6 replies to this topic

[Noah Norman]

Does anyone else think that Ants Canada has the worst support group now. When I say support I don't refer to, product support or consumer problems. I mean ant keeping questions, I know that they have their fourms but I have always emailed either ants Canada or tar heel ants when I have a question about something, and recently ants Canada has been terrible at answering my questions. I asked them this "I am going to start keeping solenopsis invicta, and I was going to use fluon to contain them but it's very expensive. I have decided to use baby powder and rubbing alcohol but I have a few questions.
1. How much do I mix together do I just do a half and half ratio.
2. How long does it last, I am planning on putting a very big border probably 6 inches, and have it very thick. The room is around s 70°f and I have a ceiling fan always running.
3. When it starts becoming ineffective can I just reapply over the current border.
4. Do you think that baby powder and rubbing alcohol will actually contain them? I know that Mikey uses it for S. geminata but will it work for S. Invicta?". They replied with "Hi Noah,

Thanks for emailing us. In the ant keeping world we use common deterrents to keep ants from escaping through little cracks or open spaces. We at AntsCanada like to use vaseline (petroleum gel) and smear a two inch wide band around the outworld door and its joints. Most ants come in contact with it and don’t bother walking through it. Those who have ants that still travel over a two inch thick band of vaseline smeared around the top of the outworld, can also use baby powder (talcum powder) mixed with rubbing alcohol, and smear this mixed substance instead. If you choose this method, be careful not to put too much because the ants can get coated in it and die. Another deterrent commonly used in Europe is paraffin oil. If all of these fail, the most effective deterrent is Fluon or a substance called PTFE, however if you choose to use this substance remember that the fumes before drying is highly toxic so apply it to your outworld in a well ventilated area and before your ants are given access to the outworld. Fluon/PTFE is also known commonly among laboratories working with insects as the product ‘Insecta-slip’ and it can be purchased at an online store known as Bioquip.

If you are using an AC Outworld™ you can place the deterrent on the bottom of the upper lip so that it does not look unsightly or cause obstruction when viewing your ants in their outworld.

Good luck!

Chie". All they did was copy the same thing that they have on their website, That I've already read. She didn't answer a single question I had. I feel like his support group is lazy, and he needs to hire some new people.

[EllisWyatt]

That is frustrating. It does appear the nuance of your questions was completely missed.

 

Personally, I'm a newbie, so I don't have first-hand knowledge using talcum powder and isopropyl alcohol, but I understand the idea. Isopropyl (or rubbing) alcohol has a very high vapor pressure at common temperatures, meaning it evaporates very readily. So there doesn't need to be a specific ratio you need to follow mixing it with the talcum powder. It is simply there to mix with the powder to make a liquid consistency that can easily be painted/wiped onto the surface. The alcohol will evaporate quickly (in seconds to minutes depending on how much "wet" you leave on the surface), and the remaining talcum powder is what makes up the actual barrier. The tiny grains of talc give the ants nothing to grab onto. It's like a rock climber that has every ledge they grab onto crumble as soon as they grab onto it.

 

As for duration, again, I have no first-hand knowledge, but tutorials I've watched suggest reapplying the barrier every 6 months or so. Since it is just powder, you can easily wipe it off and reapply, or probably even just reapply right over the old barrier.

 

Hope that helps.

[StopSpazzing]

Why did you post 2 of closely same topics?

[Serafine]

As much as I don't really like AntsCanada for various reasons I think it's really not their job to answer every single one of the bazillion requests they must get all day long.

If you want to know something specific it's ALWAYS better to ask in a forum (after doing your own basic research of course) because not only are people usually unbiased there it's also much more likely that of the thousands of users a forum has one is ready and willing to answer your question.

Edited by Serafine, January 2 2018 - 8:39 PM.

[nurbs]

If you have a question about their products, then yes, it is their job to give you support. But they are not entitled to answer the countless random ant keeping questions you have. That's not their job.  

 

You must also keep in mind your location. Their answers may not necessarily pertain to your specific question because ant keeping is a very regional and species specific thing. For example, the way we rear ants here in Southern California can be very different from ants being kept in the tropics, like Malaysia or the Philippines. 

 

If you have a question, post here! Hopefully some helpful soul can help you on these forums. But also keep in mind no one is entitled to give you an answer. That should not upset you. That's just life.

 

Also, you do know that most of the AC crew who answer those emails are kids, right? And English isn't even their native language.

[Serafine]

By the way, asking that stuff in the appropriate forum section (general antkeeping or so) might dramatically increase your chances of getting an appropriate answer.
 

I mean ant keeping questions, I know that they have their fourms but I have always emailed either ants Canada or tar heel ants when I have a question about something, and recently ants Canada has been terrible at answering my questions.

[...] 

Chie". All they did was copy the same thing that they have on their website, That I've already read. She didn't answer a single question I had. I feel like his support group is lazy, and he needs to hire some new people.

I have no idea who the people in their support group are but most likely a good chunk of them are volunteers who don't get anything paid and often aren't too experienced in antkeeping either. And they probably get SWAMPED in thousands of request all the time, many of them being from kids (and/or their even less experienced parents) and barely even readable (that is if the request are anything like the requests GAN farmers I know are getting).

 

Oh, and forget the AC forums, they are completely useless. Most people there have no clue about antkeeping and they banned all the experienced people who dared to criticize them.

[dspdrew]

If you have a question about their products, then yes, it is their job to give you support. But they are not entitled to answer the countless random ant keeping questions you have. That's not their job.  

 

You must also keep in mind your location. Their answers may not necessarily pertain to your specific question because ant keeping is a very regional and species specific thing. For example, the way we rear ants here in Southern California can be very different from ants being kept in the tropics, like Malaysia or the Philippines. 

 

If you have a question, post here! Hopefully some helpful soul can help you on these forums. But also keep in mind no one is entitled to give you an answer. That should not upset you. That's just life.

 

Also, you do know that most of the AC crew who answer those emails are kids, right? And English isn't even their native language.

 

Couldn't agree more. Anything I had to say is pretty much going to just echo everything said here.

 

If these companies personally answered every question they get emailed to them, they would probably be working eight hours a day doing that, and only that. Questions specific to their products should be answered, but to expect them to answer any ant-keeping questions you have is just not reasonable unless you are paying them for their service.

 

The best place to get those kinds of questions answered is on a forum or any other online community.