Ant bait recommendations?

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neb

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#2735917 28-Jun-2021 17:42

CokemonZ:
Takes anywhere from 5 - 10 days to see a noticeable change in any quantity.

I've been feeding them for about three months with no change.

I've been promised a small amount of that blue-coloured stuff to try out which is also just borax but it'll provide something to compare the Kiwicare stuff against.

clinty

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#2772522 5-Sep-2021 13:36

Has anyone used NoPests® Ant Bait?

Clint

pih

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#2772583 5-Sep-2021 18:28

clinty:
Has anyone used NoPests® Ant Bait?

Can't say I have, I'd be interested to hear how you go if you try some. It's about time to re-bait, I'm looking at options again.

neb

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#2772596 5-Sep-2021 19:24

clinty:
Has anyone used NoPests® Ant Bait?

I haven't but at $35 for 20 grams the stuff had better not just kill the ants but also carry out the bodies and sweep up behind it afterwards, there's no way that 0.01 grams of indoxacarb is costing them $35.

More seriously, unless you're able to wipe out the entire nest with that miniscule amount it doesn't sound like a very good deal when more basic stuff like Exterm-an-Ant is $12-15 for 100ml. You can easily go through that amount, which would set you back $175 for the Ant Bait version.

Edited to add: I wonder if you could get away with bringing this stuff into the country? The NZ Customs site warns about not bringing in certain proscribed pesticides but doesn't say much about cheaper foreign alternatives to what's readily available here.

pih

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#2791219 7-Oct-2021 13:53

Resurfacing this thread to document my dive into homemade ant bait. I bought 1kg of borax from Bunnings for under $12. Not as concentrated as boric acid according to the internets, but much cheaper, more accessible and reportedly still works quite well. I've found a few recipes online but some say boric acid and borax are interchangeable, and the recipes are so varied it's hard to know what to believe.

Most recipes ask for a simple mix of bor(ax|ic acid), sugar or peanut butter and water to make a paste.

Ratios for borax:attractant start at about 3 Tbsp borax : 2 cups (sugar water), and go right up to 2 parts borax : 1 part sugar/PB + optional water, but most seem to be centred around the 1:1 ratio.

So in order to be as attractive as possible (which is hard for me even on a good day), I've started with a 1:1:1 mixture of borax, peanut butter and powdered sugar, with just enough water to make a sloppy paste. So far the ants are loving it - it remains to be seen whether I'm just giving them a good feed and a stomach ache, or if it's actually going to work... But for just slightly more than the cheapest Kiwicare ant bait at Bunnings, I now have a lifetime supply of ant bait if it works!

TBC

robjg63

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#2809291 8-Nov-2021 13:58

pih:

Resurfacing this thread to document my dive into homemade ant bait. I bought 1kg of borax from Bunnings for under $12. Not as concentrated as boric acid according to the internets, but much cheaper, more accessible and reportedly still works quite well. I've found a few recipes online but some say boric acid and borax are interchangeable, and the recipes are so varied it's hard to know what to believe.

Most recipes ask for a simple mix of bor(ax|ic acid), sugar or peanut butter and water to make a paste.

Ratios for borax:attractant start at about 3 Tbsp borax : 2 cups (sugar water), and go right up to 2 parts borax : 1 part sugar/PB + optional water, but most seem to be centred around the 1:1 ratio.

So in order to be as attractive as possible (which is hard for me even on a good day), I've started with a 1:1:1 mixture of borax, peanut butter and powdered sugar, with just enough water to make a sloppy paste. So far the ants are loving it - it remains to be seen whether I'm just giving them a good feed and a stomach ache, or if it's actually going to work... But for just slightly more than the cheapest Kiwicare ant bait at Bunnings, I now have a lifetime supply of ant bait if it works!

TBC

@pih How did this DIY approach work. Ants have been going a bit berserk lately. Time to get nasty with them I think.

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Bung

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#2809400 8-Nov-2021 15:09

pih:
Most recipes ask for a simple mix of bor(ax|ic acid), sugar or peanut butter and water to make a paste.

Ratios for borax:attractant start at about 3 Tbsp borax : 2 cups (sugar water), and go right up to 2 parts borax : 1 part sugar/PB + optional water, but most seem to be centred around the 1:1 ratio.

>

1:1 is too strong, you might kill some ants but the rest will learn that it should be avoided. Start at 2Tbs in 2 cups sugar water.

pih

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#2809416 8-Nov-2021 15:59

robjg63:

@pih How did this DIY approach work. Ants have been going a bit berserk lately. Time to get nasty with them I think.

Yeah, not so well. It worked for a couple of days but then they started avoiding it. I think @Bung is right that the concentration is too high - I was mixing ingredients together with an element of rage, but in hindsight patience would have been a better strategy. I also tried a 1:2:2 mix of water:sugar:borax, heated until it dissolved into a syrup. They liked that too for a day or two until they suddenly started avoiding it. The nest certainly shrunk but didn't disappear. They are now starting to grow in numbers again so I think it's time to try the new, more dilute bait.

robjg63

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#2809458 8-Nov-2021 17:16

I found a bottle of Raid liquid ant bait in the cupboard - Must have been there for a while and it's now off the market.

They seem to quite like the stuff.

The Kiwicare No ants brown goo/gel does seem to work - But its quite slow and dries out quickly.

I think maybe this would be a replacement: http://www.antkiller.co.nz/

Looks like Mitre10, Some Newworlds and Trademe sell it.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

neb

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#2809583 8-Nov-2021 20:34

robjg63:
The Kiwicare No ants brown goo/gel does seem to work - But its quite slow and dries out quickly.

That's one nice thing about the blue Exterm-an-Ant bait, besides being cheaper than pretty much everything out there, as low as $10 if you buy several bottles, it seems to stay liquid more or less indefinitely so you don't end up with a dry crust of borax that the ants won't touch, presumably they add some hygroscopic component to the mix to keep it ant-palatable.

Edited to add: The antkiller link in the previous post is for the same Exterm-an-Ant. And from the MSDS it also contains sodium tetraborate which is hygroscopic, a clever mix.

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#2809590 8-Nov-2021 20:42

I take a fairly crude approach, and mix roughly 1:1 Borax / jam. The ants are usually into it for a couple of days then disappear for 6-12 months and then we do it again.

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