ants in plane

Peter Ha

Peter Ha

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Nov 18, 2019
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Leadpan
Hey folks,
Been rainy in my airport, my plane is covered up on tie-down.
Ready to go up for pattern works and I find bunch of ants inside the plane!
How do you rid of them?
 
when we get them in the house, they go straight for any source of food.
Messy cats, cat fud on the floor;
Messy coffee drinkers, spilled sugar;
Uncleaned pots and pans in the sink.

Any spilled soda in your plane? People dropping cheetos on the carpet?
Clean clean clean.
Around the house I spray insecticide and it will stop them in their tracks. At that location. For a while. You know there is a zillion in some nest underground nearby.

(If in compliance with state and local laws and not posing a risk to pets, strays, wildlife...) maybe you could pour a moat of dursban-like insecticide around...what is it a 10x10 concrete pad the plane is on? or is it on the ground - moat around the wheels?
 
You need a blind snake (Leptotyphlops).
 
weilke said:
You need a blind snake (Leptotyphlops).
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Do not ever let anyone tell you there are no snakes in Hawaii. I found one while I was there.

snake.jpg
 
weilke said:
Looks terrifying !

....from the perspective of an ant.
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Hahaha... It is a pretty even match, depending on the size of the ant. This one was about 3" long.

snake (1).jpg
 
There has to be food in there. Find that and they'll go away.
 
Or they’ll leave once the food is gone. I took that approach when I had to live in Georgia. I figured I couldn’t possibly remove 12-years worth of food filth in my vehicle. Otherwise I’ve had good luck with liquid Terro which is just Borax in liquid a suspension.
 
YooperMooney said:
Or they’ll leave once the food is gone. I took that approach when I had to live in Georgia. I figured I couldn’t possibly remove 12-years worth of food filth in my vehicle. Otherwise I’ve had good luck with liquid Terro which is just Borax in liquid a suspension.
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:yeahthat:

Borax powder is very effective. Safer than insecticides.

Try to trace back to the nest after getting rid of them in the plane. And clean your carpets thoroughly. You've probably got food or sugar drink residue in it.
 
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Fly somewhere the night time temperatures are well below freezing. Park outside for a night or two. That’s it! No more ants .

Now clean, clean, clean to keep them from coming back...

-Skip
 
Remove the source that attracts them.

It’s ants, anything else is like

1174324245-futility.b.jpg
 
Just weigh them and make sure you're still in the W&B envelope.
 
Ravioli said:
Just weigh them and make sure you're still in the W&B envelope.
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Do dead ants weigh different than live ants? At least dead ants won’t all march to the rear and upset the CG.
 
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MooneyDriver78 said:
Will that kill them, or just put them in hibernation?
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My parents bought a large inboard cabin cruiser in Florida. Ants bugged my Mom all summer and fall. They brought the boat north along the Intracoastal Waterway to Mystic, CT, the new home port. Boat was drydocked for the winter. Next season... no ants. They either froze to death or took Amtrak back to Florida. I'm betting they froze their little feets off....

-Skip
 
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YooperMooney said:
Or they’ll leave once the food is gone. I took that approach when I had to live in Georgia. I figured I couldn’t possibly remove 12-years worth of food filth in my vehicle. Otherwise I’ve had good luck with liquid Terro which is just Borax in liquid a suspension.
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+1 for Terro bait traps. Excellent.
 
once my wife and I went on a long trip... a week or two with her car parked in the long term airport lot. Came back to find that the ants had found an opened bag of chips she had stashed and probably long ago forgotten about it. There was a huge wad of ants completely enveloping the bag....looked like a ball of ants.
No telling how long that bag had been in the car and it was interesting that it had not been "found" before now.....I imagined that with the car sitting in one place long enough, a scout found some way into the car, found the chips, then found it's way back to the nest to tell all his friends
 
Brad W said:
once my wife and I went on a long trip... a week or two with her car parked in the long term airport lot. Came back to find that the ants had found an opened bag of chips she had stashed and probably long ago forgotten about it. There was a huge wad of ants completely enveloping the bag....looked like a ball of ants.
No telling how long that bag had been in the car and it was interesting that it had not been "found" before now.....I imagined that with the car sitting in one place long enough, a scout found some way into the car, found the chips, then found it's way back to the nest to tell all his friends
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please finish the story.
 
ha ha....not much else to tell. yikes, it looked like the whole nest of ants! It was late at night when we returned to the car...so by the light from the parking lot streetlights, I yanked the bag out to the ground and swept out the ants as best I could. I think we had some wet wipes and I wiped the area down.... They didn't really stick around with the food gone.
 
Tempo insecticide. It's extremely safe (you can spray it in food prep areas). Just spray the area you see them and they will die.
 
Instead of ants, it could be way worse.... just ask Samuel L. Jackson if you need a hiss hint
 
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