# Pasture pests - thatching ants



## amysflock (Jul 16, 2009)

HELP! We are being overtaken by thatching ants...black with red heads, live in big piles they make out of fir needles...and they BITE. I am so sick of them. If I'm working outside I have to watch my feet as well as whatever else I'm doing so I can stomp them off of me when they crawl on/in my shoes. They have a pile a couple feet away from our main entry gate into the pasture, and of course their highway runs right under the length of the gate, so I get bitten there a lot. Now they're coming to the sidewalk up to our front door.

How do you all kill ants? We have two or three big piles with tons of these creepy guys...I want something lethal and relatively quick.

Thanks!


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## Farmer Kitty (Jul 16, 2009)

You can get ant poisons but, if your looking for something cheap and natural, I've heard boiling water works well. You are suppose to boil the water and then take a shovel and open the nest. Then pour in the boiling water. They say even though you don't get them all they will move out.  I've been meaning to try it but, with everything going on here I haven't had a chance to.


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## Thewife (Jul 16, 2009)

Ok, I think we already decide I'm weird, so here goes!
I just leave the ants alone. I had a nest by the garden for years, they were all over the place! Even when I put my hands in their trails while weeding, they rarely bit me the!
Right now I have a nest growing in one of my flower beds!


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## amysflock (Jul 16, 2009)

Hmmm, maybe I'll try the boiling water.

thewife, you must be either extra special or icky tasting, because I'm getting bitten at least once a day. I hate hate hate them. They are so creepy. Makes me think of a B-list sci-fi/horror movie I watched as a kid in the summer...something about gigantic ants invading and killing people or something. YUCK.


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## Thewife (Jul 16, 2009)

amysflock said:
			
		

> Hmmm, maybe I'll try the boiling water.
> 
> thewife, you must be either extra special or icky tasting, because I'm getting bitten at least once a day. I hate hate hate them. They are so creepy. Makes me think of a B-list sci-fi/horror movie I watched as a kid in the summer...something about gigantic ants invading and killing people or something. YUCK.


What do you mean special or icky tasting? I will remember that!
I always thought it was because I smoke, but they would bite the .... out of the boy!( I now know he was smoking too)

I began accepting them when I saw them carry away cut worms!


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## ksalvagno (Jul 16, 2009)

This may not be fast but what about diatomaceous earth? Supposedly it cuts them up and they should eventually go away. Maybe use that after the hot water.


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