# Ants!!!!!



## Madden6 (Oct 17, 2004)

Went to the beach this weekend with the camper!! It was great and had geat weather. sunny 
but... I have little black ants.







Not a lot. But enough to drive me crazy, and they seem to be in the area of the frig and pantry. I have never had this problem before and we have had a camper out in the back yard for 4 years!!
I did spray today, but I didn't know if anyone had any other options.
We always remove any food that has be opened and usually leave cans and paper goods in there only. They are the tiny ones not the carpenters.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Nothing like a little piss ant invasion to spoil the fun.

Old wives tale I think but there may be some fact to it. If you do not like the smell of Raid try dusting the area with Borax powder the ants I hear hate it and it does not have much of a smell. Dust it in the dark places in the back of the cupboards and under the drawers.


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Borax is good but it is a







Poison. Be careful with the kiddies and animals.








Take care 
Jan


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Given that you have had a rig in the backyard for 4 years without any problem, I wonder if those guys hitched a ride from Goshen? Like Andy says, Raid 'em! Try to get in all the cracks behind the drawers and cabinets. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. Maybe some ant traps would help, too.


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## HodgePodge (Apr 29, 2005)

If you are looking for a way to kill ants but are worried about using chemicals around food, kids, and pets, try mint oil. We have found that using a mixture of mint oil, dish soap and water makes a very effective ant spray. The mint oil clogs the insectâ€™s spiracles (breathing holes) and over-stimulates their nervous system resulting in death. The dish soap helps the mint oil adhere to surfaces. Living in Northeast Ohio we have a lot of ants in the back yard and we use this spray to keep them out of the kidâ€™s sandbox. We were worried about using pesticides in the sandbox and have tried a lot of â€˜naturalâ€™ remedies without success until we stumbled on this one. Because we are spraying a large area we dilute the mint oil and soap mixture with water. It is roughly 90% water, 5% soap, 5% mint oil. If you were to use it in a more confined area such as your cupboards, counters or baseboards I wouldnâ€™t dilute it with as much water. That way you donâ€™t have to spray as much to get the desired effect. The other nice thing about this method is that the only smell you have is minty fresh. I hope this helps.
Rob.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Very good! I'm going to have to put this solution in my log book for when we start traveling into ant country. Would it work to keep ants out if sprayed around the tires, shore cord, and landing gear? Good tip, thanks!


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Ants are a problem also at Myrtle Beach. I learned and watched there as the climb up the electic cord into trailer, gas cord onto grill. I would spray a Raid where ever I had anything touching the ground including tires and stabilizers. Now I do this at each campgound I stay at. At home I use a stronger chemical where I park it.

I like the sound of the mint oil. Going to Myrtle Beach in a week, I will try that method first this time. Where do I find it? Food store?

John


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## Madden6 (Oct 17, 2004)

I have sprayed some Raid but I do like that home remedy. WHere would I pick up some of that mint oil??


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

cookie9933 said:


> Borax is good but it is aÂ Poison. Be careful with the kiddies and animals.Â
> Take care
> Jan
> 
> [snapback]43302[/snapback]​


Borax as in the laundry soap. I really wasn't thinking about sitting down and eating a bowl full. Placed in the hidden and otherwise hard to get at places it is plenty safe. Below is a detailed analysis.

BTW Mint oil sounds like it will smell better and if it works that is a great idea.

##############################################

BORAX
Chemistry: Na2B4O7 -10H2O, Hydrated sodium borate. 
Class: Carbonates 
Subclass: Borates 
Uses: an ore of boron and as a source of borax (a cleaning agent and useful industrial chemical) 
Specimens 
Borax is a complex borate mineral that is found in playa lakes and other evaporite deposits. The basic structure of borax contains chains of interlocking BO2(OH) triangles and BO3(OH) tetrahedrons bonded to chains of sodium and water octahedrons. Most old mineral specimens of borax are chalky white due to a chemical reaction from dehydration. They have actually altered (at least on their surface) to the mineral tincalconite, Na2 B4O7-5H2O, with the loss of water. This kind of alteration from one mineral to another leaves the original shape of the crystal. Minerologists refer to this as a pseudomorph, or "fake shape", because the tincalconite has the crystal shape of the predecessing borax. 
Borax is directly deposited in arid regions from the evaporation of water in intermittent lakes called playas. The playas form only during rainy seasons due to runoff from adjacent mountains. The runoff is rich in the element boron and is highly concentrated by evaporation in the arid climate. Eventually the concentration is so great that crystals of borax and other boron minerals form.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is white to clear. 
Luster is vitreous. 
Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent. 
Crystal System is monoclinic; 2/m 
Crystal Habits include the blocky to prismatic crystals with a nearly square cross section. Also massive and as crusts. 
Cleavage is perfect in one direction. 
Fracture is conchoidal. 
Hardness is 2 - 2.5 
Specific Gravity is approximately 1.7 (very light) 
Streak is white. 
Associated Minerals are calcite, halite, hanksite, colemanite, ulexite and other borates. 
Other Characteristics: a sweet alkaline taste, alters to chalky white tincalconite with dehydration. 
Notable Occurrences include Trona, Boron, Death Valley and other California localities; Andes Mountains; Turkey and Tibet. 
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, associations, locality, density and hardness.


