13 replies to this topic

[Manitobant]

My dolichoderus taschenbergi colony is swarming in the outworld and i don't have fluon or baby powder and rubbing alchohol on hand. Does vaseline work as a substitute? It worked for my feeder roaches.

Edited by Manitobant, June 28 2020 - 2:21 PM.

[Antkid12]

Pretty sure it would work.

[BitT]

I use vaseline and it works great.

 

But I live in Florida where the humidity is high but I hear that other states sometimes have trouble with it drying out too fast. It's been SUPER hot lately so it's been drying out a bit but not too fast for me. I check it by touching a spot to test the slickness or if I see a worker having an easier time walking over it is when I use a paper towel and wipe what I can off and then add a fresh layer.

 

Vaseline can be vary smeary and it's VERY hard to get completely off after it is applied, you can easily make plastic or even glass blurry to see through. So keep that in mind and be careful not to get it all over the place.

 

If you are using it for just temporary use until you get another type of barrier it's great in a pinch.

[Vendayn]

I used vaseline for solenopsis invicta, the colony I had two decades ago. Was my first successful ant farm.

 

But...will never use it again. The S. invicta crossed it like it was just concrete. I had 1000s of ants escaping. Took me literally from 9 am to 10 pm to clean it up. Vaseline is near impossible to remove. Was the biggest disaster I ever had with ants.

Edited by Vendayn, June 28 2020 - 4:42 PM.

[AntsMaryland]

If you use talcum powder and then water, it becomes pretty manageable to clean up.

[BitT]

I used vaseline for solenopsis invicta, the colony I had two decades ago. Was my first successful ant farm.

 

But...will never use it again. The S. invicta crossed it like it was just concrete. I had 1000s of ants escaping. Took me literally from 9 am to 10 pm to clean it up. Vaseline is near impossible to remove. Was the biggest disaster I ever had with ants.

I'm curious, where do you live? Do you have high or low humidity in your area? And did you check it regularly to make sure it hadn't dried out? Like I said in an earlier post I notice it dries out faster lately because it's hot right now here so I have to make sure I check it.

 

Edit:

Also, were they using dead bodies or things like sand to build themselves a bridge? Supposedly that's a common behavior of Invicta so I read.

Edited by BitT, June 28 2020 - 4:58 PM.

[Vendayn]

 

I used vaseline for solenopsis invicta, the colony I had two decades ago. Was my first successful ant farm.

 

But...will never use it again. The S. invicta crossed it like it was just concrete. I had 1000s of ants escaping. Took me literally from 9 am to 10 pm to clean it up. Vaseline is near impossible to remove. Was the biggest disaster I ever had with ants.

I'm curious, where do you live? Do you have high or low humidity in your area? And did you check it regularly to make sure it hadn't dried out? Like I said in an earlier post I notice it dries out faster lately because it's hot right now here so I have to make sure I check it.

 

I was in southern california at the time right by the coast. And as soon as I put it on, the ants went from having a kinda hard escaping to going "woooooo" and escaping the very second I put the vaseline on. And you can imagine it being a problem of 1000s of fire ants getting everywhere lol. I was like 10 or something at the time or 12 or 13 I don't remember, but my dad had to help get rid of it all. In the end we emptied the ants in a bucket with baby powder (which I was told at the time on Antdude's forum that would work with water to clean the vaseline, but nope that made it worse because then the vaseline became a goopy mess). But after emptying the ants in the bucket, we spent hours cleaning the containers and threw out the vaseline lol.

Edited by Vendayn, June 28 2020 - 5:01 PM.

[BitT]

 

 

I used vaseline for solenopsis invicta, the colony I had two decades ago. Was my first successful ant farm.

 

But...will never use it again. The S. invicta crossed it like it was just concrete. I had 1000s of ants escaping. Took me literally from 9 am to 10 pm to clean it up. Vaseline is near impossible to remove. Was the biggest disaster I ever had with ants.

I'm curious, where do you live? Do you have high or low humidity in your area? And did you check it regularly to make sure it hadn't dried out? Like I said in an earlier post I notice it dries out faster lately because it's hot right now here so I have to make sure I check it.

 

I was in southern california at the time right by the coast. And as soon as I put it on, the ants went from having a kinda hard escaping to going "woooooo" and escaping the very second I put the vaseline on. And you can imagine it being a problem of 1000s of fire ants getting everywhere lol. I was like 10 or something at the time or 12 or 13 I don't remember, but my dad had to help get rid of it all. In the end we emptied the ants in a bucket with baby powder (which I was told at the time on Antdude's forum that would work with water to clean the vaseline, but nope that made it worse because then the vaseline became a goopy mess). But after emptying the ants in the bucket, we spent hours cleaning the containers and threw out the vaseline lol.

 

Woo! That sounds like a mess! So far I haven't had any trouble with my Solenopsis invicta though they are small colonies still at this point. My Pheidole megacephala however are booming in numbers and have a lot of brood so they been looking for more roaming space and been testing my barrier. I occasionally I see a too adventuress worker having got stuck and died or when it gets a bit dry one walking over it but then a fresh application solves the issue well enough. Again I heard that vaseline dries out faster in some states so maybe that's why you had an issue. I ask because I'm still learning and want to understand. XD

 

Edit:

Also, rubbing alcohol is what I find best in removing vaseline. Actually I think I used peroxide once because I ran out! lol But only when no ants or anything is in the thing I'm cleaning at the time, afraid it'd hurt them! And never use water it just makes vaseline worse.
 

Edited by BitT, June 28 2020 - 5:13 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Vaseline can work for SOME ants but not any ants that are good at climbing - that's my impression.

 

Oh, and if ants have trash or sand available, they may cover up the vaseline and make it walkable. (My C. fragilis did that.)

 

To clean it up, you first wipe it off as much as you can with DRY paper towel. Once it's been mostly removed like that, then you can use detergent and hot water to remove the rest. (If it's in equipment being used then obviously can't use the detergent/hot water.)

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, June 28 2020 - 7:18 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Get some Fluon. It’s worth the peace of mind.

[RushmoreAnts]

I tried Vaseline once for Formica and they crossed it the minute they came across it. Doesn’t work in my experience. Get fluon.

[ANTdrew]

If you have nothing else, I think olive oil would be superior to vaseline, especially if you get it on an overhanging lip of some sort.

[Antkid12]

Sometimes olive oil kills small ants tho.

[OhNoNotAgain]

Ooo maybe I should use olive oil again for my overpopulated Veromessor. It did work - AND it did kill ants - but I've got an overpopulation problem.       

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, June 29 2020 - 7:59 AM.