Fire ants dwell in many of the hotter regions of the world and in the majority of countries and in the majority of languages, from Thai to French and English, the word 'fire' is part of its name. This is because the feeling of pain after having been stung, not bitten, by one of these ants is like the pain received from a burn.

Most ants that cause pain to humans bite first and then spray acid into the cut, but fire ants bite in order to get a grip and then sting with the body. The liquid that they inject is an alkaloid venom which is painful to humans.

It is also an insecticide and some observers think that the nurse-worker fire ants spray this toxin over the eggs to prevent infection. Fire ants are easily distinguished by their red to copper-brown heads and dark to black bodies. They are between two and six millimetres in length and their mandibles or jaws look like jagged garden secateurs.

Fire ants make nests in the soil and often build up large heaps of earth, although sometimes this is concealed by a fallen tree of a pile of vegetation. The nests can be five feet deep and the anthills over a foot above ground. They prefer moist to damp ground, so the nests can frequently be found on the banks of a river, on the edge of a pond or on a well-tended lawn. The nests are established by one or more queens and can very quickly mature to thousands of ants.

If you have fire ants in your house or garden, you will almost certainly want to get rid of them. This is not so hard, but if you do not annihilate every colony, then one of two surviving queens can produce a new nest of thousands of ants in about a month. There are plenty of poisons to kill ants on the market, and if you want to try an almost guaranteed chemical ant killer, pick one of those.

Otherwise you may want to try one of the following household treatments.

Nematodes are very small insects that live in damp soil. They eat other insects including ants. You can purchase nematodes in a garden centre or on line. Combine them with rain, not tap water, because chlorine will kill them, then pour this water into the nest. The nematodes will have wiped out the ants within about two weeks. This is a wholly green way of killing fire ants.

Some people swear by club soda. Pour a bottle of club soda into the nest, the gas that the soda produces is said to kill the queen and the reproductive ants.

Soapy water is also said to kill ants. Use the same bowl of soapy washing up water and tip it over the nest, the soap is said to kill them outright.

Boric acid is repellent to ants. so you can sprinkle it around the foundation of your house and around the nest.

There are quite a few organic methods of getting rid of fire ants, if you want to learn more, search on the Internet.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with how to kill fire ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

categories: ants,insects,pests,home improvement,home repairs,animals,gardening,landscaping,pets,biology,science,outdoors,other,uncategorised

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, ants, Biology, gardening, home improvement, home repairs, insects, landscaping, outdoors, pests, Pets, science, uncategorised, urns-and-ants

There are over 1,000 species of carpenter ants. The majority of of them are big, between a quarter of an inch and an inch long, and black, although there are red ones too. There are even a few species in South East Asia which will explode if attacked, ejecting a gluey liquid out through their heads which immobilizes the invaders. The exploding carpenter ant dies.

Carpenter ants are said to do a lot of damage to timber, as they gnaw their way up the middle through its length. However, this is a popular myth, unlike termites, carpenters do not eat wood, they gnaw their way through it to get somewhere. They spit the chewed wood out. This is called frass and it can often be seen in heaps like sawdust. It is a good sign that carpenters are active in or around your house.

Carpenter ants like to travel through the length of wet or decayed dead timber in much the same way as termites do although they do not consume the wood. Carpenters feed on dead insects, dead animals and honeydew from aphids and scale insects outside the home, but if they come inside your home they will be searching for dropped or uncovered food, especially anything sweet and sugary. Therefore, hygiene is an important factor in clearing carpenters out of your home.

These ants will walk up to a hundred yards while foraging, but they like to be near a recurring supply of food. A characteristic of carpenter ant colonies is that they may build satellite nests away from their main colony. This is often why they enter a home.

If they frequently find spilled food in the kitchen, they may make a nest in the wall to take advantage of it, especially if the window or door frame is a bit rotten. Inside the home, they will probably nest in a cavity wall, outside the home they like to build nests in decaying tree stumps.

