Ants in my P... !

J

JOhnH

Touchdown! Greaser!
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I had ants in my printer. Great big red ants carrying great big grubs.

I noticed sudden deterioration of print quality so I opened the top to start cleaning. Under the glass I saw hundreds of big red ants. I opened the top to get where the ink cartridges are and there were tons more of them.

I put the printer by the curb so the city sanitation crew could pick up but it was gone in 5 minutes.
Good for me. I feel sorry for the guy that thought he got a good deal.

I immediately ordered a new printer. One of those with refillable tanks instead of ink cartridges.

But my question is how do I keep this from happening again?
I occasionally see a red ant in my office and never thought much of it. I usually see them when it is real cold outside or we get a lot of rain, but hardly ever more than one at a time. Maybe a dozen in the past five years.

I'm thinking a light dusting of boric acid under the printer. (the printer sits on a two drawer metal filing cabinet so I don't think the boric acid would cause any problem.

But any other suggestions except for having an exterminator come out and poison the whole yard and house? I don't want something that I keep having to apply and reapply all the time.
 
What type of ant is it? I know it sounds like a silly question but that information will be key to finding the source and eliminating them for good ...
 
JOhnH said:
I had ants in my printer. Great big red ants carrying great big grubs.

I noticed sudden deterioration of print quality so I opened the top to start cleaning. Under the glass I saw hundreds of big red ants. I opened the top to get where the ink cartridges are and there were tons more of them.

I put the printer by the curb so the city sanitation crew could pick up but it was gone in 5 minutes.
Good for me. I feel sorry for the guy that thought he got a good deal.

I immediately ordered a new printer. One of those with refillable tanks instead of ink cartridges.

But my question is how do I keep this from happening again?
I occasionally see a red ant in my office and never thought much of it. I usually see them when it is real cold outside or we get a lot of rain, but hardly ever more than one at a time. Maybe a dozen in the past five years.

I'm thinking a light dusting of boric acid under the printer. (the printer sits on a two drawer metal filing cabinet so I don't think the boric acid would cause any problem.

But any other suggestions except for having an exterminator come out and poison the whole yard and house? I don't want something that I keep having to apply and reapply all the time.
Click to expand...
Burn the house and move.

Or, to avoid legal complications:dunno:, maybe just move.
 
At least it wasn't centipedes in your varga kachina.
 
Florida Man....
 
Ring your house outside, and every wall inside, with non-toxic diatomaceous earth. I had ants that were totally uninterested in my bait and driving us crazy. This powder fixed the problem with surprising effectiveness.

en.wikipedia.org

Diatomaceous earth - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
My wife has an extermination service that sprays around the house on a regular basis. Depending on the time of year, they sometime spray inside. We don’t have bugs.

if anyone wants to argue about toxity, I’ll suggest you have that argument with my wife. I’ve learned it isn’t worth the trouble.

we tried DE in the garden one year, but had enough rain that it wasn’t effective. It has to be dry to work.
 
bflynn said:
My wife has an extermination service that sprays around the house on a regular basis. Depending on the time of year, they sometime spray inside. We don’t have bugs.

if anyone wants to argue about toxity, I’ll suggest you have that argument with my wife. I’ve learned it isn’t worth the trouble.

we tried DE in the garden one year, but had enough rain that it wasn’t effective. It has to be dry to work.
Click to expand...
DE & borid are no longer effective if moisture gets to it. Borid is also ineffective if it's put down too heavily or if it gets covered in dust. Inside walls and in cracks & crevices will work pretty well (unless you're dealing with spiders - ;) ).

I asked earlier if the ants could be identified but no one moved in that direction. But consider that the same rules apply to almost any situation where a person it trying to address a concern i.e. you have to identify the problem (enemy) before you can design a proper solution.

Of course the toxic approach of blasting away with chemicals to and kill/injure everything that moves can be employed but if the exterminator you are hiring can't explain why may not be the proper approach and then offer something far superior from an IPM perspective then he should be sent packing.
 
“Big red ants” in Florida only means fire ants. If they were red and two sizes, they were big headed ants.

Do you still have ants after removing the nest?
 
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