zapatero

As the OP, I began this thread to discuss baiting systems.  I have some preliminary results to report:

1)  I have eliminated three colonies of ants in the last couple of weeks, using the boric acid concoction that I described in Post #19.  These were of three different species.  The first was a tiny brown ant that had set up housekeeping behind the baseboards in my bedroom.  Every morning I would awaken covered with bites.  The bait solution eliminated this colony in three days. The second, a larger brown ant about 3mm in length, was wiped out in about four days.  The third was a larger black ant, about 4mm in length.  This species is tougher.  Although sickened and weakened, some were still active after a week.  But I've had experience with this species before.  Eventually they just stop coming back -- which I interpret as elimination.

    For the interested reader, I should note that a colony elimination usually doesn't happen abruptly.  It "pulses".  The first pulse comes from the new hatches that have occurred after the parents have been killed.  The second and subsequent pulses occur from adjacent colonies which may have newly discovered the bait.  And then their hatches arrive, etc.  Until finally, the kill radius exceeds the foraging radius.

2)  I have concluded a preliminary test of the termite baits that I discussed above in Posts #8, #11.  My initial purchase was of five bait boxes.  When installed as directed in the above links, two of the boxes appear to have worked as advertised.  That is, the baits were attacked quite voraciously, but only partially consumed, and then were empty of termites.  I conclude from this that the colonies were eliminated. (However time will tell.)  One of the five boxes was completely emptied of bait, it had been completely consumed.  And it was full of live termites!  My conclusion from this is that one or more new colonies had discovered the bait, and it was consumed before these colonies were eliminated.  The remaining two boxes were ineffective.  But I conclude that this was my fault, because, as a test, I simply located them where I thought there might be probable activity; instead of on top of definite activity as was prescribed.

My bottom line conclusion is that these work as advertised.  However, the kill radius is yet to be determined.  BTW, I notice that this advertiser is now advertising in this thread on TV -- at least on my computer.  Yours also?

3)  Although they will not ship to Thailand, I have obtained a set of Advance bait cannisters described in Posts #2, 3, and 6 above.  Please don't ask me for details about how I obtained them because I won't reply.  However, I will be testing their effectiveness and will report back.

I encourage readers to please add your experiences to this thread, but please, let's keep it on-topic: baiting solutions.

Brad: I am interested in your boric acid studies.

Re mozzies, I have read your article.  If you do any controlled experiments, e.g., with your fermented durian, please post here.

Re termites, I have heard some success stories in controlled experiments, (such as you have cited); but practical application over a house-sized lot would seem difficult.  For starters, where do you even get the BA here in Thailand?  I have asked many places and have thus far not found anyone who even knows what I am talking about.

Re ants, I have done some modest controlled experiments.  Some quite successful.  The baits I have tried ran from sugar water, peanut butter, jams & jellies, pork grease, chicken fat, and sweetened milk.  Some ants prefer sweet, some the proteins in fat.  The sweetened canned milk has both, and seemed to consistently attract the largest variety and numbers of ants.

For boric acid, I have been using the simple washing powder "20 Mule Team Borax" -- a box of which I brought from the states for this purpose.  I mix about a cup of the sweetened milk, with about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of water to thin it down, with a about a tablespoon of that BA powder.  I say "about" because that mixture seems to work; however there are several variables.  Different concentrations of BA seem to work differently for different species of ants.  And, too little and it is slow to work, too much and they won't eat it unless very hungry.  That's as far as my controlled experimentation has progressed.  The neighbor's cats kept eating the bait.

For results, I have run isolation tests on "mot daeng", those nasty biting red ants, and found that they die within 36 hours.  Isolation tests on several black ants haven't been as clear.  They appear to simply stop eating after a while, and eventually, after days or weeks, they just stop coming back.  I conclude that the BA must be much slower acting on some species.

Well, that's my abbreviated experience.  I am interested to hear any of your, or anyone else's, work on mozzies and termites.  And if you care to carry on my experiments with ants, sans the neighbor's cats, I would be pleased to hear your results.

beechstreet, on 2011-09-12 21:35:01, said:

Yes, I will follow up on the order and progress.  I placed it yesterday, using the above web page link.  The chap, (in Malaysia), said delivery in Thailand would be in seven working days or less.

Re your question, based upon the "Installation" link above, I think it should be possible to improvise a "cannister" for outside use, from, say, a plastic milk bottle.  However, there is so much visible termite activity around our property that I don't think it will even be necessary to install the bait underground.  Every board that is laying flat on the ground has termites under it.  So, for starters, I am simply going to lift one of said boards, lay the box on the ground there, and replace the board.  We'll see

Re my last "link".  Sorry, my fault, it wasn't intended to be a link.  I underscored it for emphasis, to be sure that it was noticed.

A quick status update:  Crossy and Beech, I finally was able to make contact with the DIY company that you linked above.  Sadly, because I was going to give their product a try, they said that they cannot ship to Thailand.  So, I guess, Beech, that they have changed policy since you talked with them.

I have, however, just placed an order with this vendor, located in Malaysia:  Termitesdiy.     I have been seeing many ads from them, including even here in TV.  That doesn't mean that they are any good, but they are comparatively inexpensive, and have a lot of endorsements:  Endorsements.     Here are some Installation Photos.

I will report back re my trial experiment with this product.  But, in the meantime, has anyone else had any experience with this vendor and product?

I should also mention, BTW, that the professional service that I contacted wants 6000 THB per unit for their bait cannisters!  This includes "full service".  FWIW, IMO, this presents a whole new meaning to the phrase "getting serviced".

Thank you for the replies guys; and sorry for the delay, I had to go out of town.

Thanks for the link below Crossy -- there is a lot of good on-topic information in there:

Crossy, on 2011-08-30 17:02:04, said:

Beech, it turns out that your link below not only sounds similar, it is!   Nothing wrong with that -- it appears to be the sales arm for the same company's products.  And there are a lot of them.

beechstreet, on 2011-08-30 18:25:10, said:

I have been waiting for an email response from them for several days now.  Maybe their system is broken or unattended.  If so, I will call.  Specifically, their "Advance" system appears to be about as well thought out as any I have read about, but they haven't yet confirmed that they will ship to Thailand.   I still need to check out your Sentricon/mfactors link.

Pacificperson, thank you for relating your experiences.  Can you be more specific about the "good baits from Dow Agrosciences"?  Were they the same as from Beech's Sentricon system?