Sunday, April 4, 2010

High Hopes!!!

In Kentucky, my grandparents had a crystal candy dish in their parlor filled with peppermints. I remember on one of my visits to Kentucky when, after eyeing the crystal candy dish, I asked if  I could have a piece of candy (pretty assured that the answer would be yes). But when I looked closely, I saw that ants had the same idea that I had. I passed on the candy and watched the ants in a single file climb into the dish for their dessert.  That was the only problem with ants I would ever see in my grandparent’s home.

Since I have moved into my own home, I have had continuing problems with ants. I don’t like using spray pesticides and because of that, I have used an assortment of ant baits. But the ants keep coming. I even paid for professional pest control for a full year. Unlike the other bugs, such as pill bugs or spiders that were kept at bay, the ants still seem to run the show. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is - spring, summer, winter, or fall - the ants still make their appearance in my kitchen or bathroom.

I’ll be honest with you; I’m at my wits end. No amount of cleaning or baiting has kept these insects away. I have set bait traps out only to see the ants go around them. I have tried “green” solutions and put baking soda on known ant trails (to keep ants away). It worked for about two days and then the ants came back. For another green solution, I put lemons slices around the sink to keep ants away. The ants just crawled either on or around them, but they kept coming. The only sure thing that makes the ants disappear is Mother Nature. If there is a heavy rainfall the ants suddenly disappear.

This year, I want to take back my kitchen. I don’t want to worry about walking into the kitchen on a sunny morning and finding hundreds of ants crawling over my cabinet (like last year). I realize that this is going to be more difficult than I first thought. I think that it will take a combination of sprays and baits on the inside and outside of the house. I bought Amdro as a barrier for the outside because I wanted to go with a pesticide designed to kill ants and not all bugs. I have a beautiful flower garden and I do not want to kill the bumble and honey bees who visit. (This is something that advertisements don’t tell you when they talk about killing ticks and fleas in your backyard. The same pesticide will kill beneficial insects.)

I went online and it seems that university extension sites and pest control sites all state the importance of knowing what kind of ant is invading your space. Unfortunately, when I was paying for pest control, no one mentioned the type of ant that was found in my house. But, I’m going out on a limb here and with out a microscope and a relative ignorance of insects, I think I have argentine ants. Quite frankly, I didn’t know there were so many kinds of ants and that they all act differently and have different foraging patterns. I’m going with the argentine ant because of their coloring and the foraging pattern seems to mesh with the ants in my home. 

Insects seem to have a way of getting what they need whether or not it is annoying to us. Ants eat what we eat or even what we throw away. I don't want to kill all ants (or even all bugs thought of as a nuisance), I just want my kitchen back.

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