Pinky's Ant Rant
 

I really do not like ants.

So I'm killing time at the shop, waiting for the restaurant to be ready to install the firetruck, so we decide to paint our buddy's bike.

I'm pretty fussy about my paint jobs, and so I always do the "final prep" and spraying myself. I shoot with a Titan HVLP setup and generally get nice results.

I sprayed out the base coats over the weekend but was out of clear coat activator so I had to wait to shoot the clear coats. It's no biggie to let base coat sit. I grabbed some activator first thing in the morning, tacked everything off and mixed some clear.

Everything was cool for a minute or so, until all of a sudden there was a ton of junk in my clear. I stopped spraying, trying to figure out how it was happening. The booth was clean, I always shoot on a wet floor, I'm a careful guy, but the crap is there anyway. This means I'll have to try to sand it out and re-clear it, so I move to the gas tank. Carefully inspect it for cleanliness, and hit it with clear. Immediately covered in shit again. Tiny pieces of insects to be precise.

So I pull apart the gun, which I had just cleaned and assembled moments before, and it's FULL, like crammed with ants. I turned on the turbine and hundreds more get blown out the hose!

The bastards had set up residence in my nice warm turbine OVERNIGHT. I mean, thousands probably, and in doing so have completely ruined this paint job. There's no way I'll be able to sand this crap out without at least blowing through the red enough to show the white undercoat. It's literally a write-off.

I fucking hate ants.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1385483243

whoops.

Here in CA we have the little tiny black "house ants" that live under concrete slabs that go absolutely apeshit when the temp drops. My backyard is basically one giant concrete plateau so this is pretty significant for me. They SWARM over our kitchen/house and get into anything that's even slightly open. Spill 6 drops of soda on your keyboard 6 months ago? Time for a new keyboard. My wife sees it as "no big deal" but for me, this is like the end of the goddamn world.

This is my First Strike Weapon
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385486333
and I ALWAYS fucking win. The little bastards take this shit back to the nest and it poisons their entire food supply. I generally see significant reduction in 4 days and entire colony destruction in about a week. I hope Terro is making millions on these things, because its totally justified.

I'm trying these guys for "outside" this year
http://terro.com/images/T1806-box.jpg
I've got one just inside each corner of the garage door and one on my porch at the other end of that slab. Hopefully these have enough volume for "continuous feeding" this winter for a permanent ant free existence.

Also from CA with the ant problems. I've had really good luck with too.

borax! boric acid! bore your whole family!

God damn, where has this been all my life?

Thread complaining about ants other than fire ants? How quaint.

Cypermethrin wettable powder is what the pros use. You can buy it online yourself unless you live in AK, NY, or CT. One tablespoon to a gallon of water in a pump sprayer. It is what the pest control guy sprays along the baseboards and windows in your office when it looks like he's just spraying a little bit of water. It is virtually harmless to mammals unless intentionally ingested in large quantities. Bad for fish.

It goes on wet, kills on contact, leaves a faint powder residue that remains active for years. If bugs ever walk through it or come in contact with it they die. Indoors, use it around baseboards, doors and windows, behind cabinets, and under and around the stove. Outdoors, use it around slabs, footers, windows, doors, under eaves, the garage, around the woodpile, just be careful around fish ponds. Attic, anywhere, including inside of the eaves and overhangs. It also works on spiders (not everything does) and termites if they make contact with it.

One $30 container will treat the average sized house inside and out once a year for 15 years. Pest control is a bit of a racket, like eyeglasses and hearing aids.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385567242

Cyper WP, Demon WP

And, yes it works on fire ants, keeps wasps from building nests under your eaves, etc

I didn't even start a thread when yellow jackets were living inside my house.