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Pavement Ants
AKA: Sugar Ants
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Getting rid of ants is never a
simple task despite their simple nature. Luckily for you, you’re trying to get
rid of sugar ants, and they are probably the most simple-minded ant species.
What do they eat? They eat sugar, sweets, and other scraps of food. This is why
we call them sugar ants. Of course, the term "sugar ant" is actually a misnomer.
The real Sugar Ant is a native of Australia, and exclusive to that part
of the world. Pavement ants are most mistakenly referred to as sugar ants, and
they happen to be the most abundant ants here on the North American continent.
For the purposes of maintaining simplicity in this article, we
will refer to the Pavement ants as sugar ants. After all, both ants are
controlled and killed the same way. So, are you ready to get rid of your
sugar ants? Good. Let us begin with controlling a sugar ant infestation
THEN we'll move on to killing sugar ants.
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A
typical "sugar ant" hill
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Sugar ant control
is very much a matter of daily
routine during the months when the ants are a problem (March through September),
particularly in the kitchen. Here's a list of menial chores you can do to
control sugar ants and prevent an ant infestation in your home.
Everything...and the kitchen sink-- Sugar ants
love a dirty sink. The water you leave behind helps to wash down
their tiny meals. Make sure to rinse off any dishes you're going to leave in the
sink. And when you do wash the dishes, make sure you rinse and wipe down the
entire sink to make certain you haven't left residual sweets, food, or moisture
behind. If you're really picky about cleaning, you might even want to try
pouring a little bleach down the drain to make sure the smell of rotting food
doesn't attract more ants to your kitchen. Dish drains should also be emptied
and wiped down before the end of the day.
Mop the floor. It's
a really good idea to sweep and mop your kitchen floor after every meal, or at
least once in the evening to make sure any trails a 'scout' ant has made aren't
left for other ants to follow. Scraps of food and residual sugars are easily
swept away with a bucket of warm water and bleach.
Suck it up. It might seem
like common sense to vacuum your dining and living rooms to prevent sugar ants
from feasting on the leftovers of your most recent meal, but people just don't
get it. So, I thought I'd mention the fact that sugar ants don't just eat sugar
and sweets, they will eat crumbs of bread, certain types of vegetables and meat
as well, even the remains of other pests that could be hiding in your carpet.
Take out the trash.
It happens all the time. The garbage bag gets punctured, dripping fruit juice,
soda, or some other kind of liquid onto the floor while you're taking out the
trash. Make sure to use strong garbage bags, even garbage bags that use baking
soda to deodorize themselves. It should go without saying that taking out the
trash on regular basis will reduce the chances of sugar ants finding their way
into your kitchen.
Kill 'em.
The most common ant baits used
to get rid of sugar ants are called "sweet" baits. The most common
ingredient found in sweet ant baits is boric acid, or Borax. Most household
ants (pharaoh ants, pavement ants, and little black ants included) are prone
to the poison known as Borax. Borax is a mineral mined in the deserts of
California, refined and dissolved into all manners of ant bait systems. It is
generally non-toxic to humans, though I wouldn’t recommend inhaling or
ingesting large amounts of it. It is a slow-acting poison, which means that
when the ants eat the bait (usually a corn syrup concoction), the poison
doesn’t kill the ants right away. The ants take some of the sweet bait back to
the colony and dispense
the poisonous meal to all of their buddies.
This is how colonies of ants are exterminated, and sugar ants are the easiest
ants to kill because they’re small, voracious scavengers. If you want to get
rid of sugar ants or kill a sugar ant colony quickly, look for baits
containing Boric Acid at your local farm store.
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VOLES
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Identification:
Voles, also called meadow mice or field mice, belong to the genus
Microtus. Voles are compact rodents with stocky bodies, short legs,
and short tails. Their eyes are small and their ears are partially hidden.
Their underfur is generally dense and covered with thicker, longer guard hairs.
They are commonly brown or gray, though many color variations exist. |
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Habitat:
Voles occupy a wide variety of
habitats. They prefer areas with heavy ground cover of
grasses, grass-like plants, or litter. When two species are
found together in an area, they usually occupy different habitats.
Though voles evolved in "natural" habitats, they also use habitats
modified by humans, such as orchards, wind breaks, and cultivated
fields, especially when vole populations are high.
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Food
Habits: Voles eat a wide
variety of plants, most frequently grasses and forbs. In
late summer and fall, they store seeds, tubers, bulbs and
rhizomes. They eat bark at times, primarily in fall and
winter, and will eat crops, especially when their populations are
high. Occasional food items include snails, insects and
animal remains. |
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Damage
and Damage Identification:
Voles may cause extensive damage to
orchards, ornamentals, and tree plantings due to their girdling of seedlings and
mature trees. Girdling damage usually occurs in fall and winter.
