Re: How far will ants wander in search of food?

Allright Doug, in the article you mention that an ant will release a chemical trail to naivgate the other ants to food.

What chemical is this, and where can I get it. I have some neihbors that I don’t like. :wink:

link http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantforage.html

Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, Sanchos, we’re glad to have you with us.

When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the Column or Staff Report that you’re commenting on. This saves lots of searching time, etc. And, in this case, the Staff Report won’t appear on the website officially until this Tuesday, 24 August, so people who aren’t on the mailing lists won’t even be able to see it on the front page.

No biggie, you’ll know for next time, and thanks to whatsittoya for providing the link.

If ant pheromones were available in commercially synthesized quantities, they would form a valuable weapon in the arsenal of pest control management.

And they don’t.

Ergo, there isn’t anywhere you can obtain ant pheromones OTC.

A few things I learned about discouraging ants: keep all food in tightly sealed containers; SWEEP your kitchen floor daily and wipe off all spills of any kind;
put CUCUMBER PEELS in your kitchen cabinets, etc. . . . even on window sills and the sill of the entry door of your house. Of course, you may experience heart stoppage one day when you open a seldom-used cabinet and see a weird, shriveled, evil-looking THING there—until you recall what it was originally! However, ants just HATE cucumber peels, for whatever reason. :eek:

Don’t worry about the pheromones, Sanchos. Just buy ten or twenty pounds of sugar and sprinkle it all around their house (or wherever you want to attract the ants).

O.K., but if I’m willing to go the black market route …?

… or buy 'em from Canada.

  • snerk *

Canadian ant pheromones aren’t safe.