Check this out: remove any queen from her nest

[Barfdog]

I've been looking for some kind of solution you can mix and it will not harm the queen or workers, but will issue a total evacuation order including the queen. This person made a solution of Lemon and water and poured a very little amount into the nest and it worked. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL6RdY8iBNE

I'm gonna try it tonight or tomorrow for sure. But the entire process from start to finish took 5 minutes for the queen herself to finally exit. Amazing.

[Serafine]

That test doesn't really tell anything. These could very well be tropical ants that are used to quickly relocate a nest when flooding occurs. I doubt ants from more temperate regions will react in a similar way.

[Batspiderfish]

Citronellal is an alarm pheromone for many ants, so i wouldn't be surprised if the small amounts found in lemon oil could illicit a panic response. Not that I think capturing mature colonies is a good idea.

[Barfdog]

That test doesn't really tell anything. These could very well be tropical ants that are used to quickly relocate a nest when flooding occurs. I doubt ants from more temperate regions will react in a similar way.

Yeah and during the video you'll notice their nest is in a concrete looking section so I assume it doesn't evaporate water well or moisturize anything so it became a quicker problem. I doubt it would work on any old colony in the dirt or dry regions. The dirt would just absorb most of it. I'll see if it actually works on a small colony if I can find one.

[Barfdog]

Yeah... totally didn't work. Tried it on multiple nests over a couple of days.

[Nathant]

Yeah... totally didn't work. Tried it on multiple nests over a couple of days.

Aww that's too bad. Were they on nests in dirt and/or sand? I'll try it on some concrete nests or nests in the road next spring if so.

[Martialis]

It's the water.. The ants are Pheidole megacephala, an invasive species to areas like California in the U.S.

[Barfdog]

Yeah... totally didn't work. Tried it on multiple nests over a couple of days.

Aww that's too bad. Were they on nests in dirt and/or sand? I'll try it on some concrete nests or nests in the road next spring if so.

I tried it on a few alleged tetramorium nests on both concrete and in dirt and some a mixture of both. I really wanted to try it on a fire ant colony and see if they would move out but I haven't been able to find one.