Ants are everywhere in every state at every campground and in every RV (eventually). So what do you do when your RV is invaded by these unwanted pests? For starters, you need to investigate where they are coming from and how they are climbing on board. I found a few stragglers working their way around Barney's food dish so I went outside to investigate. I inspected the obvious places like the power cord and hoses where they could easily move inside.
Other places to check are the tires and mud flaps touching the ground.
I couldn't find an obvious trail so I started looking in the storage bays.
It didn't take long to find them hustling away little pieces of wood they carved from a couple pieces of plywood.
It's quite possible I have two varieties of ants shopping for food in the RV. Without going to the hardware store and purchasing a commercial ant bait I decided to use talc to discourage further invasion.
To be honest, I don't know how well this will work, but I put some around the wood and hopefully they'll be gone by tomorrow. I also sprinkled some around Barney's dog dish so he doesn't have to compete for dinner.
I know there are many readers who have a great deal more experience ridding your RV of these pests. Please click on the "comments" section below and tell us how we can more effectively eradicate or at least discourage these insects from hitching a ride. Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing
Ants are everywhere in every state at every campground and in every RV (eventually). So what do you do when your RV is invaded by these unwanted pests? For starters, you need to investigate where they are coming from and how they are climbing on board. I found a few stragglers working their way around Barney's food dish so I went outside to investigate. I inspected the obvious places like the power cord and hoses where they could easily move inside. 
Other places to check are the tires and mud flaps touching the ground. 
I couldn't find an obvious trail so I started looking in the storage bays.
It didn't take long to find them hustling away little pieces of wood they carved from a couple pieces of plywood. 
It's quite possible I have two varieties of ants shopping for food in the RV. Without going to the hardware store and purchasing a commercial ant bait I decided to use talc to discourage further invasion. 
To be honest, I don't know how well this will work, but I put some around the wood and hopefully they'll be gone by tomorrow. I also sprinkled some around Barney's dog dish so he doesn't have to compete for dinner. 
I know there are many readers who have a great deal more experience ridding your RV of these pests. Please click on the "comments" section below and tell us how we can more effectively eradicate or at least discourage these insects from hitching a ride. Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing
6 comments:
I had trouble with ants getting in my humming bird feeders and I found that spraying the hanger with WD-40 was a great solution! Kept the ants away and the humming birds are happy :-)
A.J.
My mother used to make ant traps with
1cup sugar/1cup borax /3cups of water , mix well and put in jars with perforated lids [use a nail or small punch . Keep away from children and pets , probably should label too .
Another way I tried while living in Fl. Keys was sprinkle cinnamon around where they congregated [kind of like the talc] or wipe the areas down with white vinegar . Cinnamon worked best .
I'm a huge fan of boric acid powder, think I found in the Dollar Store. It has a lot of uses, see the Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boric_acid and more info here: http://www.planetnatural.com/cgi-bin/planetnatural/borid-boric-acid
First thing I did when I bought my RV was to spray it under the sinks way in back of the plumbing areas. Same for under bottom drawers.
When parked I can put it around the areas where I think they might try to get into the rig. I love it!
Froggi is right; boric acid works great. But when you're dealing with fire ants, only Amdro will move them away from your rig!
Terro Ant Killer works good on the small sweet-eating ants. They take it back to the nest where it will kill the queen and all the other ants in the colony. We have had good success with it. You can be find it at Lowe's among others.
The baby powder (talc) did the trick. No more ants. Amazing. Thank you for your ideas and suggestions and thank you for your readership. Jim Twamley
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