Jenny Scott from the Raumati South Residents’ Association says a huge thank-you to all those who have registered to take part in Ant Baiting Weekend, 6-7 October and wishes everyone good luck.
If it is wet, it will take place on the first fine weekend after that.
“More people can still take part. If you have no ants, or very few and are not going to bother about ant-baiting weekend, please reconsider. Lay some borax baits round your boundaries, and check whether they are being taken.
“Great care must be taken with baiting. The two ants we are trying to combat, the brown Argentine and the black White-footed House Ant, are notoriously difficult to exterminate. If they suspect a threat they move, divide and multiply, and multiply and multiply.
“People may not mind those little brown ants under the drive, as long as they stay outside. But within two years, that one small colony may multiply into a super colony which spreads all over the neighbourhood, invades homes and gardens by the millions, destroys the biodiversity of the soil, and even kills baby geckos and birds.. Not everyone can afford pest controllers and expensive baits, year after year. Nor is this good for the environment.
“By all baiting together on the same weekend there will have a better chance of reducing ant numbers, and a better chance of identifying problem areas which will need further attention. Talk to your neighbours.
“Take a careful look at individually owned properties, at vacant properties, at rented properties, at street frontages and park boundaries. Everyone needs to check with the owners of all the properties on their boundaries, and talk about who has got what problems.
“I believe there has been a lot of ant movement in Raumati South over the last two years, because the black White-footed House Ant is being pushed out by the newly arrived Argentine Ant. The only defence the White-foots have against the Argentine is to multiply and multiply and multiply, so more and more people are getting their houses invaded by vast colonies of black ants.
Argentines establish themselves in a property, then spread out in all directions into surrounding properties until they are so numerous and so hungry they start invading houses, and the Black Ants are driven out.
“Both the KCDC and the Paraparaumu-Raumati Community Board have given us grants to run this. We have been responding to people from north of Waikanae to Paekakariki, and sending out information on how individuals can organise their own mini ant-baiting programmes.
“There at two types of eradication methods, home made borax bait or the commercial Vanquish-Pro:
BORAX BAITING
Recipe: 5 grams (1 rounded teaspoon) of borax powder;
250 gr (1 cup) of sugar;
1 litre of boiling water.
Dissolve, cool, and pour onto cotton wool stuffed into the bait stations. Saturate the cotton but don’t leave any unabsorbed liquid, or the ants will drown.-
“Use borax in a liquid solution, at exactly the right strength, and in little screw-top containers with 4 mm holes drilled in the lids to let ants in but keep bees out. These are available for $5.00 for 50 from jennyscott@outlook.co.nz. The aim is not to kill the Argentines, but to keep them alive and feeding, unaware that they are taking a toxin back to the queens. The same dose will kill the black White-footed house ants directly which is great.
“Borax baiting is slow compared with Vanquish-Pro, scatter multiple borax bait stations round the house and section, every 2 metres or so. Leave them for up to 3 months, replenishing if they dry out.
VANQUISH-PRO
“The Vanquish-pro we recommend for Argentines comes in 325 gram cartridges, enough for an 1100 square metre section. It was developed in Australia for the Argentine ants, and is very fast. The cartridge has a carbohydrate added to it to attract the White-Foots as well as the Argentines, so care must be taken not to lay it out in the open near active bees.
People may squirt blobs of it into empty borax bait stations as a safeguard, then reuse these containers later for borax baiting.
“Vanquish-Pro, is $64 a cartridge, if ordered through the RSRA — E-mail jennyscott@outlook.co.nz — to find out what is right for you.
Hi Guys. Yes, we have unwanted visitors. Apart from using an effective ‘Advion’ Ant bait, my only problem is what kind of containers do people find effective for use outside?
Basically these are any small screw-top containers with one 4-5mm hole drilled in the lid. Cotton wool balls are placed inside, and saturated in borax syrup, so the ants can drink but not drown.
20ml pill vialls are ideal. The RSRA is buying these in bulk and selling them at cost to all residents south of Menin Rd. ( $5.00 for 50). For these contact Jenny: jennyscott@outlook.co.nz.
Other Raumati residents may order them in boxes of 500 for $30 (plus freight) from David at Raumati Beach Pharmacy. Anyone else: ask your local chemist.