Harris Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade, 5lb

Harris Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade, 5lb

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in-a-sense-lost posted on r/parrots1d

I've been dealing with crazy ants every summer for a few years now, so I feel you. You might have some ordinary variety of ants and they're just in insane numbers... but if you're seeing ants not moving in any organized line, you might have crazy ants. My first thought was the usuals: baking soda, cinnamon, cayenne, etc sprinkled at baseboards. This does nothing for crazy ants, but I've used it successfully for every other variety. Normal black ants will leave your entire block over cayenne, lol. Next I tried diatomaceous earth. This stuff works on ants, roaches, spiders, anything that crawls. And it's non-toxic! It's just soft, superfine powder that, to teeny bugs, is like crawling on broken glass. I spread it everywhere. And the crazy ants marched over and around it like pea gravel; it didn't even slow them down. I tried sticky traps, bait (Zevo and Terro both make good ones), yard stakes full of poisons that made me weep for the local wildlife... but nothing stopped the crazy ants. So, out of desperation, I tried Peppermint oil. I worried about the strong smell and the risk to birdy respiratory systems, but compared with the risk of them being swarmed and bitten or choked to death by crazy ants... I had to try, right? So I did. I sprayed everywhere I'd seen them, everywhere I thought I'd seen them, and everywhere I thought they might be coming in (especially around outlets, as crazy ants are attracted to electricity, the fckers). And THAT has been the only thing that's worked. But... it's an essential oil and you can definitely smell it for a few days--and you're meant to re-spray every few days until the problem is gone--so I wouldn't skip to this solution unless you have crazy ants. Our vet says it's probably fine, but... yeah. Oh, and I tried calling an exterminator. Apparently crazy ants have been known to travel up to two miles from their nest--and they build satellite nests, in case anything happens to one, and don't build mounds so they're impossible to find anyway--so they could be coming from literally anywhere. (I'm personally eyeballing the two neighbors with peony bushes, but really it could be anyone in this zipcode). Good luck!