Over the last few days I noticed a few small ants in my car while driving. I squished them and thought nothing of it. But, I killed more and more and they kept coming. I opened my hood and there were quite a lot of them with a couple foraging trails-after harssing them they started carrying larvae which means there’s a COLONY in there. A queen must have newly moved in.
They seem to be nested in one of the holes right at the joint under the hood, unfortunately I don’t think this part comes off. There was a bit of old granola under my car seat which I cleaned an vacuumed thoroughly, hopefully taking away their food source. Any other advice on what I can do? They are argentine ants. Disgusting.
Killing individuals won’t do much. Terro works pretty good in the house. They take the bait (oops) and back to the nest and share it. Put some drops in the engine compartment and on the floor for a treat, or see someone professional.
+1
I can recommend the Terro bait traps enthusiastically. The OP just has to remember to change them every couple of days because they get filled with ants very rapidly, and then lose their effectiveness. The transparent case of these little devices makes it easy to see when they are filled with the little buggers.
Before introducing poisons into the car, suggest to first try cleaning away anything an ant might like to eat, and giving it some time. The ants may move out on their own.
+1
Terro is mostly Borax, which is not toxic to humans–unless they eat it. Borax is commonly used around my house for cleaning purposes, because it is non-toxic.
Do they still advertise 20 mule-team borax in the re-runs? I always thought that was the best part. The show’s content was pretty good too as I recall, less romantic and more of a realistic portrayal of the 1800’s west.
You don’t need to kill them, just stop feeding them. I had them swarm a closed, sealed bottle of fish oil capsules - so I put it in the fridge. Also they went for a being-recycled empty bottle of canola oil, no matter how thoroughly I cleaned it, including bleach (just to test their determination) - so I had to throw it out. They don’t want to be in your car. But they do eat tiny amounts of food: crumbs, dried-up-spilled soda pop, etc. that you may not notice.
Yeah I used to watch it all the time. I never really knew what the heck the 20 mule team borax was though. I heard why they called it that once but escapes me now. I can still see the old guy that narrated it but can’t remember who it was. (I suppose he wasn’t that old but to a ten year old . . .)
I expect you are referring to Stan Andrews AKA “The Old Ranger”. He was the first host. Subsequent hosts included Ronald Reagan. He’s the one I associate w/the show, even though he only hosted one or two of the 18 seasons, mid-60’s.
Yeah that’s the guy. Had to have been in his 60’s then. Those shows made me think that everything west of Iowa was hot and sand to be avoided. I thought the Pres Ron was more Playhouse 90.
I remember sending Borax box tops in to get a model of the 20 mule team. I think my dad ended up making the model because it was not an easy one to build. You have to mix it with sugar and enough water to get to a syrupy consistency for an effective ant killer. The recipe I used was a third cup borax and a cup of sugar with a quarter cup of corn syrup or honey thrown in as a ‘treat.’ Did a great job of killing ants in our 140 year old house a couple of years back. It can take up to 72 hours before you stop seeing any live ones so you have to be patient.
