Guest guest Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 we have our Second Soldier on the Ground asking for help with ants. Seems they have the dreaded warrior ants and they hurt like heck when they bite. I am wondering what oils would repel them (sprays perhaps?) and what could help, maybe a drop of an anti inflammatory?? we have these in Florida and the only thing I've found that works is Amdro!! (chemical poison) to keep them away, and the bite is worse than a large mosquito leaving a hole in the skin if you scratch..... Has anyone had luck with repelling ants and anything to ease the bite? tea tree and lavender blend maybe? what do you guys think Is there anyone here from Florida too? tks for any discussion Syl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 I've heard that peppermint (in water) sprays do wonders, and friends have had success spraying it around the base of their houses to keep them from coming inside; but we don't have warrior ants up here. Are they like fire ants? I've had experience with those in Florida. Horrid critters. Kim On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Sylla S. Hanger <syllawrote: > > > we have our Second Soldier on the Ground asking for help with ants. Seems > they have the dreaded warrior ants and they hurt like heck when they bite. > > I am wondering what oils would repel them (sprays perhaps?) and what could > help, maybe a drop of an anti inflammatory?? we have these in Florida and > the only thing I've found that works is Amdro!! (chemical poison) to keep > them away, and the bite is worse than a large mosquito leaving a hole in the > skin if you scratch..... Has anyone had luck with repelling ants and > anything to ease the bite? tea tree and lavender blend maybe? > what do you guys think > > Is there anyone here from Florida too? > > tks for any discussion > > Syl > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Artificial sweetener (nutrasweet/equal). I don't know if it will work with warrior ants, but supposedly it does with " regular " ants. I've not tried it at our property due to or well and creek (I'm pretty anti-aspertame). DE--forgive me the butcher of spelling---diactemous earth. It's supposed to be great for getting rid of ant hills, etc. Plain ol' chalk--i've been told ants won't cross a line of ground chalk and if you drop it across their chemical trail they can't continue. What I use I'd plain white sugar--i dump it on the ant hill. The colony ends up starving because the readily accessible " food " has no nutritional value. Worked on red ants in California as well. Not that our dear soldiers necessarily have any of these options available to them...but I figured I'd share them in case they were methods not tried on the FL version, or if they sparked further brainstorm for a more viable solution for the troops. We've not had to deal with ant bites. All I have is a body oil that kept my kiddos bug and bite free last month after crawling around in the woods. I hadn't put any on my and only strolled along the path--i came home with bites of some variety on my lower legs. Jessica, NC Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Dear Syl, Hi there! I know about your problem because we have the same in Texas. I am going to share with you an old remedy that my uncle used to use. However, I have added a couple of things to it for the bites. My uncle used to swear by the use of ammonia to neutralize any bite and to kill any insect known to man. He was allergic to everything. He used to keep a bottle of ammonia in his truck. One year many years ago we were at a family reunion and one of the younger cousins, probably about 5 years old, get stung by ants very badly. My uncle ran to his truck and brought out his trusty, dusty bottle of ammonia and started spreading it all over the young child. The ammonia worked quickly and very well. Later his mom put the standard Calamine Lotion and Beneydrel on the bites. This happened about 3 years before I got interested in aromatherapy so when our son was born and was old enough to get bit by anything, I decided to improve on my uncle's old standby. I made up a small bottle of 1/2 ammonia, 1/2 water and added tea tree eo, lavender eo, and peppermint eo to it. It smelled strange and my son, of course, would make faces and complain but he would let me apply it to his wounds. You might want to play with this formula and see what you come up with. It's simple, quick, and works. I used a one ounce bottle with 5 drops of each eo so that it would help with the smell. You could add lemon or orange or even a small amount of cinnamon for different smells. However, what are the basic spices used in Afghanistan to cook with? These are the eos that we should be looking at because if ants are only a problem for our boys then maybe we should do as the natives do and use their eos/spices. We can always make up infused oils that can go along with our eos. I have been thinking about