Where do you get your Fluon from?

One of my favorite ant-related products is Fluon. Liquid Teflon. The thing that keeps all of our ants from running amok (well, most of them anyway). Apparently the company that we usually get our Fluon from has gone out of business and our dealer sent us a replacement that was not so good. Where do you get your Fluon from?

Some interesting facts about Fluon (taken from a very old post on The Ant Farm's message board):

• Its slipperiness declines over several months in warm, humid conditions, such as during summer in many places, or in tropical climates. In dry conditions, it may last over a year.
• Some arboreal ants can climb over it.
• Unused Fluon should be agitated, either shaken gently with a circular motion, or merely turned upside down two or three times, about once every ten days or two weeks. Otherwise, the polymer will settle out of suspension and become useless.
• If you are a smoker, be sure NEVER to inhale combusted Fluon, such as might rub off on a cigarette. This can result in severe flu-like symptoms, known as "polymer fever". Wash it off your skin very thoroughly after use.

For all you thrifty ant keepers out there -- here is a 2007 article on how diluted Fluon works just as well as undiluted Fluon:

• Chen, J., Wei, X. Coated containers with reduced concentrations of fluon to prevent ant escape. Journal of Entomological Science. 42(1):119-121 (January 2007).

And for the historically minded -- check out this 1956 article mentioning Fluon (perhaps for the first time?) as a tool in the control of insect movement:

• Merton, T. 1956. On a barrier against insect pests. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 234, No. 1197 (Feb. 7, 1956), pp. 218-220