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So been dealing with an ant problem and finally found a solution. The main problem was the ants just wouldnt find or go to the the poison traps. So it wasnt effective. But I found a way to fix that.
Leave some food out so you have a line of marching ants going to and from it. Most likely this already happened if you realize you have an ant problem at all.
Go to the end of the ant trail that is close to the food but where the trail is still a tight line (as it gets close to the food they will spread out to cover the food). Take a drop of cooking oil about 2/3ths the width of the poison container and put it directly on the ants making the trail. Then take a paper towel and wipe a very wide streak (a good meter should do it) in both directions from the blob. This will create a tin coat of oil the ants can not walk over (it will get on their feet and then they cant stick to stuff so they avoid it)..
At this point the ants will try to find a way around the barrier and will start trying to look for a way around the oil. Take your poison trap and place it exactly where you put the oil, right in the middle of the line of ants. make sure the streak of oil is thin enough that the trap creates a complete bridge (if any oil pokes out from under the trap it wont work).
the ants will quickly find the shortest new path which goes through the trap and across the poison. Once the ants have established a path through the trap to get to the food clean up all the food and leave the trap.
Now the ants will start taking the poison back to their nest instead of the food.
Thats likely because its a fine powder. Ants wont cross anything that is a fine powder either for the same reasons. Talcum powder is an effective barrier.
@freemo
Oooh that totally makes sense. Reminds me that when I built a cabin a while back it was recommended to put borax around it which is a fine powder as well and supposedly does respiratory damage or something
@avlcharlie borax being a fine powder would prevent them from crossing it. But the reason they use borax is because if ants eat it they can no longer absorb nutrients and die. If you get the queen to eat it then you kill the colony. Ants share food so this is an effective tactic.
Problem is borax alone wont be seen as a food to ants so other than preventing them from passing by being a powder it wont actually kill them. Ant poison is usually some sort of food mixed with the borax, specifically sugar. This causes them to eat it and share it and kill the colony.
They probably recommend borax simply because it is assumed to be an effective poison on its own due to those reasons even though it is not. It must have sugar mixed with it to work.
Interesting fact though, insects dont have lungs or a respiratory system like humans do. They breath through holes in their skin and direct diffusion of gases. It is entirely passive and the whole reason why all insects are small. They simply cant get much bigger than they are without suffocating.
@freemo
Interesting side note..(maybe lol)
I can smell ants. Specifically I can smell a large ant colony. I lived in East Texas for a while and fire ants are a huge problem. I actually found I can smell the fermic acid I believe. Whatever it is I can smell them.
They would have a fsint smell of vinegar if you are able to detect it at all.
@freemo I am using the poison tasting so good for ants that I coul just put this “ant bufet” anywhere near ant”s “road”, they find it and eat it instead of any other food available in my kitchen.
I don’t know what exactly there, I just bought it in the shop.
@Rado1 The ants seem more selective about this stuff, pretty sure it is just sugar and borax.
@freemo what I’m using is not just simple poison. It is something that will destroy the whole colony when the ants bring it home as food.
@Rado1 That woukd be borax then.
@freemo
For what it's worth I also found that ants won't cross a line of cinnamon