Boy was I surprised upon waking to discover a party going on downstairs. It wasn’t the noise that woke me, I got up because I was awake. What shocked me was the numbers involved.
Ants were having a party on the countertop. It was like spring break at sugar beach. As in the movie, the little black ants went where the boys are. In this case the boys were a Snap, Krackle, and Pop.
The wife made a pan of Rice Krispy treats for the pool party last Saturday. The little insects were after the leftovers. Apparently, each ant called ten friends, who called ten friends...you get the picture.
I don’t like spraying bug spray with the girls around, especially the one-year-old who never found anything that won’t go straight in her mouth. In this case I had to soak the cabinet top.
Ants are a problem in the whole neighborhood. This suburb was built on old farm land and this particular area must be built over a giant colony of ants. Just digging in the flower beds can cause them to boil out of the ground on occasion. I know the neighbors have the yard sprayed professionally. I have in the past. This year I am going with the DYI method. While I was spraying poison on the counter I did around the windows and doors outside. I also hit along the foundation outside the kitchen.
What a way to start the day.
At least we don’t have the scourge of fire ants.
PS I have tried the non-poisonous to humans variety of insect killers. They haven’t worked for me. Ortho liquid bug killer works on contact, and keeps on killing for days.
Terro works great for me. There is a formula to make it, but I could never get it right. However, I could not get rid of them for good for about six years, maybe more. One day, armed with a lethal to humans ant spray, I went to the basement searching for an ant trail. None. Then, I went outside and slowly walked, searching. Finally, I saw their superhighway--a tendril from the vine nearby. Ants filled it going both ways. Once I cut that way back and kept all greenery from touching the house, I never had another problem. I even had trees trimmed that I had planted a little too close to the house.
ReplyDeleteMy friend said when a place/area is infested with ants, building there will not dissuade the ants, but you can try.
I am terrified of all ants after fire ants bit me from top of legs down when I was a child. I stood in them while picking plums.
I miss diazinon.
ReplyDeleteI've had reasonable luck in the past with Spectracide, the granular version you spread with a lawn spreader. Kept spiders out of the house for several years till we switched lawn companies and the new one sprays quarterly around the foundation for bugs.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed a large ant nest popping up out back of the house, probably because of all the rain we had pushing them out of the swale and farther into the property. I'll probably spread more Spectracide this weekend, just to be sure. Need to overseed this fall anyway, so that will tune me up for walking aimlessly around the yard.
PP, we had red ants or something damn like them out back of the garage a few years ago. One of them bit me while I was riding the mower. I made short work of that nest.
ReplyDeleteI almost did something like this, but decided it wasn't worth the trouble :)
That sculpture is cool
ReplyDelete