Red Ants- NIGHTMARE!

[RosaSkye]

Does anybody have any tips or tricks I might not have tried? I have used the obvious products, but they are really prevalent in our garden and it is really starting to affect our experience of being outside.

my toddler’s playing has been spoilt yet again by one getting into her shorts and biting her leg. I have been bitten and stung by them frequently and it really does hurt. I have looked on Google and apparently we are in a particular dense area for them 😒 I’m honestly at the point of considering moving because of it!

All I remember from childhood was my mum pouring boiling water into the nests to kill the eggs underground, we had a particularly bad year for them. I don't think chemicals did much!

@Timeforabiscuit this has been my approach, I think because we have been on holiday they have just taken hold again. It just seems relentless every summer trying to battle them and it’s really difficult with three young children who want to play outside and are constantly being hurt. Just at my wits end with it! Thank you for your reply

She poured it in after a very hot dry spell when the ground was baked solid, apart from that I remember her digging out the nests and leaving the eggs exposed for the birds to eat, while cursing with the bites!

@Timeforabiscuit they seem to have so many bloody nests!! There must be thousands of them. This house was vacant for a while before we bought it, and I imagine they have literally taken hold in the garden during that time.

We often have a lot of ants nests in our garden which looks unsightly and read that buying nematodes helped. Nematodes are microscopic worms which live in soil and for some reason, ants don’t like them and move elsewhere. We ordered some nematodes from the internet and they look like a packet of white power. You mix it with water and sprinkle onto the whole lawn area with a watering can. It’s not an instant fix, but given a couple of weeks the ant population definitely decreased dramatically. They are starting to come back now, so probably need to get some more.

You've just brought back memories of being a child. I haven't seen red ants for years but my mum used to pour boiling water down the nest holes and fill with sand.