Ant infestation!!!!!

[Str8 Jacket]

Strange going on's in Kerikeri...


Me and MrMelon are in holiday in Kerikeri and have been parking our bikes behind Melon's parents house under a lovely shadey Jackaranda (sp?) tree..... The weather is extremely hot up here (especially by Wgtn standards) and there are army's of ants EVERY-F*CKEN- WHERE!!
Went out on them yesterday and notice that the ants had started crawling all over them, marching line by line slowly infesting our bikes. Seriously, I can see them marching behind my Neutral light! Anyway I was out there spraying the shit out of them with Insect Killer and then we cleaned the bikes... We sprayad our side stands with the spray as thats how they were getting onto our bikes and that seems to have stopped anymore getting on but there are still quite a few popping up and we're worried that they may be trying to build a nest or something...
Yesterday we went to leave Melon's battery was flat so I had to push him up the road to start the bike. This morning his battery was flat again. This may or may not be because of the radar detector he has but we're unsure as my bike is now having issues to start it. You have to keep giving it blips opf gas until it eventually rev properly... This also may or may not be because Melon parked it in really really soft soil and while we we're out it "fell over" and may have flooded, its not exactly his fault as he did push on the bike to check and put a big pebble under the stand but I prefer to blame Melon...
Melons just pulled his bike apart and the bloody ants have infested his battery. Im hoping mine isnt the same!

Anyway what we want to know is can ants actually damage your bike if they got into the wrong places?!

[LilSel]

:gob: .. I dont know... but hells teeth... damn ants...

[spookytooth]

little buggers have been know to fuc lite switchs up by nesting in them in houses .they cause them to arc .a few fires have started that way.so yea prolly could do the same on bikes:scooter:

[Wasp]

ants flying through the carbs! WWHHHEEEEEEEEEEE!

i suppose they could block the airfilter or something?

[phoenixgtr]

Geez Hels!! You really do have the worst luck.

[bell]

You can get this stuff that you sprinkle in a line around the bike (or across your doorway or whatever it is you want to prevent them getting to if it's on the ground). Hardware shops will have it, maybe a supermarket. Of course I have no idea what it's called anymore. If they've gone down your pipe then that'll teach em when you start her up!
Yeah, no 'k' in Jacaranda from memory. Purty purple flowers at the moment.

[Str8 Jacket]

little buggers have been know to fuc lite switchs up by nesting in them in houses .they cause them to arc .a few fires have started that way.so yea prolly could do the same on bikes:scooter:

Holy fuck! He just pulled his battery out and they had started making a nest!!!! :shit:

Gonna get him to check my bike next!

Ants on 'P'! Apparently 'P' is also an infestation in Kerikeri....

[dawnrazor]

just as well you don't have ANTi lock brakes or else there would.......nope thats not going to work, what an anticlimax....Do'h

[Hillbilly]

Depends on the ants too. Some can grow rather large:

[Colapop]

The BBQ is still going fine. The cat isn't too burnt. The neighbours have taken to throwing holy water at me. Apart from that everything's ok at your place...

[Wasp]

atom ant!!!

[idleidolidyll]

A while ago I left one of our bikes on the trickle charger for a few weeks (battery by Harley: hahahahaha!!!)

Anyway, when I got back the bloody ants had made it their home! It seems that ants like nice warm electrical items so if you have a radio or something in your garage, be careful if it has a standby feature.

And right now summer in Manukau means a huge ant invasion. I haven't seen anything like it since I've lived here. Ants everywhere even all over my precious bikes!

There's not much worse than getting an itchy crotch and looking down to see ants crawling across your petrol tank!

[jtzzr]

Bummer about the ants, but you know if your`e going to pillion any of them they need to have a helmet on , How many ants were there?

[Str8 Jacket]

The BBQ is still going fine. The cat isn't too burnt. The neighbours have taken to throwing holy water at me. Apart from that everything's ok at your place...

lol, does my house-sitter (bad lieutenant) mind you camping on my lawn?

Stuff the cat, I am sooo sun burnt at the moment! Got to spend the last few days at teh beach though :sunny:

Oh yeah my "holy" neighbours are still on holiday. So I know you're lieing! :p

[Str8 Jacket]

How many ants were there?

More like howmany ants ARE there still?

MILLLLLLIOOONS!!!

[Motu]

Where I live it's sandy soil - it's just one huge fucking ant's nest! Ants and earwigs,they are everywhere - and something else....last week I found big holes,like 25mm across going down 200mm in the gardens around the house.Only thing I can think of that size is mice....like do mice live underground like that?

[Grub]

last week I found big holes,like 25mm across going down 200mm in the gardens around the house.Only thing I can think of that size is mice?

