Natural way to kill spiders and fireants (house, water, friendly)

[Tinabean]

Hi Gang.
I searched the thread before posting but maybe I didn't do it correctly. My search turned up no previous threads for best/natural ways to kill fireants. Long story short, I just moved back to rural SC and I've PAINFULLY reacquainted myself with the fireant beasties. I've been stung no less than 30 times while working outside the last few weeks. I've also found a black widow spider this week (outside) which really freaked me out. I have a dog and cat and I am tremendously concerned about using extreme chemicals to contain dangerous insects. Is there any EFFECTIVE natural, or at least less toxic, methods to eradicate fireants and prevent spiders from getting into the house? I have a well near the house as well and don't want to use chemicals that can leach into our water table. I'd deeply appreciate any advise you guys can give me. Thanks in advance.

[Chorizo]

You might try this stuff:
Buy Diatomaceous Earth to kill fleas, ticks, bed bugs and parasites naturally

[country pride]

A can of Black Flag has worked for me for decades one shot and problem solved. We live in a polluted environment anyway, and compared to the chemicals and toxins in styrofoam and plastic (which the world seems to be pushing the use of) it isnt any worse.

[stillkit]

The best natural fire ant eliminator I've found is boiling water. Heat up a pot and pour it directly on the mound. It will instantly kill every ant it contacts and, while it may or may not penetrate far enough to kill the queen, it will get a lot of them and cause the rest to move the mound.

They won't go far, so keep your eyes open and let 'em have it the next day. And the next and the next. The mound will grow smaller and smaller until you finally get them all.

Also, notice that after a rain, they build up the mound and move all the eggs right up to the top to dry them out. That's a good time to get the next generation before they even hatch.

[Tinabean]

Hey Stillkit....thanks. Thanks to all.
I will try the D. EArth for around the base of windows, steps, etc... They got me there first as I stepped off my front steps! I'll try the boiling water trick on the HUGE mound in my flower bed. They REALLY zapped me there as I was cleaning out my bed. I had to leave my bed only half done because I've been worried about being zapped again in there. I'll do the boiling water today and see how that goes!!!! Also, any truth to what an old guy here told me.....he said to shovel part of one mound onto part of another mound and the ants would fight and kills each other's mounds out. That sounds like an old wives tale to me....anyone know if there is any truth to it? Also, I'm afraid they climb up the shovel and get me by the time I can mix up the two mounds. Maybe there is some trick to it.

[country pride]

I forgot the name of it but theres a product out made for the fireant (as well as other ants) issues. You simply sprinkle it around the hole, or where ever you might feel the need, they think its food and take it to the queen ant, and in just a couple of days, the whole colony is wiped out, including the queen. Done.

[sunsprit]

aspartame, sold as a sweetener as nutrasweet ... was originally developed as an insect poison.

isn't toxic like a lot of far more potent chemicals. Sprinkle around the ant hills and they bring it back into the nest to eat it, where they die, including the queen.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

aspartame, sold as a sweetener as nutrasweet ... was originally developed as an insect poison.

Nope, that was a fictional story written several years ago meant to be a spoof.
snopes.com: Aspartame as Ant Poison

[Tinabean]

Thanks Bydand. I was very excited because I was thinking that would be a bird/animal friendly option if the boiling water thing doesn't do the job. Guess i can take that one off of the list But thanks, Sunspirit...I know you thought it would work

[sunsprit]

OK, I may have passed along a "story" which was not correct in it's origins. But my understanding is that the 1980's introduction of this product for diet beverages was a re-introduction of an earlier discovery of the substance.

However, you might want to do a search on "aspartame toxicity", where you will find the three main components of this substance and one of them is methanol, which breaks down into formaldehyde and formic acid. There's a lot of folks in the medical field that can explain the toxicity of this substance ... it's not very good, and for some folks, it's causing a lot of problems.

What I do know is that I've seen the results of using this stuff on the red ant hills around our place, and they're gone ....