Field crops (for example, alfalfa, clover, grain, potatoes, and sugar beets) may
be damaged or completely destroyed by voles. Voles eat crops and also
damage them when they build extensive runway and tunnel systems. These
systems interfere with crop irrigation by displacing water and causing levees
and checks to wash out. Voles can also ruin lawns, golf courses, and
ground covers.
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Damage
Prevention and Control Methods: Before
undertaking control, consider the extent of the problem in relation to the cost
of control. For example, a few voles could damage a highly valued
tree or flower bed and demand control.
At other times, they may go nearly unseen, making control unnecessary.
Reducing the suitability
of habitat for voles lessens the likelihood of potential damage. High vole
populations cannot become established without food and protection from
predators. Grass and weeds can be controlled around young trees and shrubs
through cultivation, herbicides and mowing. Normal cultural practices used
in establishing windbreaks, orchards and other woody plantings often are
successful in reducing vole habitat and potential population highs.
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Exclusion
methods: Place woven wire or hardware cloth cylinders around
individual trees or shrubs, or around flower beds. Again, the cylinder
should be tight to the ground or buried slightly, but should extend higher than
the maximum snow depth in winter, including drifts. Where rabbits also are
a potential problem, the height should be at least two feet above the snow
depth, if possible. When making the cylinder, overlap the edges at least
one inch and fasten securely so gaps do not form that could admit voles.
These cylinders should last about five years, so make them large enough in
diameter to accommodate expected trunk growth if they remain in place during the
growing season.
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A cylinder of hardware cloth or other wire mesh to
protect trees from vole damage.
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Cultural
Methods and Habitat Modification:
Eliminate weeds, ground cover, and
litter in and around crops, lawns and cultivated areas to reduce the capacity of
these areas to support voles. Lawn and turf should be mowed regularly.
Mulch and leaves should be cleared 3 feet or more from the bases of trees.
Damage to lawns can be reduced by close mowing in the fall before snow arrives
and by mowing and removing tall grassy cover near lawns. To repair damage to
lawns from runway construction, rake, fertilize and water the affected area.
Close mowing and weed control in grassy borders adjacent to agricultural crops
will reduce the habitat for voles and should reduce damage. If suitable, plant
crown vetch (a legume unpalatable to voles) in orchard and field boundaries to
reduce vole populations.
Soil tillage is helpful
in reducing vole damage as it removes cover, destroys existing runway burrow
systems and kills some voles in the process. Adjacent crop fields can be
cost-effectively protected by controlling vegetation through mowing, spraying,
or grazing.
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Repellents:
Repellents utilizing thiram (also a fungicide) or capsaicin
(the "hot" in chilies) as an active ingredient are registered for meadow voles.
These products may afford short-term protection, but this has not been
demonstrated. Check with your state pesticide regulatory agency for
availability.
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Toxicants:
Zinc phosphide is the most commonly used toxicant for vole control. It
is a single dose toxicant offered in pelleted grain bait formulations and as a
concentrate. Zinc phosphide baits generally are broadcast at rates of
6 to
10 pounds per acre or are placed by hand in runways and burrow openings.
Zinc phosphide baits are potentially hazardous to ground-feeding birds,
especially waterfowl. Placing bait into the burrow openings may reduce
this hazard.
Anticoagulant baits are
also useful in controlling voles. Anticoagulants are slow-acting toxicants
requiring from 5 to 15 days to take effect. Multiple feedings are needed
for most to be successful. In many states, one or more anticoagulant baits
are registered for controlling voles.
Check with your state pesticide
regulatory agency for availability.
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Predators:
Important predators of voles are short-tailed shrews,
badgers, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, owls, and some snakes. Predators will not
likely keep an orchard vole-free, but they can help reduce the vole population.
Orchardists should tolerate predators and protect them if they do not form a
pest problem.
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100 meadow voles
per acre destroy about 4% of an alfalfa crop, which amounts to about 1,000
pounds per acre over 7 months.
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Populations of 1700
voles per acre in Washington State apple orchards decreased production by 35%.
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Voles have a very
short gestation period of 21 days. After less than 40 days, females are
sexually mature. With up to 12 litters a year and litter sizes of up to 10,
voles can increase in number very rapidly.
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There are 23
species of voles in the United States.
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You MUST
have a current ISDA/USDA pesticide license to purchase Zinc Phosphide, as
required by law.
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Read and Follow ALL label directions!
All
information in this article is from the book "Prevention and Control of
Wildlife Damage--1994", author John M.
O'Brien, Agriculture Programs Coordinator, Nevada Department of Agriculture,
Reno, NV 89510
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