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Mental note to ones self, put opened cereal in fridge!:idea:

Report in the paper this morning that they are finding red backs in England and some of our crazy ants. Evidently they are emigrating with our luggage and I suppose in containers. Redbacks love dark places so easy peasy to get into the lounge suite.:laugh:

I finally arrived in Australia on Wednesday morning after leaving the UK on the 9th Nov (5 days in Dubai). So far so good got into the country with no fuss (expected a few questions) have got my medicare card and will be picking up bank card tomorrow. We are staying with my mother in law in the bush so my little one got to see his first kangaroo on day 4 and during the night I was confronted with a load of flying ants as i left the light on and they got through the fly net thing not a pretty sight! Thought I was in a scene from a horror movie! Now we just have to look for job\jobs and move to civilisation! Missing my family loads feel like crying everytime i speak to my mum on the phone

I didn't know the extent of the 'pest menace' in Australia until I read Janine the Party Queen's recent posts. So please please please use this thread to share tips and tricks to deal with these kinda things both preemptively and after the fact...

Hi all, We have just moved into a rental home after enduring 4 months of living with family and we have an ant problem!! I have used 1 tin of mortein in 1 wk!! I have heard people talking about getting the house sprayed on the outside. Has anyone got any advice and experience from time of year to costs to get someone in! These ants are bloody clever!

Not being a big fan of ants in Melbourne, I've heard that you can pour petrol down the nest to kill the little .... pests. Dilemma: Do you leave the petrol down the nest so the vapour seeps around and kills them, or, option B, do I light the petrol and listen to the satisfying nest explosion? Obviously, blowing myself up along with the house is a consideration in this high risk activity but two years of ant problems deserves a wee escalation of the ant war. .

G'day all! I'm living on the East Side of Melbourne in Ferntree Gully, and have a wee question about our native beasties. Does anyone know anything about nocturnal reddish orange ants, which are about half an inch long, with a slightly oversized rounded deep reddish orange rear abdomen. I've done a google search and all i can find about nocturnal aussie ants is on the fossil ant, but they reside in SA, not Victoria.... but I cant find anything about their habits or if they bite, lol. Also ~ do they destroy other ants nests (we have an ants nest in our roof, above our patio, but i didn't want to get rid of it as the ants are so tiny, they're actually quite cute ~ and i suffer from Myrmecophobia ~ ant phobia lol! Anyway, these little ants don't seem to be as numerous as they were a week ago... which was when these big ants started turning up on our patio ~ but only at night. Oh... and our patio is on slits on the side of a hill about 15 metres off the ground. My aussie partner has never seen these nocturnal ants before. Any ideas? fizzylizzy xxx

Calling the POM SQUAD! SCORPIONS IN THE BOUDOIR.... Bull Ants in the GARDEN... OK, I know everything is Upside Down, but this is snow joke - it could be April 1st, but it isn't, hence: :arghhxmas:. Within the space of five days I've found two feisty red Scorpions in my bedroom - yea, if only! NO! Not local jocks from the football club or creepy Commi Spies, but nasty looking creatures of the arachnid persuasion much, MUCH too close to our bed... The first appeared between the newly-unpacked wardrobe & the bed - I was perturbed, but thought perhaps it was trapped in the packaging, although we did vacuum after unpacking & assembly. I'd found several other deceased fellas in the seams of boxes, also @ least 1 dead black specimen in another bedroom, before our carpets were steam-cleaned but no REDs under the bed. The carpet guy assured me nothing could survive his steam cleaning! Well, the second one appeared, after the carpets were vacuumed again, on the opposite side of the room from the first... HELP! They're definitely NOT black, nor deceased and very much UNWELCOME... OK, we live on a light bush property, NOT coastal any more, which is where they are supposed to reside! There is no door from the bedroom to the outdoors... I've never seen any sign of such things in the garden, although seen some pretty ferocious-looking spiders & hefty ants in perfusion, including the very much dreaded Jack Jumpers. I was stung earlier in the week by Son-of-Jack-Jumper, and holly molly if the next day, I didn't see enough Jack Jumpers to send me on the first flight home! Especially as the one leaped at me, as I peered too close for a definitive look. These are seriously scary predators... I'll post the photo's if any one wants to see them - horrible! What's the Verdict guys? Are we in mortal danger; should we call in an Exterminator, House, Dr WHO or an Exorcist?.... I think nothing of walking round in the dark - now this is seriously hampering my Night Moves... Thanks for all your genuine suggestions & advice... :emoticon-signxmas:

We live in a rental house in Yowie Bay near Sydney and have a couple of creepy-crawly problems. Firstly, although our kitchen/living room etc is on the first floor, there are little tiny ants. If we leave even one miniscule crumb of food on the floor that our children have dropped, there are swarms of ants over it. They also march up the table leg and around the ledge on the edge of the table - our toddler kept telling us she wanted the tiny bugs back, I thought she was seeing things until I saw a little line of them marching up the table! We always clean any bits off the floor and always wipe the table/highchairs etc, and the kitchen is clean. They aren't in the kitchen so far, but I just wondered firstly how to stop (or reduce) the ants and secondly, how should I be storing food to make sure that they don't come? I keep perishables in the fridge, anything open (biscuits, bread etc) is stored either in a sealable bag or its bag is fastened with one of those clippit bag clip things in the cupboard. I have also been keeping things like fresh fruit in the fridge, but of course that means that things like peaches are rock-solid. Is it okay to keep them out or will that attract the buggers? Most horrifyingly we have had two HUGE GIANT-SIZED cockroaches in the house. One scuttled across the living room carpet the night before last, and one ran from out of a pile of dirty washing I had sorted and put on the stairs to take down for washing. Is it likely that they have come in from outside (although we have screens) or is it more likely that they are breeding somewhere in the house? Haven't seen any small ones and I have disinfected the cupboards, shelves etc before we put our things in there and I saw no evidence of them then. At what point should we think we have a problem and phone the rental agency to come and sort it out? Other than that, am enjoying the wildlife. Especially the bird that 'laughs hysterically' and the frog or insect (can't decide what it is) that sounds like an engaged tone that keep me from going to sleep at night :skeptical:.

We seem to have a big problem with ants in the kitchen of our rental house. We don't leave food/crumbs on the worktops but every day we have lots of them running about. They are starting to get on my nerves now. Can anybody tell me if this is perfectly normal (or a problem with our rental). We are north of the river in Perth. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them would be great.

All, Need some advice. We moved to North Lakes, QLD and we are starting to dread the invasion of mozzies and ants in the next few months. Question 1: Does Ant Sand actually work? Is there another way of getting rid of the b@stards? Question 2: Do Mozzie Lanterns (like Mortein) work? or are there anymore effective solutions for twlight/night time outdoor dining? Cheers Jay

Ok could somebody please tell me where do they come from and how do i get rid of them? :arghh: Every time i look in my kitchen cupboard i find more of the little things!! Ive tried ant spray and something called spot but they just keep comming, i cant even find where they are comming from... any ideas would be used thankfully.. yvonne..

This is something that I'm sure has been discussed at length before, but my wife reminded me yesterday of how serious this issue is to all of you UK newcomers to Oz, so don't be too alarmed when you see your first trail of ants INSIDE. Most Australians are simply used the fact that ants often invade their homes. Somebody could probably make a huge amount of money if they could come up with a surefire reliable method of keeping ANTS out of Australian homes for good! While most new Australian homes contain fine insect screens, plus very good door and window seals, ANTS still seem to find their way in. So don't be alarmed when you see a trail of them in your home, as it is quite normal here. You can spend a load of money with a Pest Controller pumping out toxic chemicals around your home, but ants will still return not long after. All areas of Australia have problems with ants, and they find their way in regularly and look for food. They are quite harmless but can be annoying in the sense that they are inside and often. They are very small and they love small crumbs and bits of food. As this is the biggest attraction for ants, vaccuming and cleaning food eating and preparation areas often is the best thing to do. We tried some recommended natural methods of deterring ants like pepper and peppermint spray but it didn't seem to work vey well. However if you want something to put in food storage areas like pantries and cupboards the natual methods are better at least than using toxic chemicals. Ant-rid liquid works best out of all the anti-ant products. Just squirt a small amount near infested areas where they are seen entering the house. The ants will come back however in a few weeks so you will need to treat the area again and again. Ant sand was useless and didn't appear to have any dramatic effect at all. If you can see where they are getting in from outside, and want a quick-fix to the trail of ants, normal fly spray will kill them almost instantly. Just be sure to use a paper towel to mop up the mess afterwards, and clean away the residue with soapy water as well. Hope this helps.