kazaa81 - 3-4-2005 at 11:57
Hallo to all,
I want to know some formulas against ants, which work like this:
1- the ants take the product
2- they bring the product in their nest
3- the product start effect when much of it has been bring in the nest
4- the ants eat them and die.
One formula of the like was "Formix", no longer product. If anyone can post the original Formix formula or something similar I'll
appreciate very much.
Thanks at all for help! 
Edit by C.: title
[Edited on 4-4-2005 by chemoleo]
BromicAcid - 3-4-2005 at 11:58
Take some powdered boric acid, add maple syurp and sugar until it is a doughy consistency, make into ball shapes and put them everywhere. The ants
eat it and take it back to the nest and eat it there, they die within a few hours. Boric acid is widely avalible for, of all things, killing ants and
roaches.
Boric acid from perborates...
kazaa81 - 3-4-2005 at 12:22
Hi Bromic,
thanks for the useful informations.
Is boric acid hazardous for people?
Can be boric acid made from sodium perborate (used to clean clothes)?
Thanks at all for help!
The_Davster - 3-4-2005 at 12:41
You can also get boric acid in the pharmacy for around 5$CDN for 250g.
Boric acid is not particularly harmfull, it is used as a mild antiseptic with the warnings "do not ingest, do not get in open cuts". Quite
safe.
EDIT: Yeah, you should be able to make it from sodium perborate, just add sulfuric acid and evaporate. It will be contaminated with sodium sulfate
but that does not really matter when all you are doing is killing ants.
[Edited on 3-4-2005 by rogue chemist]
cyclonite4 - 3-4-2005 at 18:09
Sodium Perborate or 'Borax', which is used to clean clothes, can be used as an ant-killer itself. Infact, on the label of my Borax canister,
it has a recipe for an ant-killer, involving borax and sugar. No need to make boric acid from it. 
When I get home I will put the recipe on here.
runlabrun - 4-4-2005 at 01:13
"ant-rid" is a common small bottle of fluid used to trick ants into taking poisons back to the nest..
From memory its just borax (Na tetraborate) and a sweet syrup to make it attractive to ants...
So why not just use the borax in maple syrup? or boric acid, either way its easy to get and probably equally as effective.
-rlr
Saerynide - 4-4-2005 at 07:39
Just being nit picky, but dont you mean, formulas against ants? 
JohnWW - 4-4-2005 at 11:16
I have seen a local pharmacy selling a preparation for killing ants. It consists of a sweet syrup, made with raw sugar, containing a poison which I
think was a soluble arsenate; either that, or a soluble insecticidal chlorinated hydrocarbon (a possibility is pentachlorophenol) although the range
of those that are water-soluble is limited. Boric acid and borates require larger quantities to be poisonous to insects, I am sure. Pyrethrins may
either not last long enough before being degraded by oxidation, or else would be too rapidly lethal for the syrup to be brought to their nest.
sparkgap - 4-4-2005 at 12:05
It's not that pyrethrins are too rapidly lethal; rather, they have a fast "knock-down" effect due to immediate neuronal disruption.
Then they die after a few moments.
Here, I use a mix of borax and cocoa powder. The powder doesn't have to be food-grade; I can easily obtain the bulk kind here. (Damned tropical
ant bites sting like hell!)
IIRC, there is a special ant bait sold in North America that has the pesticide hydramethylnon in it. It was supposed to act such that the worker ants
carry the stuff to the queen also so that they all die. Google for details.
sparky (^_^)
P.S. Wait a minute, aren't borax and sodium perborate two different compounds? 
mick - 4-4-2005 at 12:26
What have you got against the average ant, they are just doing their job. To take out the ants find the queen.
mick
Silentnite - 4-4-2005 at 12:31
I have always used gas poured down the ant hill, or a nice dose of a mini-flamethrower.
Seems like a whole lot of complication for a simple task. Plus you get to play with fire!
But, due to the chemical nature of the forum, I shall try the boric acid and maple sugar next time. And burn the ones that survive
sparkgap - 4-4-2005 at 12:33
I don't mind the small black ones; they do a pretty good job cleaning out insect carcasses in my garden. It's the big red tropical ants here
that deform the leaves of my plants, and sting nastily as well that I have declared enmity upon. 
He may have a similar problem.
sparky (°_°)
JohnWW - 4-4-2005 at 18:11
I agree with Sparkgap. Here in New Zealand, Argentinian fire (red) ants have been accidentally introduced to a number of locations near ports, through
fertilized queen ants having hidden in ships' cargos. They have the potential to be a dangerous pest to wildlife, because they prey on native
insects and on the chicks of small native birds. Because of this, measures are under way to exterminate them by laying poison.
On a few occasions in the past, Australian termites, which are highly destructive to untreated timber, as in older houses made of New Zealand native
timbers, have gotten into New Zealand inside imported Australian eucalyptus power poles and cross-arms, although this trade has ended due to use of
other materials.
sparkgap - 5-4-2005 at 00:37
The ants here, I believe, are Iridomyrmex; nasty bites, but nothing more. That which you speak of, John, is the more dangerous Solenopsis
invicta, whose bites can kill people by being venomous in itself and also inducing anaphylactic shock. Horrors!
Methinks shipping companies are quite sloppy with their fumigation, making invasive organisms more commonplace.
sparky (^_^)
HNO3 - 5-4-2005 at 20:03
I have an ancient bottle of some kind of ant rid. Mostly empty, but it has three large crystals of sodium arsenate in it. I'm keepind it for
future processing for the arsenic for my elements collection. It's locked up, doubly. That is, You would have to open three locks to get to
it.