It is no good spraying carpenter ants with insecticide if you want to get rid of them - particularly if you kill large numbers of them. This may seem odd, but the reason is that the colony will miss these workers and so the queen will increase her production of eggs to compensate it. If she over compensates, you are in a worse position that you were before spraying.

The only way to destroy a nest of carpenter ants is to kill the queen and the whole colony with poison. This is not tricky although it does take a bit of investigative work. Carpenters are most active between twilight and midnight, so put out honey on glass or sticky tape where they are active and follow them when they take it home.

Do not forget, they may have a number of nests in their colony. If you need light, wrap red cellophane over a normal flashlight, because ants can not perceive red light. When you have found their nests, put poison down outside each nest as directed on the label. Do this for several days in a row until you do not see anymore carpenter ants. If you are still getting them, you have missed a nest.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with Getting Rid Of Carpenter Ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

categories: ants,insects,pests,home improvement,home repairs,animals,gardening,landscaping,pets,biology,science,outdoors,other,uncategorised

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, ants, Biology, gardening, home improvement, home repairs, insects, landscaping, outdoors, pests, Pets, science, uncategorised

Carpenter ants are big ants that live in many parts of the world. They like to build their nests or colonies from dead, damp timber. However, contrary to popular opinion, they do not feed on wood as termites do.

They use wood to construct their colonies and tunnel through it in their quest for new sources of food. This is evidenced by heaps of frass, which is the detritus that the carpenter ants have chewed out of usually damp. dead wood.

There are over a thousand species of these large, typically black ants, which belong to the genus Camponotus. Carpenter ants live in nests and have colonies both indoors and outdoors in moist, decaying or hollow timber. They like to travel through this decaying timber by cutting out galleries or walkways in timber length-ways up the grain in order to provide passageways from one part of the to another.

The parts of a house that are most likely to be of concern to carpenter ants are floor joists, window frames and rafters in the roof. In fact, anywhere where you are likely to have a problem with water ingress. Decks and porches are also obviously at risk.

An interesting fact about carpenter ants is that some species produce inhabitants that can explode in order to kill attackers. These so-called exploding ants are found mostly in South East Asia where there are at least nine kinds that can cause their bodies to explode, thereby committing suicide.

These ants have a massive abdomen which produces a type of glue which is shot out of the head onto attackers. The exploding ant dies, but all the attackers caught up in this mesh of glue are immobilized as well.

How do you know whether you have carpenter ants or not? Well, the best way of distinguishing carpenter ants from other ants is by looking at their waists. A carpenter ant has only one node or hump and their thorax or upper body is well-rounded and smooth. Other similar ants have more than one node or an uneven or two-tiered back.

If you are looking at flying ants, then the difference between carpenter ants and termites, with which they are often confused, is that carpenter ants have darker-coloured bodies, narrow waists, elbowed or bent antennae and, if they have them, the rear wings are smaller than the front wings.

Another factor is that carpenter ants are quite happy to come out and be seen, whereas termites are light-shy, even though carpenter ants are most active between dusk and mid-night and reproductive termites will take to the air during the day time.

Carpenter ants eat protein and sugar such as other insects, living or dead and spilled honey or sugar. This honey can also be extracted from aphids or greenfly, which is called honeydew. Therefore, if you want to trace carpenter worker ants back to their nest or nests, you have to lay down something like honey and watch the ants take the food back to their nests. This is the first step in destroying colonies of carpenter ants.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is currently concerned with Getting Rid Of Carpenter Ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

categories: ants,insects,pests,home improvement,home repairs,animals,gardening,landscaping,pets,biology,science,outdoors,other,uncategorised

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, antonline-dp-ua, ants, Biology, gardening, home improvement, home repairs, insects, landscaping, outdoors, pests, Pets, science, uncategorised

There are a few different types of water well and as a result some of the water well drilling equipment necessary to produce them will vary too. However, one piece of apparatus that you will always have to have is a means of getting the water out of the well and this can vary from a bucket on a rope to a modern solar powered water pump.

