sprinkle some across the entrance.

@atmos
Does the polystyrene dissolve with the break fluid? I know next to nothing about chemistry

@PCH
It's tempting! The water bill would be scary though

@Greenswale
Burning everything did cross my mind. The landlord wouldn't be very pleased though.

[leon]

Hope you find the solution Billi, I have to admit they the Ants can be a real pain in the Bum, so to speak.

Leon

[eddiedunlop (Martin)]

Ignore all the improvised recommendations Billi. You will either be at risk of hurting yourself, causing harm to non-target species or wasting your time. Use a registered pesticide, one that is approved by the APVMA. A good place to start looking is the Pubcris website https://portal.apvma.gov.au/pubcris You can search the site for chemicals that are effective against all manner of pests including ants. Searching for ants will bring up hundreds of recommendations. Have a look at some of the product labels and find one that matches your situation.

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

Originally Posted by eddiedunlop

Ignore all the improvised recommendations Billi. You will either be at risk of hurting yourself, causing harm to non-target species or wasting your time. Use a registered pesticide, one that is approved by the APVMA. A good place to start looking is the Pubcris website https://portal.apvma.gov.au/pubcris You can search the site for chemicals that are effective against all manner of pests including ants. Searching for ants will bring up hundreds of recommendations. Have a look at some of the product labels and find one that matches your situation.

Thank you so much for this information. I didn't even know that website existed. It's going to make things a bit easier

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Yep , you could pay hundreds on an exterminator ( as Martin says ) but the chemicals they use are as indiscriminate as the off the shelf ant killers we can buy and probably more so , I would not worry about other species as with the amount of ants you are describing the other life forms would have been long ago eaten , ants are like bees in their nest structures , workers , soldiers , drones , queens etc .

On that the best time to start hunting the nests down is as the sun is going down , the last few workers are returning home where the army of solders is defending the nest and they are the ones that bite ( it sounds like you have a nest by the cloths line ? if you are getting bitten there as the soldiers don't stray far from the nest ) , its quite easy to find the nests but it just takes time , I actually like observing them and following them so I can nuke the nest , as the exterminators will do for a cost but its your money .

At home in NZ we have a real problem with the German wasps , huge dangerous nests under ground humans and dogs have fallen into them and died " Painfully !!! " ( they are just like ants ) and what we used to do is catch a wasp just on sunset and tie a 200mm length of cotton to it and let it go , and they always go straight to the nest , easy to follow and nuke it just on dark when the hive is full , take your time and find all nests and their multiple exits , I use posts in the ground as markers , just like the experts do , its a big job to do properly as one nuke wont do it , yes it will slow them down but they will be back, just like Arnie .

One more thing , my front lawn was like yours only 12 months ago ( its terrible , or what ? ) and its almost ant free now using the method I described , yes there are some but they are under control now and there is also many other species around now the ants have been sorted that were not there before , its all about balance

Enjoy .
Brian.

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

I'm glad the German wasps aren't such a problem here. Ants on the ground are bad enough, but an insect eaxactly the same with wings? That's worse! It sounds like they're quite intelligent too.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

in a 'Borg' kinda way , they are programmed for one job be it a worker , soldier , drone or queen ,

Resistance is futile ,,,,

Brian.

Originally Posted by BilliGoatsGruff

I'm glad the German wasps aren't such a problem here. Ants on the ground are bad enough, but an insect eaxactly the same with wings? That's worse! It sounds like they're quite intelligent too.

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

I put some snack bars around the yard an hour ago and this is the result. On one lid there is honey, the other has peanut butter. It makes sense that they would go for the honey because they are always after the honeydew from the scale in the gum trees around our house.

I was thinking maybe bait would be useful, but with such a big area it would be hard to target them all.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Leave them there until dusk and you will be able to follow the stragglers back to their nest(s) and mark them , do the same tomorrow at the other side of the lawn and the same for the next few days moving all over the area marking the nests every day .

You will know where all the nests are in a week or so , then its time for a NUKE or 10 , use the Bayer Ant and Wasp powder as much as it takes , its the best , just be systematic and once done you wont see ants in those numbers again and if they do start to explode again just repeat as necessary but it wont be as bad every time .

Be aware that some of the nests will be outside your fences , ants don't do boundries

Brian.

Originally Posted by BilliGoatsGruff

I put some snack bars around the yard an hour ago and this is the result. On one lid there is honey, the other has peanut butter. It makes sense that they would go for the honey because they are always after the honeydew from the scale in the gum trees around our house.

I was thinking maybe bait would be useful, but with such a big area it would be hard to target them all.

[Boozlefoot]

Originally Posted by pmrid

Not that hard! Borax Decahydrate (104g/L) and Boron (11 g/L) are the active ingredients in AntRid (see my post below).
Peter

Peter said the keywords.....active ingredient.Getting harder to get as some regard it as a possible carcinogen and no longer stock it as a cleaning/laundry product. Better than AntRid because its CHEAPER by about 1800%! 1 kg will cost you about $6.00 and would make up LITRES of AntRid. Like buying Mould Killer when you can buy generic ammonia for 1/10 of the cost. Don't put AntRid in your washing machine.