Tuesday, August 2, 2016

The Trespassers

I am suffering through a minor pestilence. My apartment has ants. Living on the ground floor of a building, and in an apartment that is half-subterranean, I expect the odd ant, and since I moved in, I have found a few such trespassers. That bothers me little. But it is colonising season, that exciting time in a young ant’s life when he or she takes wing (literally) and flies off to strange and wondrous lands to start a new community. This annoys me somewhat more, as an older colony is apparently just outside one of my external walls and is using a very small portion of my home as a staging area.

The affected spot is indeed small, against a wall and behind a bookcase. But from there, the flying ants try to exit through my screen door to the outside world. They do not have Cammie’s experience of screens and thus cannot simply force their way through. Consequently, I have been vacuuming the unfortunate emigrants up as they appear.


This is not a satisfactory solution, and I have purchased ant-traps. These work along the lines of providing tasty but poisonous food for the insects that the unsuspecting workers carry home for the whole colony to enjoy in a heady bacchanal that becomes their last meal. That is the theory. Not having used this variety before, I was surprised and amused to read this printed warning on the hockey puck shaped tin: “Warning: contains the allergen peanut butter.” The device must contain some deadly insecticide as well and yet the warning is of the a spread found in every grocery store. I wonder if I can get ant-traps containing jam or mayonnaise… I assume that the manufacturer is not counting on the ants being allergic to this confection, but instead uses it as a lure, along the lines of the ants’ rural cousins being attracted to treats at a picnic.


Then again, considering the effect of the traps, the peanut butter may be the sole ingredient meant to destroy the insects, because the traps are dealing no kind of death among the intruders. The ants seem to come and go; I really only see them during the heady moments when a new wave of explorers is ready to be sent off. But at those times, they appear quite immune to the poison in the ant-traps. They aren’t even made the least bit woozy by the peanut butter.

I am sure the ants’ activity will subside in a couple of weeks, once all the young ’uns are despatched to their brave new worlds. Even so, I was hoping to rid myself of their old world in the meantime. If anyone reading this knows of an effective means of destroying ants, preferably by the colony rather than individually, without endangering cats - or humans - I would appreciate any information.

In the meantime, I will leave you with a picture of Renn, immediately after I explained to him that we have ants. His bravery carries him only so far.

19 comments:

  1. Every summer, the ants try to stage an invasion of our house. Orange oil is the only (human and cat-friendly) solution we've found.

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    1. Thank you for the advice. Do you put it in a dish by the affected area, or rub it on? Also, where does one purchase it? Grocery stores? Health food shops?

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    2. You dilute it (the bottle usually gives the proportions) in water and spray it on the area where the ants enter the house. It's usually found at stores that specialize in "home repair" or household goods, but if it's not available in your area, it can be ordered at Amazon.

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  2. ugh....we had a tiny ant invasion earlier this year...mom finally discovered a piece of canned food got left in a box on top of one of the shelves in the kitten room. everything got a good cleaning and we haven't seen them since

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    1. I can't blame my problem on leftovers. It's just that time of year.

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  3. Renn's picture made my day! I am quite phobic about bugs, and occasionally I'll discover "multi-legged wildlife" visiting my apartment. Renn's expression is exactly the expression I have on my face on those occasions!

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    1. Fortunately for my big boy, the ants are sticking to one spot, except when the flying ones try to escape through the screen.

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  4. Oh, I've had ants and ants and ants, even carpenter ants, though a couple of years ago I had the property management company clear away the dead tree and brush behind my fence and that seems to have made a positive difference. I know you can't use this inside (unless it's behind something the cats can't get to), but food-grade diatomaceous (spelling) "earth" will kill them. I've been using it outside along the side wall (along the common walkway, not near the back garden) for several years. Haven't had to this year, at least not yet.

    The first year I was here on my own I had an invasion of small black ants in the basement. The then-neighbour told me to put salt down (a lot of it, not a tiny sprinkle). I can't think how that would work, but I never had ants in the basement again. Everywhere else, but not there. LOL.

    I've heard cornmeal or some other expanding grain can be used, but how well that works is in question.

    Good luck, they're pesky things. The soil here is nothing but sand, so the garden is nothing but ant hills. Oddly, I've hardly seen any so far this summer, have no idea why.

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    1. Maybe salt is like the baby-powder idea from the Tabbies, below.

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  5. John; get some baby powder from the store; if you have a dollar tree store there, get it from them; it doesn't have to smell grate or cost anything. put the powder down in a line where you see them...if they are coming in from under the vent; sprinkle it on the floor and use a knife to push it under the vent; you wont need much. ants can not crawl over it or thru it and it wont harm the cats like a pesticide can. { lots of folks use this method when feeding outside community cats } ant season knows no limits around here; and we've actually made a powder circle around the food and water dishes to keep them from getting into said, and have it "shoved" into various crevices where the floor doesn't meet flush with the wall ♥♥♥

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  6. Interesting. I have not heard of that before as a deterrent. Perhaps something outside where they are grouping before their trek into your home? They aren't termites I hope.

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    1. No, definitely not termites. And my floor is about three feet below the level of the ground outside, so I'll have to tackle them indoors.

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  7. Ants. Very annoying intruders. Even on my third floor unit I have seen them although not for a few years now. I am not sure any substance results in their demise. But peanut butter is interesting

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  8. Renn is a cutie. Have you told your landlord? I think he needs to hire an exterminator to spray the perimeter of the building.

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    1. They've sprayed twice in the couple of months. They know about the problem. There isn't much that can be done outside. I suspect that, even if the remedies I am trying don't work, the ants will disappear after colonisation season.

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  9. If you can find the ant hill outside, pouring boiling water into the ant hill will take care of them. I'm a bit of softie and I know they are just bugs, but I think the boiling water kills them quickly, while poison is probably a little slower. :)

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    1. Unfortunately, my floor is about three fet below ground level (the ground storey of the apartment building is half-buried), so the ants have about a yard of dirt as a defence.

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