Hi Allen and all:
 
>1. Will this work on *all* ants, or only sugar loving ants?  Is there
>something to add to get the protein loving ones -- the ones that eat
>our brood if they can get at it???
 
I think it will work on most, but I'm not positive.  You may just have to
try it.  I had the least success with some tiny sugar loving ones, you know
the ones Allen, they drown in top feeders.  It didn't have to do with the
bait, I think it had more to do with their nest structure which is quite
diffuse.  There seem to be holes for their nests all over the place.   The
borax knocked them back but either they recovered, or they moved back to
ant-paradise, the apiary, from somewhere back in the woods.
 
> And
>
>2. Has anyone come up with a convenient small dispenser -- sort of like
>the old ant traps?  We will need to make manyl hundreds, so things
>like jars are a little awkward, and breakable.
>
>A consideration is that these little traps will be dispersed here and
>there where required and may never be picked up again if lost in the
>grass.  Moreover, they may be stepped on, run over by a truck -- or a
>forklift, so they shouldn't shatter into dangerous fragments.
>
>They should be about an ounce in interior size, environmentally
>friendly (I hate that expression), and be able to easily  have holes made
>that are slightly too small for a bee to enter.   They should be
>able to keep water (rain) from damaging the contents when under a
>hive.  Dixie cups?  Cream containers from restaurants?  I know there
>is something perfect for the job -- but what is it???
 
I remember fondly travelling in India about 25 years ago and getting tea and
yogurt in little disposable clay pots.  Made from dirt, throw em away, they
break up and return to dirt.  Unfortuneately they would probably cost a half
buck or more made in North America.
 
But it does bring a thought to mind.  What about leaves?  Could you take a
corn leaf, fold it in a boat shape, fold each end over and put one paper
staple in each end to hold it (those staples rust away after a season and I
bet dissolve in a week or two in a cows stomach).  Put a little borax syrup
in the boat and set it on the ground.  Cover with one rhubarb leaf and throw
a handful of dirt on to keep wind from removing.  Nothing big that I know of
will eat rhubarb leaves, and they will remain intact for quite awhile,
keeping bees out of the boat, and keeping rain from washing bait away.   If
the syrup was thick enough, maybe the only thing needed is to put it on the
ground and then cover with a rhubarb leaf.
 
I have no idea whether you have access to much corn or rhubarb.
Unfortuneately corn leaves are not available here yet.  (We will probably
have frost tonight).  But I may try the rhubarb leaves as a cover in the
blueberry fields.  My hives are only there for 3 weeks tops, usually, and
I'm sure the leaves will last quite a bit longer than that.
 
Regards,  Stan