I would guiess you have a (sp?) piraina ("grass grub" - distant relation) infestation. They come out at night and crash into you or your windows. I hate them. They burrow down leaving a perfect round slightly twisted hole and they eat the grass roots from underneath

[Ixion]

Where I live it's sandy soil - it's just one huge fucking ant's nest! Ants and earwigs,they are everywhere - and something else....last week I found big holes,like 25mm across going down 200mm in the gardens around the house.Only thing I can think of that size is mice....like do mice live underground like that?

25mm ? That'd be one HONKING big grass grub!

Well, rats will burrow and live underground, so I guess mice would. Then there's voles, and moles. Or VERY large spiders.

[Rubbergirl]

ooooh i like ants! save me some!

[Motu]

I think it's mice,because we do have mice.The cats are very interested in the fridge - not what's in it,but they keep looking behind and under it.Trouble is until the said animals are cured of their nightly emmissions they live out side at night.The guy who fitted our water filter just cut a huge hole in the back of the cupboard wall,easy for mice to get in.But Lias and Wolf took my shed away,and all my tools are in lockup storage,a bit hard to make a patch without the tools.But I have a can of foam....I will mummify a mouse....

[Str8 Jacket]

So anyone able to help us out with our ANT problem?

[Colapop]

The neighbours came back early, BL left, the cat died and smells bad. On the down side there's no ber left... :crybaby:

[mstriumph]

So anyone able to help us out with our ANT problem?

To hear is to obey!! :sunny:

coopex powder mixed up with water as per packet instructions

saturate earth where bikes are parked

do again in a coupla days

kills em - also kills a lot of other nasties when used properly

it seems to be available in NZ read about it here (http://www.hear.org/articles/turningthetide/turningthetide.pdf)

[Str8 Jacket]

The neighbours came back early, BL left, the cat died and smells bad. On the down side there's no ber left... :crybaby:

Damn ants!

[Colapop]

You could play them some "Ant Music"

[Str8 Jacket]

To hear is to obey!! :sunny:

coopex powder mixed up with water as per packet instructions

saturate earth where bikes are parked

do again in a coupla days

kills em - also kills a lot of other nasties when used properly

it seems to be available in NZ read about it here (http://www.hear.org/articles/turningthetide/turningthetide.pdf)

Cheers Chicky. I'd be a bit worried about putting it down though as Melons olds have a dog and a cat.... I'll have a read up about it.

[Str8 Jacket]

You could play them some "Ant Music"

You've found my stash havent you?!

[mstriumph]

Cheers Chicky. I'd be a bit worried about putting it down though as Melons olds have a dog and a cat.... I'll have a read up about it.

used it at the last place -------- didn't seem to give either of my cats any problem - then again, they used to be alligators until i cut the tails off ....

luck with it, anyway

[Str8 Jacket]

used it at the last place -------- didn't seem to give either of my cats any problem - then again, they used to be alligators until i cut the tails off ....

luck with it, anyway

LMAO!

Ive just put containers of "Hygex" Anti-Ant by the base of each sidestand. My Battery has alot of Ants all over it as well but we have no tools to remove the battery to check.... Damnit!
Hopefuly they'll just go for the ant killer, little f*ckers.

[Hillbilly]

Where I live it's sandy soil - it's just one huge fucking ant's nest! Ants and earwigs,they are everywhere - and something else....last week I found big holes,like 25mm across going down 200mm in the gardens around the house.Only thing I can think of that size is mice....like do mice live underground like that?

Maybe you should come over here. Then you'd really freak out. The holes you describe are everywhere. They house either a species of Trapdoor Spider, or the nasty Wolf Spider. Take your Kiwi Wolf Spider and mulitply it by 3. They've got necrotizing venom like the white tail spider as well.


Wolf spiders are not generally regarded as dangerous. However, there have been some instances where bites from a wolf spider are believed to have caused the spreading skin ulceration known as necrotic archnadism.
Various species of wolf spider are common in private gardens and at night a torch will often reveal huge numbers of reflective eyes scouring the backyard for suitable prey items.


I'm nursing sore feet after walking outside with no shoes. :doh:

Thought I stood on some prickles when lo and behold, ants are feasting on my feet. They attack in hoards and bite really hard. Formic acid is just that - acid, and it keeps on burning. Little buggers.

[Karma]

I used to have a problem when I got back from the coro and had loads of dead flys etc... on my nose cone, the ants would swarm all over it if I left it overnight without cleaning... very nasty.

[pixc]

So anyone able to help us out with our ANT problem?

To keep them off the bike try peppermint essence/oil. Use a cotten bud to apply it to their access points. (Tyres and stand)

Ripcord I use to spray my house...should be dandy on the bike.

