Creepy Experience

[Cattledog]

Just returned from camping at Turkey Point Provincial Park, nice campground well maintained and low traffic at this time of the year. Had a good campsite on a hill quite roomy decent mix of sun and shade. While laying in bed Monday night I felt something crawl across my arm I brushed it away thinking it was a mosquito when I felt something crawling on my leg I turned on the light to my shock there were all kinds of large black ants, very large ants running across the ceiling up the walls and on the floor literally too many to count. Talk about creepy I felt like I was in a bad B horror flick! Had seen some in the campsite during the day it’s a very sandy area and I wasn’t being pestered by them so I didn’t think too much about it. By the time I left on Wednesday they had invaded the comfort station and the showers. I’m home now and I’m still trying to get them out of the trailer. Maybe my campsite wasn’t a hill it was a gigantic ant hill. YUK.

[TimandDebbie]

That would be not fun. I guess fumigation is in order.

[SKnight]

Eww. Get some ant spray concentrate mix from a home improvement place along with a hand pump sprayer. Mix a concentration on the strong side and on arrival to camp spray anything that touches the ground, around the tires, jacks, stabilizers, power cord, anything that contacts the ground.

They won't cross that line.

To get them out if you don't want to bomb it just make sure that every bit of food, foodstuff, salt, pepper, everything is out. They'll go away shortly.

[Twisty]

The Carpenter ants hatch, spread and disperse this time of year.
I'd be doin' some fumin' too.

[Cattledog]

One thing is for sure on my next trip the first thing going on my packing list will be ant spray before socks and underwear.

[Total Bliss]

Think the carpenter ants were Union

[Twisty]

Originally Posted by Total Bliss

Think the carpenter ants were Union

HEY!
They didn't do anything.

[D-mo]

we had a similar experience at sandbanks provincial park .. and im sure your familiar with this park ..
basically there was a major hatch going on of these ants and they went nuts in our outside tented picnic room .. we both freaked ..
but .. for your trailer ... i would not do anything .. you most likely rolled onto a hill... they got up into your trailer via the suspension/wheel and off they went.
take it home .. open it up .. do not apply anything ... and check from day to day ..
nothing is worse than a trailer filled with pesticides ...
basically the trailer is made of 2 inch pine, metal, fiberglass and plastic ..
not a big feed for an ant ... or whatever in my opinion

d-mo

[Weezer]

This is exactly why we, as soon as we're unhitched, leveled, chocked, X chocked and stabilitzed, spray a complete circle around the 5er, then spray an extra circle around ANY part of the 5er that comes in contact with the ground; tires, tripod, stabilizers, step support, awning poles.

We got a colony of "piss ants" (yes that's what they're called here in the south...others call them sugar ants) *on* our V-Lite while camping at a COE site in Texas. Took forever to get rid of them. They don't bite, they're just pests. They never got inside that we could see. They just kept appearing on the outside walls....lines of them traveling up the sides to the roof.

I can't remember the brand of the spray we use, but it's the type that has batteries in the nozzle. Just hold the trigger and it pumps out a stream of liquid insect spray.

[Timex]

Originally Posted by Weezer

This is exactly why we, as soon as we're unhitched, leveled, chocked, X chocked and stabilitzed, spray a complete circle around the 5er, then spray an extra circle around ANY part of the 5er that comes in contact with the ground; tires, tripod, stabilizers, step support, awning poles.

We got a colony of "piss ants" (yes that's what they're called here in the south...others call them sugar ants) *on* our V-Lite while camping at a COE site in Texas. Took forever to get rid of them. They don't bite, they're just pests. They never got inside that we could see. They just kept appearing on the outside walls....lines of them traveling up the sides to the roof.

I can't remember the brand of the spray we use, but it's the type that has batteries in the nozzle. Just hold the trigger and it pumps out a stream of liquid insect spray.

I'm very aware of what a piss ant is and with all this rain we are having, ants are everywhere.

I'm wincing when I ask this, do you spray on the sides of the TT? I would hate to put anything on the gel coat that would stain. Even though I sprinkle ant poison around everything and spray the hoses and power cord, they will fall out of trees and still find a way in.

[Weezer]

Originally Posted by Timex

I'm very aware of what a piss ant is and with all this rain we are having, ants are everywhere.

I'm wincing when I ask this, do you spray on the sides of the TT? I would hate to put anything on the gel coat that would stain. Even though I sprinkle ant poison around everything and spray the hoses and power cord, they will fall out of trees and still find a way in.

NEAUX! We just spray the ground/concrete/asphalt AROUND the 5er, and then, as I described, another circle around any part of the 5er that comes in contact with the ground/concrete/asphalt.

