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Maybe I should have posted this in "Oops a bug" :D
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.Quote:
A flood of voracious ants is heading straight for Houston, taking out computers, radios and even vehicles in their path.
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
Diesel is the cure. Just keep a sprayer full of diesel by the servers.
You forgot to mention the ammonium nitrate :xbones:Quote:
Diesel is the cure. Just keep a sprayer full of diesel by the servers.
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?
Sounds like the Russians in WW II.
:rofl:
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 :D
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.
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:lildevil:
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...
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. :confused:
Hmmmm,
Termidor? don't you mean
5-amino-1-[2,6-dichloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4-
(trifluoromethylsulfinyl)-1H-pyrazole-3-carbonitrile?
Not good if you keep children or rabbits ;)Quote:
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.
Who doesn't know that? :what:Quote:
5-amino-1-[2,6-dichloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4-
(trifluoromethylsulfinyl)-1H-pyrazole-3-carbonitrile
In all seriousness, this actually worries me. I'm not of the "not in my backyard" mindset. Even though I'm in NJ and this is happening in Texas, it's still bothering me. What's to stop these little bastards from going national?
On a site note:
I remember the whole "killer bees" episode some years back. When everyone was freaking out about bees migrating up from Texas. And the only way to survive would be to hop in your VW bug and head to football stadium where they can drop the temperature to freezing to kill all the bees gone postal. :eek: (old school movie reference)
Hi there ShagDevil,
Major geographical barriers and climate I would say.Quote:
What's to stop these little bastards from going national?
Negative did make an interesting point when he said that they knew how to deal with ants in Texas. Well yeah, but that is regular ants and termites.
Problem with these guys seems to be that they are more like "army ants" in that they do not form static colonies with a nest. They are nomadic in their lifestyle and just "bivouac". That's why you get so many of them, because you get the entire colony rather than just scouts and foragers.
Exactly, it may not be the same insect but it is always a possibility and the problem would be the same? Hell, the origin of a "computer bug" is when a large moth shorted out two valves in an old analogue box :DQuote:
I'm not of the "not in my backyard" mindset.
OT/ Regarding "killer bees". There was an interesting TV programme we watched a while back where they were saying that they are on a rapid decline. Apparently something to do with bee genetics means that the trait breeds out of them.
I spent over 10 years helping my father keep his bees...... he couldn't understand why I never got stung and he did. It was because he was lazy and would send me to give them their glucose food supplement in the winter................. so I was allowed to take the lids off their hives ;) For insects they are pretty damn smart!
I wouldn't call fire ants "regular ants"... The only good thing about this whole story is that those new crazy ants eat fire ants :DQuote:
Negative did make an interesting point when he said that they knew how to deal with ants in Texas. Well yeah, but that is regular ants and termites.
By "regular" I mean that their lifestyle is common with most other ant species. Fireants are nasty little devils but they do build nests/mounds and behave much like other members of the species.
I did a quick search and found a site that suggested "Drax Gel" as a bait product. The active ingredient is boric acid, which is what I was suggesting.
Running a non-conductive screen inside the computer would probably help a little.
I would try scaring them off with the threat of death. Cut the heads off of 100 ants and stick each of them on the top of a pin. Then stand them up like flag poles surrounding your computer. If nothing else I'm sure it would keep people away.
ha, i'm in houston, recently had an ant issue at my old living space...but yes, the white stuff works, like in supernatural with the salt :]
You guys over in the northern hemisphere are a bunch of wierdos :)
Killer ants? Rofl?
Hey, we even import alcohol from you lot :drink:
Grits work, swells up in their stomachs... Or an alternative, import anteaters