Some types of well are dug out by hand with shovels as they were for thousands of years and others are drilled out with powerful, large rotary drills as are used in the oil industry. Here follows the main types of water well:

A water well that is called a 'dug well' is exactly that: a well that has been dug by hand with a pick and shovel. It is the same type of water well that they used in Biblical times and before and the equipment used to create it has not altered either. The only change is the quality of the tools - it has increased inestimably over the last 2,000 years.

These wells look like the wishing wells famous from farm houses and fairy stories with a bucket wound up and down on a rope by means of a winding-handle. They normally have a small roof to inhibit things from falling into the water also. These wells most often exist in warmer, poorer countries and they are often brought into the 21st Century by the addition of a solar powered water pump.

These water wells are often dressed in stone to stop dust and soil from falling into the water. It also cuts down on long term repairs, because you do not have to keep digging out the well to clear it of soil that has fallen into it.

A much narrower diameter well can be made by drilling. The water well drilling apparatus needed is not intricate, but you will need a strong power source such as a generator, because you may have to drill through rock.

This technique of drilling is similar to that used in the oil industry. A drill bit is attached to a pipe which is first hammered into the ground to give it a bite and then rotated like a drill.

You have to keep drilling by adding extra pipes until you strike water. Then the drill is extracted from the well and a water channel is inserted in its place. A solar pump can be added to this pipe to provide water.

A similar technique of drilling a well employs water well drilling equipment that is similar to that used for pile-driving. A point is hammered into the ground by a very heavy weight. Every time the weight falls, the bit rotates a little. It is slow and old-fashioned, but it has got the job done for hundreds of years and still does.

The drill bit has to be pulled out often to extract the debris. When water has been struck, the water well drilling equipment is pulled out and a pipe is fed down the hole. Once again a pump may be installed to bring up the water. A solar powered pump is the way that most people tend to go.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with water garden pumps. If you are interested in a Solar Powered Pond Pump, please go to our web site now for a special deal.

categories: fish,pond,water,garden,home improvement,recreation,pets,animals,outdoors,other,uncategorised,family,environment

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, environment, family, Fish, garden, home improvement, outdoors, Pets, pond, recreation, typesofwelldrilling, uncategorised, water

There is not one person that I know who would be thrilled to find a mouse inside of their home! It is going to happen sometimes, especially if you live where there are a lot of woods or in an apartment.

Spotting a mouse in different areas of your home does not mean that you have to be worried about it. Once you have perused through the following tips for dealing with them, everything will be back to normal in no time at all.

The first thing you should understand when it comes to dealing with a mouse is that you should never panic. Realize that mice are more scared of you than you are of them, and they'll never try to attack you.

It's also important to have some insight into the way they operate. Since their vision is very weak, they essentially rely on their great sense of smell and their strong hearing in order to move around.

Should a mouse hear you, it will scurry away extremely fast to avoid you. On the contrary, if you stay quiet, they will not even be aware that you are there.

Now, with regard to their sense of smell, of course they are attracted to all food. You can't really blame them for wanting to survive; if they don't get any food, then they are going to die.

It is unfortunate that mice can survive on a measly amount of crumbs, so when there are any on your floor, they will become their meal. You should be diligent about keeping your floors super clean and crumb-free.

I highly suggest that you do everything possible to cut down on the food smells in your kitchen and your garbage. It doesn't matter where the smell might be coming from, mice will stay around and search for it.

Mice do have the ability to fit themselves into very tiny spaces and they just might be getting into your home via places that you would not think they could. Sealing off all the openings in your home or apartment where they just might gain access is extremely important. Consult with a professional to figure out just where these holes are.

The author also often writes on decorative metal shelving and heavy duty brackets.

categories: mice,animals,household,home care,home improvement,advice,pets,education,family,free,health,home repair,other

Written by Sarah Reynolds using tags: advice, animals, education, family, free, health, home care, home improvement, home repair, household, mice, Pets

We all know that stress kills in the human world, but did you know that stress kills in the animal kingdom as well? It should not really come as much of a surprise an humans are only intelligent animals anyway. Stress kills animals, as well as fish as certain as it kills us.

