wednes | And I for one Welcome our New Insect Overlords...wait, no I don't.

Let me set the scene for you: I go into the kitchen to refill my water bottle and get some chocolate. I look down and am horrified to see that H has dropped a cookie on the floor, and my kitchen floor is now swarming with ants. This is our first spring in the new apartment, and I suspect that this will be an ongoing problem. I just called the office, furious, and was told that the bug spray people will be out here soon. So for the third time in the seven months we've been here, (most of which were winter) we're having the place sprayed outside again. I also asked for traps. But the ants were coming in around the traps. I am very, very annoyed.

Feeling angry and sad, I stomp out all the ants and sweep the rest into the garbage disposal, bleaching their asses. Then I make up a little bundle of garlic covered with peppermint, citronella and lavender oil. I smooshed the garlic up good and put it someplace where hopefully JoJo won't tear it apart. Then I sit down to enjoy my water and peanut butter cup.

While eating my peanut butter cup, I realized that the garlic oil was still strong on my hands.
So my poor peanut butter cup got garlic all over it.

Those are NOT two great tastes that taste great together...

Frown.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Garlic and peanut butter? Um, ew... :)

Yeah, it was rank.

i would hate to see that commercial... peanut butter running into the garlic guy.

and the ants, i had a similar problem... i got the little traps from home depot, worked like a charm :) they will *eventually* go into them.

Are the traps safe for cats? I have a cat who gets into everything. I was thinking of investing in some Skin So Soft.

oy, and it is such a shame that they dont go well together!

it seems a bit early in the season for ants also!

I thought so as well.
They seem to have gone for the moment.

All I can think of is the Pink Panther:

Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant/Dead Ant/Dead Ant

LOL

Those little Ant Trap things that are basically a little dot of some insecticide, inside a plastic flying-saucer...they work quite well, but you have to bait them.

I like to use condensed milk: pour some on a spoon, then dribble the milk off the spoon, into the little holes in the Ant Trap, then turn the trap around a few times, to let gravity drag the viscous bait onto the chewy prize at the center, thus enticing the insects to carve it up and carry it home to the nest.

As for cats, bait the trap then put it someplace the cat can't reach. The ants will seek out the trap and do all the rest of the work. It takes a while for the poison to kill the nest, but it is pretty effective.

Thanks for the tips. That sounds doable.

I'm trying to work out how I feel about taking out an entire ant colony because I find them annoying. I'm hoping I'll find an effective way to deter them without having to irradicate them.

I'm not suggesting you exterminate the entire species, but this particular anthill has discovered What Ant Was Not Meant To Know: that there is food in your house. This knowledge must not survive, so the entire group must die. Once you are on their "food source" list, they will seek food in your residence until they all die out; might as well make it sooner, rather than later.

Otherwise you might just as well put out little welcome mats and feeding trays for them (and it won't make them happy; they'll still go after the stuff you want them NOT to get.)

For what it's worth, anthills die out all the time. Ants are not tigers or pandas; their passing is not a tragedy.

Okay, you've convinced me.

*grabs blowtorch*

Bwahhahahaha!!

Seriously, I'm gonna get some traps.

And I for one Welcome our New Insect Overlords...wait, no I don't.

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Gettin' rid of ants...

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