Attack of the Killer Ants

[nihil]

Maybe I should have posted this in "Oops a bug"

A flood of voracious ants is heading straight for Houston, taking out computers, radios and even vehicles in their path.

Now I have heard of roaches causing problems because they eat the wiring but these critters cause damage by sheer weight of numbers creating short circuits.

And in all my years of hardware support all I have ever come across is a few dead spiders.

Story is here:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...rs.html?page=1

[muert0]

Diesel is the cure. Just keep a sprayer full of diesel by the servers.

[nihil]

Diesel is the cure. Just keep a sprayer full of diesel by the servers.

You forgot to mention the ammonium nitrate

The problem seems to be that there are so many of the critters that if you lay a contact poison they just clamber over the dead bodies of their comrades?

[MadBeaver]

Sounds like the Russians in WW II.

[nihil]

Or the British in WWI?

It has made me think about how you could protect computer equipment against such an invasion; given that you need cooling and ventilation. Sure a server or mainframe room would be no problem, but what about desktop environments in buildings that aren't hermetically sealed?

The actual kit is full of holes that they could get in through, given that they are so small.

The way I deal with ants over here is feed them a nice glucose syrup laced with "Borax"

http://www.dri-pak.co.uk/products/householdborax.html

They take it back to the nest to share with others, particularly the queen(s) and the job is done.

It also kills roaches, but you use icing sugar and cocoa powder to make that one

The secret is that the death occurs a little time after the poisoning, so they don't form a bridge of dead bodies. Also, they will stop when they have found something to eat, unlike rodents who will open all 24 chocolate bars in a pack before they decide that isn't their favourite brand, and then move on

[AngelicKnight]

I'm going to have to take notes on this. Dallas is about 4 hours north of Houston, and I've heard predictions that they'll likely head this way within the next few years. Practically half our apartment is electronics. Oh yay.

[nihil]

Hi there AK,

Please pass the word around.............. "Borax"........... it kills all known ants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax

Please contact your local media

And let your local corrupt politician know that the "wife's cousin's uncle" who just happens to be in pest control is just outa a job

[Negative]

If there's anything they know how to do here in Texas, it's got to be getting rid of ants. Borax, I'm going to guess, is as ineffective - probably way more ineffective - at getting rid of billions of ants than the "real" stuff is (Termidor). It's the sheer number that's the problem, not so much how to kill them...

[t34b4g5]

I just use Talcan Powder, just pour it around the house and the Ants hate the stuff. They go near it and turn and run the other way for some odd reason.

[nihil]

Hmmmm,

Termidor? don't you mean

5-amino-1-[2,6-dichloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4-
(trifluoromethylsulfinyl)-1H-pyrazole-3-carbonitrile?

Even if the manufacturer’s claim that fipronil is not absorbed into the body but remains on the skin surface were true, it would only serve to make fipronil even more dangerous than it is already known to be. In the presence of sunlight fipronil is now known to break down into an extremely stable chemical approximately 10 times as toxic as fipronil itself, fipronil-desulfinyl, which has a much greater tendency to bind to the GABA receptors than fipronil.

Not good if you keep children or rabbits