Little Fire Ants

Small, but their bites are painful. Here is a recipe for ant sterilization, safe for vertebrates.

Tango Based Sticky Sprayable LFA Bait

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups warm water

• 2 cups corn oil or other vegetable oil

• 4 tablespoons Tango® (a brand of methoprene approved for edible plant use in Hawaii-- see here for information)

• 1 tablespoon xanthan gum

• 2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter

Equipment needed:

• Large mixing bowl (at least 1/2 gallon capacity)

• Cup measure

• Tablespoon measure

• A whisk or similar device for mixing. We do this with a kitchen whisk modified so it can be fitted into the drill chuck. A paint mixer also works well.

MIXING PROCEDURE:

Combine the Tango® and water in alarge mixing bowl. Start mixing andvery slowly add the xanthan gum. It can be difficult to mix the xanthan so be patient and add it very slowly and run the mixer at the highest speed safely possible. The xanthan gum allows the water and the oil to be mixed without separating at a later time.

Continue to mix until everything is evenly combined. It should look like a thick sticky whitish goop (mixing stage 1).

Once completely mixed, pour the oil into the bowl and add the peanut butter. At this point, the oil will sit on top of the water/xanthan mixture(mixing stage 2).

Continue to mix until everything is combined. The bait should now have the same consistency as mayonnaise(mixing stage 3).