Ants and Electricity!

[barx1963]

Over the past few years I have noticed that the electricity outlets in our house seem to always have ants around them. This past summer was really bad for ants here and several of the outlets have actually ended up solidly clogged up with dead ants to the extent that they appear to have been damaged by all the gunk ending up there. Has anyone else ever seen this and is there a solution?

[Suzy]

Hi Malcolm, gosh I wonder what's the attraction to the outlets. Amazing.

I've had a battle with ants for years and for years I've tried so many things- Ant Rid powder, Ant Rid bates (did nothing for me) Crunchy Crawler, even a supposedly popular fix of putting a trail of talc powder on the trail as they're not supposed to be able to walk on it but as usual, ants are smart and they just made a new trail :rolleyes:.

Last year I finally won the battle with Talon. I was really concerned with ant killers and the safety of my cats as one of the main trails was to their food and the rubbish bin close by but nothing to worry about using this as it's an easy to apply gel and there's no mess, you just apply a little blob using the supplied syringe in an inconspicuous place (obviously not putting it close to food areas). You can get it from Woolworths.
http://www.selleys.com.au/rat-poison/inside/Talon-Ant-Killer-Gel/

[pmrid]

Sure have. I can't explain it but I have one particular double socket in my Obs that I have now replaced twice for this reason. I too have tried the lot to no avail. I read the post suggesting Talon. That's a new one for me so I'll give that a go.

I know ants tend to want to build when they sense rain coming. That is a pretty common sight out here. But the attraction of one power socket among the 5 others that are available in the obs is a mystery to me.
Peter

[multiweb]

You must have some sweet astro equipment Malcolm.

[gaseous]

I see what you did there....

[JA]

Hi Malcolm,

I've also seen this in an electric gate opener box and it's amazing how and where they get in and also how energetic they appeared to be in and around the 240V~ transformer. Maybe they like 50Hz hum or somehow track the EM field.

BTW - I wouldn't suggest surface spray on live circuits as the propellant is usually flammable and possibly conductive.

Best
JA

[brian nordstrom]

:) I think its the 50htz of our power that attracts them , when I lived in Darwin we were forever replacing , plugs , starters and sockets because they just filled them up until they stopped working .
We found that CRC ( WD40 ) made short work of them and it cleaned the nest out well and they did not return .
Brian.

[LewisM]

Brian is right - it's the "hum" that attracts them. Plus it is warmer too.

We had a MAJOR problem on the Sunshine Coast at our last place - they would build nests in the circuit breaker box, as well as IN the garage door opener box. REAL problems - at one stage until I fumigated, the power would trip off like clockwork at 7:10pm every damned night - it seems they were coming home after sundown! EXACTLY 7:10 without fail (there are NO timer switches in that house). Fumigated, no power going off. Then the remainder moved to the garage door motor/control box... at one point, since my wife had applied the barrel bolt on the front door before we left and I could NOT open the garage door, she had to climb on the roof of the car onto our first level balcony (she was a gymnast in her youth, like a lot of Europeans, plus she weighs 45kg on a bad day) to go downstairs and open the door (and I was about to drive to Bunnings and buy a ladder...the versatility of a good woman :) )

Anyway, it is the hum of the electricity that draws them in -right frequency, watch out. Years ago, you used to be able to buy a circuit add-on that apparently shifted the frequency to an undesireable range - not sure how effective they were as I don't see them for sale any more, with or without steak knives.

[Nebulous]

Maybe they're just looking for a good Ohm... ;)

(Sorry... can't resist a bad pun....)

[Sato]

That is reVolting :D.

[gts055]

Current ly :) I do not have a problem with ants but when they invade I use "Ant-Rid" with success. It comes in a small 50ml bottle and is a sweet attractant that's baited, the ants take this back to the nest where it takes effect. The supermarkets or Bunnings sell It. Mark

[LewisM]

Watt ever will we do?

[raymo]

Not even remotely relevant to the thread, but on the subject of puns
I came up with this one at lunch the other day, and our friends thought it quite good.
A couple were wandering around Athens trying to find the Acropolis
when one turned to the other and said don't worry dear we'll find
the path anon.
raymo

[LewisM]

That's only halva pun there Raymo....

[Steffen]

All species of ants I ever had to deal with were successfully deterred by cinnamon. They seem to absolutely hate the smell and stay well away.

[LewisM]

I must be an ant - hate the stuff (my youngest is allergic to it too)

[raymo]

It helps to keep my weight down, because most custard tarts are covered
with it, so I won't eat them.
Good one Lewis.
raymo

[Nebulous]

:):) :thumbsup:

[Finite]

Amazing. I'm not alone in this world after all!

Only this year we've had a plague of seemingly unkillable ants at home, some of which have set up in two light switches in my garage. I've recently taken both switches apart as everytime I flicked them on there would come a ferocious sizzling and crackling from inside them, and only after the frying sounds stopped would the lights come on, if they did at all. Terrifying touching those switches. I took them apart, cleaned the contacts up and they were absolutely CLOGGED with ant residue, but there were still ants on the scamper nevertheless! Incredible. No ant killer has dissuaded them. There must be a massive nest elsewhere yet they come to the switches. I may resort to a custard tart yet...Then I can fit the new switches I have on standby awaiting elimination of the pests. Such a timely post, OP.

[Orionskies]

I once had a mate who was into anything electrical and possibly insane dump a whole can of flea bomb into an electrical outlet....... The house didn't blow and I wouldn't recommend it but it is a potential solution. :shrug:

Julian

[Wavytone]

Little buggers decided to invade my computer keyboard today... thankfully its an old wired one not my laptop.

Nuked it with surface spray and I've been shaking the corpses out for the past 2 hours.

[leon]

Bloody hell, i love cinnamon, :) bugger the ants they are not getting it. :lol:

Leon :thumbsup:

[Exfso]

We get these "inch ants" here, are they bloody scary,:scared: huge a mate got bitten on the arm by one, made a mess and he was in agony

[AndrewJ]

Gday Peter

Sounds like what we called "Bull Ants" as kids ( i grew up in Adelaide )
Also sounds like yr mate got stung, not bitten.
We always had fun with "new arrivals" to the area as we told em the only way not to get "bitten" was to grab the ants by the head.
They got "stung" instead :-) ( and that then normally got infected )

Andrew

[LewisM]

Spit and dirt. Worked with every ant bite/sting/invenomation I ever had and being part bush kid, that was offen! Green ants and bull ants. Doubt it would work on Fire ants but they are only a recent immigrant so thankfully haven't had to experiment.

[Boozlefoot]

Used to tow cars on the Mid Nth Coast NSW. Ants are particularly partial to Holden Commodore computers, especially when they're parked in the same spot in carports overnight. Saw this occur on several occasions..........

[acropolite]

Interesting theory, I get them in the some of the light switches at the shack. We have solar power so there is no 50 cycle magnetic field to attract them the majority of the time. There are however a couple of cycles of power every few seconds in standby mode (to allow compact flouros to start the inverter) enough kill an ant.

I wonder if the buildup occurs after death by misadventure, one ant strays in to the switch, gets zapped, then more come to the rescue and suffer a similar fate. This article seems to bear that theory out. https://www.livescience.com/37720-crazy-ants-invade-electronics.html