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## HodgePodge (Apr 29, 2005)

You can find little bottles of peppermint oil at anywhere that 'essential oils' are sold for aromatherapy or massotherapy. These oils tend to be a bit pricey because they are very concentrated. That's why I would recommend experimenting with the concentration on the mint oil to try and reduce cost yet still cure the ant problem.
We bought a large bottle of mint oil last year online from a company in Redmond, WA called Everything Mint, Inc. 
everythingmint.com
I just checked their website again this morning and couldn't get the page to load. I'm not sure if they are having web server issues or have gone out of business. Anyway just for reference, A 32 oz bottle cost us $82.95 including the shipping. 
Just doing a google search I found this place and the prices that they are listing, $30 for 16 oz., tells me I may have paid too much last year. mintmeadow.com
It is expensive stuff but 32 oz will last us several years and we are continuously applying the mixture in our sandbox. If you are just using in your trailer you obviously won't need that much.
The spray will kill the ants that it hits (it doesn't take long for them to show the effects of it) and it seems to keep the ants from moving back into an area that has the residual spray left.
I have yet to try it on the entry points to our trailer (hose, power cord, jacks, etc) but I plan on packing some for our next trip. We camped with my parents in Western PA a few weeks back and they ended up with ants after the trip but somehow we were spared.


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

Around the Reverie household our anti-ant strategy has several elements. Most of these have been mentioned already.

1. Before I back the trailer into the site I check to make sure there are no active ant hills in the area. If there are I move to the next site.

2. I never take a site with trash or food anywhere on the ground.

3. As soon as I set up the trailer I walk around with a can of Raid Indoor-Outdoor Ant Killer. I spray every item that touches both the ground and the trailer including the tires, stabilizers, water hoses, and electrical hoses. Pay close attention to overhanding tree branches. If they touch your trailer in any way you have to either trim them back or spray them.

4. We keep all food scraps outside of the trailer in a collapsible garbage container that is emptied every evening before we go to bed at night.

5. We never, ever store food in our trailer while it is in storage (Well, except for the time I forgot to check the microwave and we had three week old petrified veggie-sausages waiting for us on our next trip). The only exception to this is canned goods. We do not leave any condiments, particularly salt or sugar in any form for them.

6. If any of the little buggers get past our lines of defence there is always my size 11s or my wife's fly swatter.

Reverie


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

A good preventative solution is to use Ajax / Comet, etc... I have been told by several campers that it keeps the little boogers out. They shake it out on the ground around all tires, stabilizers, hoses, etc.. Any point that touches the ground where they could climb in. Seems to work well.

Also be sure that there are no little tree branches touching the trailer too as they can use it for a bridge to get in.

ON EDIT: I see Rev did a fine job of mentioning this above. Sorry, got a hair trigger


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> cookie9933 said:
> 
> 
> > Borax is good but it is a Poison. Be careful with the kiddies and animals.
> ...


Camper Andy, That was a great chem lecture really interesting , I wouldn't mind traveling to Tibet, Turkey and the Andes.My imagination will have to do for the lack of travelers checks








However this grandma knows her toddlers sunny;they love to research their enviroment.I have been taking a toddler refresher course for the last 26 months babysitting our little Andy.








My main concern is safety since the family with the ant problem has small children.
Jan


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

cookie9933 said:


> CamperAndy said:
> 
> 
> > cookie9933 said:
> ...


Sorry never meant to lecture, just did a quick Internet search to see what Borax really was and when I found out it was more or less a type of salt it seemed harmless enough. So I posted the info, I guess I should be more selective. I was just suggesting an alternative to the chemical attack that is a normal first response.

There was a post about what protection people used to stop mice and one of the suggestions was to have cats. I guess I should have just said to get an ant eater for a pet and not only would the ant problem be gone I think they eat termites to.









I did not think too many kids were getting named Andy any more, is it a namesake for an uncle or something?? You keep him safe and show him how to have fun camping.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

You might try Diatomaceous Earth. It apparently is like walking on glass to those little buggers. I did a google search on it and came up with several listings on it. Here is just one Fresh water diatoms - Safe Diatomacieous Earth.

Tim


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

I really like the Anteater idea. I wonder if our old Dauchaund Dudley would like a new friend. I don't think they would be competing with each other for food. Anyone have any idea how to housebreak an Anteater?

Reverie


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Paper train 'em and then get them a litter box. At least that's what we did with our last ant eater.

Bill


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