Need reliable pest control

[Night Owl]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Just a fountain of misinformation today!

The truth is that carpenter ants feed on sources of protein and sugar. Outdoors, mostly feed on living and dead insects and the pet food you left on your porch. They are also love honeydew, that sweet liquid produced by aphids and scale insects. Indoors, they feed on meats and pet food, as well as syrup, honey, sugar, jelly, and other sweets. Carpenter ants DO NOT, however, eat wood. They remove wood as they create galleries and tunnels for nesting.

Ok, so they don't eat it but they tunnel through it. Hmmmmm, how do they tunnel through wood, ole wise one?

[Mestral]

Chloridane and DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) are indeed banned. One problem was, once released into the environment, they are there forever. Chlorodane has been banned for 35 years, but you can still find it in the fish in Ladybird Lake in Austin. But, I understand, the need for them, and I think some countries made the right choice to bring DDT back.

Dursban was diazinon, and it has been linked to brain tumors, among other things. Trouble with diazinon was that it traveled. Use it in your yard and you can bet it will be in your house within the next week or so (depending on how often you walk on the grasss).

Triazicide is an almost identical chemical, but it doesn't travel (I have missed a portion of a mound by as little as six inches, and those ants survived.) I have gotten pretty good at using it. One thing to be aware of, though. Modern liquid triazicide formulae jell within hours of mixing with water, so clean your sprayer out thoroughly.

I looked it up. Orthane and Orthene were trademark names for Acephate. One article said currently available with license for crop use, and you have to wear a hazmat suit to handle it. But I found it on Amazon, and at Home Depot in granular formulae for home treatment of fire ants. Maybe you need a license for larger than a certain size container.

All chemicals I list in this post are classed as highly acutely toxic, cholinesterase inhibitor, meaning nerve agents. In addition some of them are chronic liver toxins (but I can't find that listing right now) meaning repeated exposures build up over time.

I agree most of them have very unpronounceable names.

[sojourner truth]

It's not the size of the container you get that makes it a license only pesticide... The ones that the licensed guys use are almost 50 times more potent than what you buy off the shelf.

In any insecticide, the main concern for health is the inclusion of Cholinesterase inhibitors. The active agent that kills the insect can, if taken into a human on a regular basis, and in very large amounts, can destroy the nerve synapses and give the recipient symptoms of Parkinsons disease. You can actually see the effects in some of the old timers who did pest control before safety was a primary issue. Involuntary shaking, and loss of muscular control. 24D also has this agent, and that is why those who claim to have been in contact with it in large doses claim health issue. The point is, you have to have large dose exposure over prolonged periods of time before any bad effects are evidenced. Even too much pure water can kill you if too much is imbibed in too short a period of time. The ingredients in tooth paste are highly toxic if ingested.

Diazanon uses these (Cholinesterase) agents as well, but in very limited amounts. The biggest problem is with what is known as "drift" from these agents, and comes from water runoff from folks who use too much, and don't water it in when first applied. Then, when a frog strangling rain comes along, it gets into the water supply from run off. ERGO... the need for licenses and restrictions on its use, and limitations on the percentage of agent able to be bought over the counter. The low dose over the counter products we are allowed to buy are just not all that effective.

I get good results from Bayer grub killer. The best results for fertilizer I have experimented with come from Scotts turf builder, which I didn't like when I first used it. I swear by it now, as well as Bayer grub bait.

[Mestral]

Diazanon uses these (Cholinesterase) agents as well, but in very limited amounts. The biggest problem is with what is known as "drift" from these agents, and comes from water runoff from folks who use too much, and don't water it in when first applied. Then, when a frog strangling rain comes along, it gets into the water supply from run off. ERGO... the need for licenses and restrictions on its use, and limitations on the percentage of agent able to be bought over the counter. The low dose over the counter products we are allowed to buy are just not all that effective.

Diazanon had the added problem of being oil based. That is one reason it would wind up in your home. It sticks to the bottoms of your shoes. On the (corporate) farm I lived during most of my youth, we used copious amounts of many chemicals. We did have a policy of shoes off at the door, so that cut the spread a bit, but my brother and I went barefoot as much as Tom Sawyer. He is gone (brain tumor) and the rest of us have nervous system damage of one sort or another. My grandfather died of Parkinsons, but at a fairly old age. I am hoping for heart failure, and eating a diet to promote it. Life is a crap shoot, and anything you do can get you killed, including doing nothing, so I don't have a problem with any of this.

[Grammar Rules]

:shaking my head: What does one eat to "promote heart failure"?

[sojourner truth]

Go to Dairy Queen and just get about anything on the menu...

[Ludwig]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Ok, so they don't eat it but they tunnel through it. Hmmmmm, how do they tunnel through wood, ole wise one?

Just like a saw does not eat the wood but converts it to saw dust, so does the carpenter ant.

[Night Owl]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Just like a saw does not eat the wood but converts it to saw dust, so does the carpenter ant.

Still destroying the wood in either case. I'll have to check next time I see one and find out if it's a crosscut saw they are using.

[Mestral]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

:shaking my head: What does one eat to "promote heart failure"?

I eat what I want, instead of what I might know is better for me.

What I have seen of Parkinsons and cancer tells me I would rather not go that way,
although in the end, I know it won't really be up to me to decide.

[ClickaNerd]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Ants don't know their place. The kitchen is mine. Would like opinions of pest control services for Killeen. Would rather not use Terminix or Orkin.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Raid-Doubl...-4-ct/11046003

The ants eat the stuff and bring it back to the nest.

Works excellent and is very clean.

Outside just use any old pesticide expert to spray the entire yard.