With the piss ants we just kept spraying them off the sides with a water hose.

[Timex]

I sometimes drag my finger across their line of travel just to piss them off!

[nuisance]

I use plain ol cinnamon the kind the DW will have. Ants HATE it and run like the blazes and not cross the cinnamon.

Side effect WARNING::::: makes every mouth water thinking you are baking.
Non toxic to animals, kids, adults have you ever tasted plain cinnamon?


Washes off with soap and water.

[rawlus]

The concept of treating every campsite with pesticides upon setup seems a bit overkill to me. But perhaps the northeast does not have the issues other locations might?

I would not enjoy my trip if I had to create chemical barriers everywhere I went. If the trailer is in good shape, there's nothing the for the carpenter ant anyway... As to sugar ants, keeping surfaces clean should do a lot, I spend a lot of time in the carribean where sugar ants are plentiful, I'm not sure there's any practical way to fully eliminate them... But if you are not actively feeding them, then they should not cause too much of a problem.

[lswartz]

Ajax or anything similar around your tires, jack or tent keeps ants out. It will also keep them in as they will not cross it. The abrasiveness seems to do a job on them. Reapply after a rain.

Ant spray from Home Depot or Lowe's no longer works for me unless it is direct contact. There is no persistence even an hour later as the a small ants go right across it. I use Talstar around the outside of the house but you need to be careful with it. Works for about 2 months.

[marc7]

Originally Posted by lswartz

Ajax or anything similar around your tires, jack or tent keeps ants out. It will also keep them in as they will not cross it. The abrasiveness seems to do a job on them. Reapply after a rain.

Ant spray from Home Depot or Lowe's no longer works for me unless it is direct contact. There is no persistence even an hour later as the a small ants go right across it. I use Talstar around the outside of the house but you need to be careful with it. Works for about 2 months.

Get you a bottle of this...You'll be happy with it...

DEMAND CS, Demand Insecticide - Free Shipping

Cheers!

[Timex]

Originally Posted by marc7

Get you a bottle of this...You'll be happy with it...

DEMAND CS, Demand Insecticide - Free Shipping

Cheers!

First thing I saw after opening the link was the price of $943! I thought, dang I could just hire somebody to step on them for that price. But then the rest of it opened and saw that price was for a case of it. May have to look into this.
Thanks for the link.

[boss mare]

I would put a strong mixture of sugar water in a shallow dish on the camper floor. Cover it in Saran Wrap and poke 5-6 pencil holes in the top. They get in and can't get out...darn! Change the mix daily until no more are there. Good luck Ant Master!

[Weezer]

Originally Posted by rawlus

The concept of treating every campsite with pesticides upon setup seems a bit overkill to me. But perhaps the northeast does not have the issues other locations might?

I would not enjoy my trip if I had to create chemical barriers everywhere I went. If the trailer is in good shape, there's nothing the for the carpenter ant anyway... As to sugar ants, keeping surfaces clean should do a lot, I spend a lot of time in the carribean where sugar ants are plentiful, I'm not sure there's any practical way to fully eliminate them... But if you are not actively feeding them, then they should not cause too much of a problem.

Well the "sugar" ants we encountered never got into our V-Lite. They swarmed the OUTSIDE of the RV. Now just what could have been *all* over our RV that was "actively feeding them"? There were literally solid black lines of them up the sides of the RV.

Our V-Lite was practically brand new when this happened to us. We don't cook inside our RV, (the oven and stove top was still absolutely new and unused when we traded it in after 8 months) except for microwaving something now and then. I even keep the dog food sealed unless Fred is eating.

So, I don't agree with your opinion that unless one is "actively feeding them" then sugar ants should not cause much of a problem".

Oh, and BTW, we have monthly pest control service here at our S&B, and he also services our RV..... the V-Lite then, and with our 5er now.

An ounce of prevention *IS* worth more than a pound of cure.

Pesticides keep more than just piss ants away. I'm more concerned about ticks. Deer are prolific here in the south.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that parks routinely use pesticides.

Edited to add; our site had a deck out over the bank down to the lake, and those ants were *all over* the railing as well. Again, solid lines of them trailing over the hand rails. We were camping with friends and their site next to us was also infested with them.

[Cattledog]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I don’t store food in my camper so that can’t have been an attractant, go figure up until two years ago I always tent camped and with the exception of black flies at Haliburton Wildlife Reserve I never experienced a pest problem. Have never camped anywhere with a cement pad so spraying around the camper wouldn’t be an option and likely would be loudly frowned upon in a Provincial Park. Right now I opted for ant traps and ant bait hopefully I will not have to use spray