I use food grade DE, you can find it just about anywhere these days with the growth in the "organic" crops interest. I order mine by the 50# bag, but I've seen it lots of places in a 3# container, I think. It won't hurt any critters, and some folks intentionally mix it in feed to prevent parasites. I dusted my girls with some this week, as they came here with a lice issue. I dust everywhere my critters hang out. I have to do my "dog yard" especially, as I have 2 Beardies and it would be awful to get parasites in full coat!
My other way to be rid of ants is to use the INSTANT grits. I mix mine with a bit of sugar to bait the ants. This might not work as well, since the goats would try to eat it, too. The INSTANT grits literally blows up the ants, and they generally take it to the queen the first day! A tablespoon on top of the hill does it.
DE=Diatomaceous Earth FOOD GRADE, basically small freshwater shell ground up. NOT to be confused with the swimming pool DE....
You are correct that the poop needs to be fresh for the vet to do a fecal.
Adrienne said:
Yikes! Tobacco? I read on here...pumpkin seeds are good for that too. I am probably going to have to take a sample to the vet. I don't think the Ivomec dewormer is working. After the second dose their eyes are still pale. While I was away for 4 days David said they had some dog like poop. By the time I got back to check it out they were back to normal. I thought it could have been something that they ate... Of course now that I need a sample I can't seem to occupy the same space at the time they do it...I don't know how old of berries will work for the testing
Yikes! Tobacco? I read on here...pumpkin seeds are good for that too. I am probably going to have to take a sample to the vet. I don't think the Ivomec dewormer is working. After the second dose their eyes are still pale. While I was away for 4 days David said they had some dog like poop. By the time I got back to check it out they were back to normal. I thought it could have been something that they ate... Of course now that I need a sample I can't seem to occupy the same space at the time they do it...I don't know how old of berries will work for the testing
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Yeah, I was pretty surprised the first time I saw someone playing with ants. I had no idea there were nice ants either when I first moved north!
I found this web page with a bunch of ideas: http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
I tried the cayenne when we lived in Hawaii, and it didn't work, but maybe those ants are different?
There is also a pretty interesting suggestion here on using tobacco: http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Ants-Without-Pesticides
Some people are feeding tobacco to their goats for internal parasites, but I haven't tried it yet. If it really does kill bugs, that should really be incentive for people to quit smoking.
Yeah, I was pretty surprised the first time I saw someone playing with ants. I had no idea there were nice ants either when I first moved north!
I found this web page with a bunch of ideas: http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
I tried the cayenne when we lived in Hawaii, and it didn't work, but maybe those ants are different?
There is also a pretty interesting suggestion here on using tobacco: http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Ants-Without-Pesticides
Some people are feeding tobacco to their goats for internal parasites, but I haven't tried it yet. If it really does kill bugs, that should really be incentive for people to quit smoking.
I wonder how fast it works. They could sleep on the porch a while... They still like going up there. I don't really force them to stay in right now... I only have two...and there is so much more yard... I didn't know "nice" ants existed...?
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Since you're in Louisiana, I assume you're talking about the mean kind that bite you? We don't have those in Illinois, but I remember them well from my childhood in Texas. If they're not the kind that bite, I wouldn't worry about it. But if they are the mean ants, you could have some really unhappy goats if they lay down in the ant hill and wind up bitten by a bunch of them, which I'm sure you know. I've personally never had to deal with this, but it seems I read somewhere that cornmeal would kill them, although that's probably a bad idea, because the goats might try to eat it and wind up with a mouth full of ant bites. I hope someone else has an answer for you, or you find something online. Let us know what you use!
Since you're in Louisiana, I assume you're talking about the mean kind that bite you? We don't have those in Illinois, but I remember them well from my childhood in Texas. If they're not the kind that bite, I wouldn't worry about it. But if they are the mean ants, you could have some really unhappy goats if they lay down in the ant hill and wind up bitten by a bunch of them, which I'm sure you know. I've personally never had to deal with this, but it seems I read somewhere that cornmeal would kill them, although that's probably a bad idea, because the goats might try to eat it and wind up with a mouth full of ant bites. I hope someone else has an answer for you, or you find something online. Let us know what you use!
Replies
Adrienne:
I use food grade DE, you can find it just about anywhere these days with the growth in the "organic" crops interest. I order mine by the 50# bag, but I've seen it lots of places in a 3# container, I think. It won't hurt any critters, and some folks intentionally mix it in feed to prevent parasites. I dusted my girls with some this week, as they came here with a lice issue. I dust everywhere my critters hang out. I have to do my "dog yard" especially, as I have 2 Beardies and it would be awful to get parasites in full coat!
My other way to be rid of ants is to use the INSTANT grits. I mix mine with a bit of sugar to bait the ants. This might not work as well, since the goats would try to eat it, too. The INSTANT grits literally blows up the ants, and they generally take it to the queen the first day! A tablespoon on top of the hill does it.
DE=Diatomaceous Earth FOOD GRADE, basically small freshwater shell ground up. NOT to be confused with the swimming pool DE....
Adrienne said:
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
I found this web page with a bunch of ideas:
http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
I tried the cayenne when we lived in Hawaii, and it didn't work, but maybe those ants are different?
There is also a pretty interesting suggestion here on using tobacco:
http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Ants-Without-Pesticides
Some people are feeding tobacco to their goats for internal parasites, but I haven't tried it yet. If it really does kill bugs, that should really be incentive for people to quit smoking.
Let me know if any of these really works!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said: