Quote Originally Posted by BlueBlobTX
Jennifer: We're just north of SA in the Boerne area. I have fireants. I've just been going around the pool with that stinky, expensive fire ant bait... but I'm sure they're still under the pool (and the LOVE the pump). Was talking to my DH about it, who is from a family of pest control folks... he says to find a pest control company that does termite treatments. They have big wands that they can put into the ground and get underneath the pool. I don't know if the termite poison works for ants, but it should and if not, they can probably use something else... but their equipment is the most likely to get up underneath your pool and into the ground and run those guys out. With this drought we're in, everything wants to get to that water. I'd try to kill the one's under the pool and then maybe set something up away from the pool with water in it to attract their friends away from the pool.

HTH.

Lori

Howdy neighbor!

We're outside of San Marcos, between SA and Austin. We have (or had) fire ants, leaf-cutters, sweet-eating, carpenter ants, flying ants....and all their relatives.....lol

A troubling fact surfaced during my research for building our pool: Carpenter ants (and possibly fire ants) EAT "flex-hose" .....the hose that many PB use to connect the drains to the pumps!

Here in Texas, a lot of pools have to be dug into bedrock, so replacing a cheap piece of flex hose may cost a large percentage of the total pool cost

So naturally, we demanded that no flex hose be used and Schedule 40 pvc be used in all pool plumbing.

About the ants........I don't want to bore anyone with my LONG multistate battle with the warrior class, but I've tried ALL the suggestions above. DE, borax, Grants for ants (good for sweet eaters), boiling water, Terro, etc.

Recently, I found http://doityourselfpestcontrol.com/ and started buying the 1lb. tubs of Cypermethrin 40% based insecticide. Unlike the Home Depot varieties, this stuff WORKS!.......lol (it's relatively non-toxic to humans, but can't be used on food surfaces........I don't use it INSIDE at all)

It's under the brand name of Cyper WP, and can also be found on Ebay for slightly less, but more importantly.....You don't have to give your credit card number to an unknown website and you can pay through Paypal.

But take a look at the website. Tremendous info about all kinds of pest problems!

hth,

STS