Ants and slug pellets

I was wondering if anyone could explain the following for me.

In a newly dug veggie plot I put blue slug pellets down to protect my young plants and the next day on inspection I found our resident ants (biggish black ones-with pincers) carrying them all off - by the end of the day there was not one slug pellet left.

I didn't know what to do to stop them - will it damage them? Don't know if I should put more down - I don't want to harm our ants. They are good buddies - they've never done us any harm where they live.

Big black ants with pincers are probably carpenter ants. If your house is made with wood they may do your house harm some day. They may be already and you don't know it.

Look at the label on your slug pellets. The active ingredient(s) should be metaldehyde and maybe others. Metaldehyde and carbaryl (Sevin) mixtures are used as fire ant poison. So, metaldehyde may be harmful to carpenter ants. Carpenter ants like sweet stuff. Check the inert ingredients for sugar, sucrose, fructose . . .

Manufacturers of metaldehyde try to play down the toxic effects on pets and wildlife. Others say that metaldehyde is a nasty chemical that kills pets and wildlife.

Mark

Ok I will have a look. I'm pretty sure these are not carpenter ants. They could be pyramid ants going from the number of hills they are responsible for creating. They live harmlessly in tunnels in the grounds of our olive grove. The trees have been there for hundreds of years so I doubt they are interfering on that score.

I would rather use an aluminium based slug control but have not found one here in Spain. I do not like using Metaldehyde, and this incident has reinforced my view against it. Thanks for the response to my query.

I didn't look at your location! Don't even know if you have carpenter ants in Spain!

You could also get some copper foil and put it around your plants (or around the edges of the bed if the slugs aren't already in it)--slugs/snails won't crawl across copper and it's nontoxic to other animals (and the ants can't carry it off!)

That sounds really a neat idea and I didn't know that. The only thing is I have never seen copper foil to buy. Where can I get some? I will have to ask around.

I wouldn't mind betting those ants would try to carry it off though;)LOL I could watch them all day doing their marches carrying all sorts of stuff.

Stelco, never seen carpenter ants here - plenty of termites though!!!!!! When we moved to this house, it had been a rental for about 11 years and when we opened the kitchen drawers and cupboards - oh boy what a mess - they were everywhere. The problem was that it was what they call "cocina de obra", which means hand made and consequently built into the walls and directly into the floor which had never been damp-proofed.

One Spanish friend said..." don't worry about the fauna - you're living with the nature now" Hmmm...I love nature but you can't just let them eat your house and not be concerned now can you!!!

Here you can find copper at places like hardware stores, I'm assuming you have something similar in Spain! Otherwise I bet there's a bunch of places on the internet you could order some from.

Another option is Sluggo or EscarGo (other brands too) - snail baits made from iron phosphate. Not poisonous to animals, and it eventually breaks down and even provides nutrients for the plants.

Thank Ceejay - I used to use it in the UK but I've not seen any alternatives here - maybe I could order it online.

Thanks.

I know that Gardens Alive carries it. http://www.gardensalive.com/ Just put escargo in the search window. That's where I bought it before it became available in the stores.

Oh - I meant here, as in, here in Spain...but thanks for trying to help me find it Ceejay. I'll probably ask my Mum to send it over from England.