However, fish do not pay bills and most of them do not even care about their kids. Some fish even eat their own children, so why does stress build up in a fish?

Well, stress can build up in a fish for lots of reasons, but the main one is poor environment, which means water that contains a chemical imbalance or a lack of oxygen. Fish can also become stressed, if it does not have anywhere to hide from predators or the sun.

It is straightforward to give your fish somewhere to hide. You can grow plants in tubs or buy floating lilies and you can also provide caves of a sort for the fish to go into. A chemical imbalance can be monitored with a kit and corrected by following the instructions that came with that testing kit.

Algae can have a huge effect on the amount of oxygen in your pond's water. During the day, the algae consumes carbon dioxide and produces oxygen - all well and good - but at night the reverse is true and a mass of algae can suck all the oxygen out of your pond water in no time at all.

So you have to regulate the amount of algae in your pond. And it is no good scraping it off the walls and hoping it will die, because rotting vegetation also consumes oxygen. Excess algae has to be got rid of. A rule of thumb to check whether your pond water contains enough oxygen is to watch your fish. If they are continuously gulping air at the surface, then your pond water is oxygen deficient.

Warm water has less capacity to hold water than cool water. Once water temperature reaches 80F or 25C, then you can be fairly sure that your pond water requires mechanical aeration. A fountain or a waterfall may not be enough, but it could be - it depends on the size of your pond, the number of plants, the number of fish, the surface area of the pond and the quantity of algae.

It is not easy to determine the oxygen content of the water in your pond, but you can keep an eye on the general appearance of your pond and its contents. Algae is bad news, in general, do you have a lot of it? Are your plants, particularly the lilies doing well? Are your fish gasping at the surface? Are they lethargic or lively?

By observing at these indicators you should be able to get a good idea of what is going on in your pond. If you do not have a fountain, get one. Are things any better? If not, get a bubbler. Did that help? If not enough get a better filtration system and let the water run back into your pond via a waterfall. If that does not help, give up and try bee-keeping!

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is now involved with water garden pumps. If you are interested in a Solar Powered Pond Pump, please go to our web site now for a great deal.

categories: fish,pond,water,garden,home improvement,recreation,pets,animals,outdoors,other,uncategorised,family,environment

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, environment, family, Fish, garden, home improvement, outdoors, Pets, pond, recreation, uncategorised, water

If you are new to looking after koi carp in your backyard fish pond, you may be wondering what supplies you ought to keep in stock and what you can afford to buy as and when you require them. The answer to that question, is probably that it depends how far away your nearest pet shop is. However, it is a good idea to pick up provisions to put in stock, when you see that something is on special offer.

There are items that you should have at hand at all times, but there are others that are not vital and can be waited for for a few days when you discover a need for them. Some of the things suggested below become more important depending on the climate or the seasons prevailing where you live.

Filtration Pump; this is vital, but you can wait twenty-four hours. You have to keep in mind that the quality of your pond water will deteriorate quickly, if your pond filtration pump is out of action. Toxicity levels will escalate in the water and stress levels will build up in your fish. Your fish will become sick pretty rapidly and then they will die.

Pond Filters: this comes into the same category as the filtration pump for precisely the same reasons. However, you can make your own filter using sand, coconut fibres or something similar and then you should never run out.

Dechlorinator: water companies add chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride to the water, but fish do not like them. Therefore, you have to eliminate them. This is easily accomplished by adding a few capfuls of liquid dechlorinator. Buy a big bottle and it will last all year.

Test Kits: maintaining water quality is the main aim for every fish pond owner, so you have to inspect the water for ammonia and nitrite poisoning every week. This is thought of as vital kit.

Pond Salt and Baking Soda; are the cheapest ways of combatting water poisoning, so it is vital to have copious stores of these items at all times.

Bags: one day you may have to transport one of your fish to the vets or move it to a quarantine tank, so you will have to keep a few bags on hand at all times. Make certain that they are big enough to hold your growing koi. These are vital.

Rubber Bands: you will need strong rubber bands to close off the bags above, so they are indispensable too.

Fish Net: necessary for guiding your fish into the bags and extricating fallen leaves.

Bucket: this is better for catching your koi than a net, which has the potential to hurt their gills. Vital.

Koi Fish Food: koi ought to be fed every day except in winter, but they can in fact go a couple of weeks without food because they also feed on flies, grubs and larvae. It actually depends on how large your pond is and whether you have overstocked it.

Leaf Net: in the autumn, it is easier to cast a net over your pond, than drag leaves out of it every day. It saves a lot of time.

Sandbags: a storm or even heavy rainfall can flood your pond, allowing your fish to swim away. Sandbagging the pond before a storm is essential.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is at present involved with fish pond accessories. If you are interested in a Solar Powered Pond Pump, please go to our web site now for some great deals.

categories: fish,pond,water,garden,home improvement,recreation,pets,animals,outdoors,other,uncategorised,family,environment

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, environment, family, Fish, garden, home improvement, outdoors, Pets, pond, recreation, uncategorised, water

If you reside in a temperate zone, fish from temperate zones can easily overwinter outside. On the other hand, tropical fish would die without a water heater. We will be looking at how you can keep cold water, temperate climate fish contented for the duration of a typical winter.

If you live in an area where winter is cold enough to create ice, you will have to bear this in mind when you construct your fish pond. How thick is ice normally in your region? In most cases, a 'deep end' of thirty to forty five inches should be sufficient, but you will have to get advice locally if you do not know the answer. A pet shop, a neighbour or the zoo can offer the required advice.

The other problem with winter and ice is that a layer of ice prevents noxious gases escaping and oxygen entering, as it would do in the usual course of events. Therefore, you will have to make certain that there is always a hole in the ice. However, smashing a hole will frighten the fish.

There are several ways by which this air hole can be kept open under mild freezing conditions:

Aerator: a bubbler, can be positioned in the pond. It has to be submerged, obviously, and it has to be fairly vigorous, so that the bubbles keep breaking the ice above it. If it is put in water that is too shallow, it can freeze up too, so that is a consideration to be borne in mind.

De-icer: a mild, floating heater. This kind of apparatus does not create enough heat to endanger pond liners, but it is adequate to keep a small surface locale ice free under most weather conditions.

Water pump: a pump pumping water at force through the surface can maintain a breathing hole in your pond, but only under fairly mild icy conditions. The pump must be placed in deep water or it could freeze solid.

Hoola-Hoop: if the weather is only mildly icy, a hoola-hoop with a round football floating in its centre can be effective at stopping ice forming within the hoop. The wind keeps the ball moving within the hoop and ice does not get a chance to form.

This hole in the ice is critical. Your fish will be semi-dormant in the winter and you may not see them for months, but they still have to breathe and excrete and the gases that that and the plants give off have to be permitted to escape or they will poison the water and kill your fish.

At this time of the year it is extremely important not to over-feed. Fish build up layers of fat during the summer and live off that fat during their semi-hibernation during the winter, but they do eat sometimes. The only difficulty for you is that you will not know which days they choose to come up for a nibble.

This is where the hoola-hoop can come in useful again. If you only feed within the hoola hoop, you can see how much food has been eaten and how much has been left. Aim to give no more than they will eat.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is now involved with water garden pumps. If you are interested in a Solar Powered Pond Pump, please go to our web site now for a great deal.

categories: fish,pond,water,garden,home improvement,recreation,pets,animals,outdoors,other,uncategorised,family,environment

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, environment, family, Fish, garden, home improvement, outdoors, Pets, pond, recreation, uncategorised, water

If you have a backyard or back garden, you can have a fish pond. They are not costly to build and if you make it yourself it is obviously even cheaper. You can build your own pond quite easily, you just have to keep a few things in mind when you plan where you are going to situate it and how big it will be.

