Ant crack-down planned for Raumati South

Jenny Scott with a homemade borax ant bait station. Photo / David Haxton

A major campaign to tackle ants in Raumati South, north of Wellington, takes place on the first weekend of October.

Raumati South Residents Association member Jenny Scott said over the last two years the area had been "invaded by ants" notably the Argentine and black ant (white-footed house ant).

"They are both invasive ants which are extremely difficult to control."

People could choose their own baiting method by either calling in a professional pest controller, using a commercial product, using a Fipronil cartridge or creating homemade borax bait.

She said groups of 12 people were recommended to combine against the ants, but three neighbours would be better than doing it alone.

The aim was to reduce the ant population by 80 per cent by getting people working together.

Jenny said ants could be a nightmare if they invaded your home.

She described a black ant invasion in her home as "like living in a Hitchcock movie".
Black ants could reproduce faster than any other ant, she said.

"A cavity in a wall or ceiling may have over a million ants and half of those are able to reproduce."

Creating borax bait mixture involved 1 rounded teaspoon of borax and 250 grams of sugar dissolved in a litre of water.

Pour some borax syrup onto cotton wool balls (so the ants won't drown) inside a screw top container (like a pill container) which has a small hole 4-5mm drilled on the lid to let the ants in.

"The secret to borax bait is to get the dosage right.

"The aim with borax baiting is to keep Argentines alive and still feeding until the queen dies, but to kill off black ants immediately so the nest starves.

"Fortunately the same borax bait stations will do both."

Borax bait stations could be placed around the property, including taped to vegetation, and checked every week or so over about three months.

The bait was "extremely effective" but "people need to be prepared to wait."

Black ants are very shiny and black and clustered together make a solid dense mass.

Argentine ants have light brown bodies and tend to look frothy in large numbers.

While the campaign is focused on Raumati South, on October 6-7, people living in other areas of Kāpiti could apply for ant information via jennyscott@outlook.co.nz.