My daughter presented me with a honey coloured ant with a stinger..I have never seen that before. I also found a strange ant a few years back.. tiny honey coloured and..so tiny..and the soldier ant was huge by comparison with big black heads and a nasty pair pincers. I froze a few of them and shipped them off to MAF. Apparently an australian ant that was just establishing itself in New Zealand.

My place gets infested with cicada's and earwigs. Cicadas are like a biblical plague. Every morning I have to sweep the concret they literally blanket the ground. They block drains and gutters. Whole trees seem to take flight when you drive past and the noise is truely and honestly deafening. They make a nasty crunch under foot and the fuckers get tangled in my hair. Id rather an ant infestation any time. There is NO cicada control that I know of

[Flyingpony]

there are army's of ants EVERY-F*CKEN- WHERE!!
Should you report this to MAF?

Anyway, park your bikes in a garage, or throw a blue plastic sheet over the top, and then set off one of those ant killing bug bombs :stoogie:

[Str8 Jacket]

Cheers all. It would appear that we may have sorted the problem now. Both bikes are starting fine this morning and we cant see any ants on the bikes. Though my battery was slightly infested with them last night we couldnt get my battery off as there were no tools that worked so just sprayed fly spray all over the battery and down the side. These ants are honestly insane!

[Paul in NZ]

Cheers all. It would appear that we may have sorted the problem now. Both bikes are starting fine this morning and we cant see any ants on the bikes. Though my battery was slightly infested with them last night we couldnt get my battery off as there were no tools that worked so just sprayed fly spray all over the battery and down the side. These ants are honestly insane!

If your battery was attracting ants and it was burping and farting it was probably accidentally filled with anti acid...

[riffer]

We get ants at our place too, nasty little things.

I haven't had them in the bike, but just about everywhere else. You can smell the trails outside. Must be the formic acid.

I have taken to tracing the ant trails and using the patented Burt Munro lawn mowing technique for sorting out the trails. I trace them back as far as they go (usually to the fence - ant nests seem to always be over at the neighbours house) and lay down a thin line of petrol.

One match - no ants.

[Hitcher]

Ants don't like mortein, or any other proprietary insecticide, either.

[merv]

Is that what happened to Antallica, did he run into some mortein because we haven't heard from him since he sold his bike?

[riffer]

Nah, he's getting married. I bet he had to give up the bike.

[Motu]

They are handy barometers too - they will come inside,and bring their eggs too,when a big wet is coming.In summer they will come inside looking for moisture...or something juicy.

I figure my big holes must be mice - the house has a low full block foundation,and I fixed all the broken vents.The only way to get from their safe haven under the house to the outside is to tunnel under and come up in the garden.The cats put their noses down the holes and think they are kinda interesting,but don't hold their interest....so the holes aren't ''in use''.I will monitor this situation....

[Str8 Jacket]

They are handy barometers too - they will come inside,and bring their eggs too,when a big wet is coming.In summer they will come inside looking for moisture...or something juicy.



Just about all of them were running around with eggs. There insane looking things!

[Ixion]

T,,,
I figure my big holes must be mice - ,.

You're trying really hard to convince yourself about it being mice , aren't you. Denial doesn't solve anything y'know, y'need to confront your fears, acknowledge the horrible truth. Before you find a dismembered cat on the lawn beside a larger than usual hole.

[Motu]

Faaaark.....do you think it could be a Graboid????? I don't think it has moved into the Shrieker or Ass Blaster phase yet.(sorry Hitcher) I'll have to watch a Tremors movie again and see how Burt Gummer kills Graboids....

My cats are not safe....I'll have to put them into intensive training....

[Karma]

Could be the morlocks...

[imdying]

This just in: 'It's official, Auckland is a shit hole'

[gijoe1313]

Ahh what an anti-climax, it's typical antipathy to think of ants as bad guys! I quite like the little fellas ... quite amazing what they get up to! Right, thats enough agonising over them - glad you got rid of them from your bikes! :yes:

[notme]

About the only thing the little buggers could do to damage the lectrickal bits of your steed is corrode wires and electrical connections.....ants have formic acid in them you see, and the use it as a defense mechanism.

It's probably not going to be a big deal on a bike, but if you get them in a keyboard and them you smash them (by typing!) the formic acid can corrode the thin metal connections and fark your keyboard - it's funny because the typical scenario is that someone spills coffee/tea/milo/coke in their keyboard, then a few months later it stops working and they think the drink was to blame when really it was the ants that went after the sugar residues!

Anyway, on a bike i wouldn't think they'd be a problem unless they are in a delicate electronics area such as a digital dash or ECU.