Hello all, James,
     I have never had an ant problem but I have had hornet problems.=20
Since I am deadly allergic to hornets and bees it turns in to a life and=20
death struggle between them and myself. I don't like killing anything=20
but I have to when the hornets become more than just a nuisance.
     One time I had a infestation in a wall. I waited until winter=20
before I opened the wall up. It was scary and cool at the same time.=20
They had eaten the inside paper and all of the wallboard up to but not=20
including the outer layer of paper that was inside the house and=20
painted. The nest was 6 inches thick, 14 inches wide, and 6 feet high.=20
It had to contain 100s of thousands of hornets if not millions.=20
Fortunately they hadn't broken through that last layer of paper and=20
gained access to the house.
Ouch,
rich!

On 5/21/2014 9:05 PM, James Cameron wrote:
> It seems my local ant population likes electronics, but not sugar.
>
> They like anything that hums like a distressed insect, so the
> inductors in the MPPT controller in an OLPC XO laptop get quite a bit
> of attention during the day.
>
> They like power socket switches that are open; they die at the sliding
> contact, accumulate, and cause small currents in the appliance.  We
> compensate by disconnecting cables and leaving all switches on when
> not in use.  Visiting children ask why the power points are on!
>
> There's a paper on containing ants in laboratory; a vertical barrier
>

--=20
http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
.