what to send my son. I hope that this helps. Rhavda Soon to have her 1st Lieutenant go to Afghanistan Original Message: ----------------- Sylla S. Hanger sylla Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:44:37 -0400 ATFE Afghan ants/ant bites we have our Second Soldier on the Ground asking for help with ants. Seems they have the dreaded warrior ants and they hurt like heck when they bite. I am wondering what oils would repel them (sprays perhaps?) and what could help, maybe a drop of an anti inflammatory?? we have these in Florida and the only thing I've found that works is Amdro!! (chemical poison) to keep them away, and the bite is worse than a large mosquito leaving a hole in the skin if you scratch..... Has anyone had luck with repelling ants and anything to ease the bite? tea tree and lavender blend maybe? what do you guys think Is there anyone here from Florida too? tks for any discussion Syl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Way to go people!! Excellent suggestions. I like the ammonia remedy, that sounds do-able with some nice scents added in, can we mail ammonia I wonder?? and you diluted half so that should be safe to dab on... I found anti venom paste that you rub on immediately (exfoliates then draws out venom) then dry and brush off, I would bet clays would work as well (I asked for donations...) I don't know if they are camping or if its do-able to use sprays around their areas (tents, containers, etc) but we could sure help with the bites good interesting point about the indigenous plants, good you bring that up. Martin found a list of them for me but I cant find at the moment..... and that may be useful but I doubt our guys have time to go out and find them!! will get some ammonia today and play with it I wish we had some roll ons to make it really useful- anyone have any extras or know where to get inexpensively? also we need some inhalers, in the past we bought out of Canada, wondering if they are available in US at reasonable price. Our funds are low due to the IRS application fee and all the international shipping but hopefully that will be replenished in no time. thanks for the ideas Sylla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Sylla: I just found blank inhalers that I purchased direct from someone in China via Ebay. Shipping was pretty fast considering it came from so far away. Seller's name is sinomedi: http://shop.ebay.com/sinomedi/m.html?_nkw= & _armrs=1 & _from= & _ipg= & _trksid=p3686 And I've seen roll-ons at sunburstbottle.com, .48 each: http://www.sunburstbottle.com/new-items/ROLSIL (Shipping there is the actual UPS fee, plus $2.00 for materials; they don't show you your shipping costs until after the sale's completed.) Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Thanks for the leads Kim, will pass this on to Geraldine!! Sylla also Sara just finished up the AIA conference, thanks to all our supporters there!! we collected some stock and a few dollars - FrSylla: I just found blank inhalers that I purchased direct from someone in China via Ebay. Shipping was pretty fast considering it came from so far away. Seller's name is sinomedi: http://shop.ebay.com/sinomedi/m.html?_nkw= & _armrs=1 & _from= & _ipg= & _trksid=p3686 And I've seen roll-ons at sunburstbottle.com, .48 each: http://www.sunburstbottle.com/new-items/ROLSIL (Shipping there is the actual UPS fee, plus $2.00 for materials; they don't show you your shipping costs until after the sale's completed.) Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Many moons ago, I had a greenhouse which ants were a real pain in. They carried aphids onto my precious food plants which drained the plants. I tried every herb and essential oil that were " said " to repel them. Nothing worked, they even sent their columns right across the pennyroyal oil as if it was not there. I did not try catnip oil and that may be worth a try. I found the best " natural " treatment was a kettle of boiling water. With the bites of course several oils will help those. Especially pure English lavender oil. Martin Watt http://www.aromamedical.com http://www.aromamedical.org ATFE , " Sylla S. Hanger " <sylla wrote: > > we have our Second Soldier on the Ground asking for help with ants. Seems they have the dreaded warrior ants and they hurt like heck when they bite. > > I am wondering what oils would repel them (sprays perhaps?) and what could help, maybe a drop of an anti inflammatory?? we have these in Florida and the only thing I've found that works is Amdro!! (chemical poison) to keep them away, and the bite is worse than a large mosquito leaving a hole in the skin if you scratch..... Has anyone had luck with repelling ants and anything to ease the bite? tea tree and lavender blend maybe? > what do you guys think > > Is there anyone here from Florida too? > > tks for any discussion > > Syl > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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