The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

so i have a colony of solenopsis invicta that is just getting started, i find myself watching videos of people cutting/replacing/re-routing tubes and getting bitten when the ants spill out, i am aware that this is unavoidable but it does get me thinking about planning ahead to mitigate this. What would be the best materials to make an edible barrier out of? one that i could use to block off a tube that the ants could eat through easy enough? i originally was thinking honey mixed with sugar granules to form a semi-solid block that would be beneficial to the ants as they ate it away but would give me a little bit of a buffer to keep from getting bit?

Thoughts?

The problem is not ants getting into new tubing, but ants pouring out of old tubing. It would be almost exactly as easy to just attach the new tubing and take care of the escapees, since you would have to get the sugar plug in there somehow.

I understand this, but the question is about what could make a good barrier and be edible. Im curious what ingredients could be used to make something like this

A glass thin caramel "plate" maybe? really really thin

hmm, might be a bit hard to manufacture for the tubes. what about honey mixed with granulated sugar or powdered sugar? put it in a straw or syringe and squeeze it into a place you have to temp block for a bit?

Jelly of any kind should work.

i had not thought of jelly, that is awesome

The problem is that it would make your rubes a sticky mess. Ants would probably get stuck, and worst of all, if your colony doesn't feel like eating sugar, they would just leave it. Yuk.

I don't think there will be a problem, it's Solenopsis invicta.

Serafine wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 01, 2017 5:28 pm

I don't think there will be a problem, it's Solenopsis invicta.

True