Ants!

If they're in lines as it common with ants, follow it back and give the nest a seriously hard time with insect murdering spray.
It doesn't stop new nests but it gets rid of the one that's bugging you at the time.
A quick fix for any given line is a spray at each end of a line - they all die

Cinnamon is a great way to prevent ants to enter your house, when you pour it at the door step.
If they are inside already you need other measures.
One of the best ways is glass cleaner, it not only kills ants, it also cleans the place where you spray it.
Even better is a combination of glass cleaner and white vinegar.
The most natural way is apple cider vinegar with a few drops of peppermint essential oil. The latter alone is already sufficient, but the acv also cleans thoroughly.

Good luck, here a video link: https://youtu.be/VZMLAnDabsE

Joe

Hi Joe,

Just read your article about ants.

What about termites? Is it a problem? Is pest control common in Cambodia?

What do you know about it?

Your answer is much appreciated and thanks.

Best regards
Harry

Hello Harry.

Termites are a big problem, as they eat themselves through wood and even concrete to lay eggs.

If you find one termite there will be hundred hidden in the wood or anywhere near it.

So you have to do something to eradicate them.

When I lived in Thailand there was a spray specifically against termites, with a fine nozzle so you could spray inside small holes that they made.

Here it's called Terro Carpenter ant and Termite killer, based on Tetramethrin and Deltamethrin, it's fast working but you have to repeat if the termites come back.

Boric acid is used by many, but in fluid condition, not the powder that borac acid is.

Here is a link to about all ways to kill termites:
https://stoppestinfo.com/82-how-to-get- … mites.html

Good luck.

Joe

Ants...yep that is one thing Cambodia does not have a shortage of.  The measures already listed are of course the best for a major nuisance.
However, I have also found a way of living with them (some of them that is) peacefully. 
The ants here seem to have missions beyond what I have been able to figure out.  Some just seem to be doing their own thing, passing through or whatever it is they are doing and then leave. These ones do not bother me at all.  so I let them be.
However, I seem to also be allergic to their bites, getting huge almost golf ball size swollen bumps so I tend to stay aware of those that are doing their own thing and then leaving or those that are just hanging out. Then it is time to seek out their fascination with my space and take some measures as needed. I always prefer the natural methods as listed by others above.

The big ants, red or black, live outside where they make nests in the trees. If they are found inside a house they are lost, they don't want to be there. So let them walk into a glass or plastic cup and let them free outside, they won't come back.

Worse are the small ants. I my house in Thailand I had loads of them, I used the non-deadly method of using cinnamon to prevent them from entering [works wonderfully] but sometimes I found a hole in the cement between tiles, and yes they came in droves, so then I had to use the deadly powder that they also take into the nest and kill others. Those were short periods as I was always aware of changes in cement, wood [termites] and other things. I lived in the sticks and sometimes animals got lost, centipedes, birds, dragonflies and even snakes.

Now I live in the big city in Cambodia and no more need to look from your eye corners if you see something move. Peaceful life but not as exciting....

Joe

Don't know what ants you have but mixing sugar water with a little borax powder will work with some ants as they take it back to the nest.

JoeKhmer wrote:

The big ants, red or black, live outside where they make nests in the trees. If they are found inside a house they are lost, they don't want to be there. So let them walk into a glass or plastic cup and let them free outside, they won't come back.

Worse are the small ants. I my house in Thailand I had loads of them, I used the non-deadly method of using cinnamon to prevent them from entering [works wonderfully] but sometimes I found a hole in the cement between tiles, and yes they came in droves, so then I had to use the deadly powder that they also take into the nest and kill others. Those were short periods as I was always aware of changes in cement, wood [termites] and other things. I lived in the sticks and sometimes animals got lost, centipedes, birds, dragonflies and even snakes.

Now I live in the big city in Cambodia and no more need to look from your eye corners if you see something move. Peaceful life but not as exciting....

Joe

Joe, just very slightly off-topic (sorry!) I too lived in Tland before moving to Vnam. The little house ants were a constant pain - you only had to put a sugary coffee spoon down for a moment and they were all over it. But not so in Vietnam!

I spent a year there in towns and the countryside, houses and apartments, in the south and the north and the east coast - and never ONCE did I get trails of little house ants galloping at my sugar.

Now I'm back in Thailand and I'd forgotten just what a nuisance they can be - I think they've been waiting to welcome me back!

Ants will eat anything they can get to, even if it's in what is supposed to be a sealed pack, so you have to stop them getting to the food.
A fridge is pretty much ant proof if the rubber seals are intact, but shelves and cupboards are easy access, so one little packet open and the place is full of the ants.
An easy way to stop them is put your food on a free standing shelf, but the shelf legs in a little dish with something sticky but inorganic in it - I used the little dishes you see used for chilli oil in Chinese restaurants, and a light oil I used to lubricate padlocks.
Ants explore, communicate their find to the nest, then turn up en-masse to harvest what they can.
However, if the first ant gets stuck or simply can't get near their target, you never see the rest.
I tried this so can say with some authority, it works like you wouldn't believe.

Yes these pesky little ants are sometimes a pain in the neck.

I even got them here in my 2nd floor apartment,  they crawl through the mesh mosquito barriers....

Cheers   

Joe