Ant Problem... could use some "Anti-Ant"

[shugar]

We have an ant problem at home... but that's not what's bugging me (hey, if you don't like the pun tough) :mooner:

anyway...

for the 2nd time i've had ants infesting the mouthpiece of my inflator hose... the buggers (yup, pun again!) have nibbled my mouthpiece...

only that part...

since the 1st incident i would wrap it in a plastic wrap and tie it off to seal it...

it's been fine for months but today i've been ant-ed again...

anyone have any solutions to bug infestations in dive gear?

i use a crate/mesh bag combo for my gear and store it in a storage cabinet in the garage...

thanks in advance!

Jag

 

[h90]

I had ants in my towels....After taking shower and cleaning some sensitive body parts, they got angry........

For rice and that should also work for the gear I have either sealed plastic boxes or old army boxes with seal.
The only problem I see if the gear is still a little bit wet, it might start fouling.

 

[Garrobo]

Store your stuff in sealable plastic bags like large freezer bags. Or move.

 

[Whatgoesdown]

It's happened to me a three times, fire ants nesting in my BC. Twice I realised before I put my gear together and just sank my BC on the end of a piece of rope for 15 minutes. The other time I'd put my gear on before I realised. Yelled to my buddy that she'd find me in the water and got under as quickly as possible. It takes a while for them to come back after you've immersed the whole nest!

 

[Jayde323]

For some reason, my house is an ant magnet. They were everywhere, in every room and even in my dresser drawers! We called an exterminator and he automatically comes and sprays my house every 90 days. Luckily our exterminator is also a diver, so he is really careful around our dive equiptment.

Why are the ants in your reg? Most likely water (thats why they were EVERYWHERE in my house) If they are not finding enough water where they live, they will go find it. After rinsing your regs, hook them up to your tank and purge each one for a few seconds to get as much water out as possible. We keep our gear in the garage and also keep a fan going 24/7 to help keep everything nice and dry.

Hope this helps....

 

[Air On]

Anyone thought to hang the equipment off the floor?
If you get it off the floor and off the walls your equipment should be bug free.

Baring that... How about a small table and put each leg in a small plastic or glass bowl to keep the ants off.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

when we go camping, we get a cheap can of Comet cleaner--the powder stuff and make a ring around all parts of the camper that touch the ground. They don't like to cross over that stuff. We even put it around the pole the water faucet is attached to because once they used that as a bridge and marched across the hose to gain entry.

Not a long term solution for the house, but it might buy you and your dive gear some time.

Oh and ants like to eat the insulation on wires-and cause fires so you don't want to let them live with you as they can do more damage than just mess with the dive gear and sugar.

 

[Web Monkey]

for the 2nd time i've had ants infesting the mouthpiece of my inflator hose... the buggers (yup, pun again!) have nibbled my mouthpiece...

Clean and dry your stuff. If it doesn't smell like food or contain water, they'll ignore it.

Terry