A backyard fish pond is great for all kinds of households. Tending a backyard fish pond is not difficult and the gentle exercise will be good for you. it is also therapeutic to watch the fish and other pond life going about their daily business and children will learn a bit more about nature,

It is important to plan your pond before you pick up your spade and the first thing to think about is where you are going to put it. Try not to put it under a tree or you will be dredging leaves out of your pond every day in autumn. Do not put the pond at the lowest point in your backyard or it may overflow when it rains and your fish may swim away which means that you will need to sandbag it before it rains every time..

The midday sun can be very hot, so it would help if the pond had at least partial shade between 11 AM and 2 PM. If your region is subject to freezing then the pond should be 30-45 inches deep for at least 4 m2 or 36 ft2, although if the winter can get really bad, it is best to get advice from a neighbourhood pet shop. Have a look at the pre-formed fish ponds in a garden or pond centre to see if you like those shapes and sizes. If you do not, then you can procure a butyl pond liner (a sheet of rubber) and design your own pond.

After you have dug out your backyard fish pond and put your pre-formed or butyl liner into the hole, you should finish off the pond's edge with either brick, block or stone. Use similar materials to build a few caves in the pond itself for the fish to take cover in. You could also anchor the fountain and any under-water lighting. Fill the pond with water, but do not place any living thing into it yet. Put the rest of your equipment in.

You will require a general purpose pump to send water to the pond filter, which should be two or three feet higher than the water level. The water will then have to pass through a filter to remove plant debris and faeces and under a UV light to kill bacteria. It can return to the pond via a waterfall, which will help oxygenate the water as will the fountain.

After a week, the water will have discarded the chemicals like chlorine which the water company puts into it and you can buy plants and fish, but do not rush into it. You may want to build a few shelves to put flower pots on for the aquatic plants that have need of them.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with fish pond accessories. If you are interested in a Solar Powered Pond Pump, please go to our web site now for some great deals.

categories: fish,pond,water,garden,home improvement,recreation,pets,animals,outdoors,other,uncategorised,family,environment

Written by Owen Jones using tags: animals, environment, family, Fish, garden, home improvement, outdoors, Pets, pond, recreation, uncategorised, water

I'll never give up my life in the city. At the same time, I'll never go against the advice of those who say that dogs don't belong in cities. I simply love them too much and couldn't imagine life without one.

If you do live in an urban setting, I'm going to assume that you live in a smaller space without amenities like a yard, which make it easier to take care of your pet.

As a result, there are certain dogs that you may have an easier time with if you're wondering which breeds are best for cities. Here are a few that receive high marks by owners.

Many people love the Dachshund in urban settings. Since they don't typically need to run around much, they're happy spending most of their time indoors. While walking them, you may find that they're somewhat aggressive around other people and dogs, but they're loyal breeds to their owners.

One of the most popular city dogs is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. These are an extremely beloved breed, and they give the love right back. If you decide to get one, make sure to let your pet get some regular exercise. This will keep him or her as happy as can be.

If you want to go with something bigger, consider a Greyhound. Even though their incredible speed would lead you to believe that they need to spend a lot of time outside, they happen to be one of the lower energy breeds out there.

These dogs are extremely fast when they run, but they love nothing more than laying down inside. They're also known to be extremely quiet, which is definitely something you'll want to keep in mind since you'll have people living nearby.

Perhaps the most popular option in cities is the mutt. When you think of the tens of thousands of dogs without a home, bringing one into your home can save a dog's life.

Access more of this author's advice on silver charm bracelet chains and white gold charm bracelets.

categories: dogs,pets,apartments,real estate,advice,family,home improvement,free,education,other,environment,hobbies,outdoors,society

Written by Laura Paris using tags: advice, apartments, Dogs, education, environment, family, free, hobbies, home improvement, outdoors, Pets, real estate, society