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ANTZ!

posted 4 years ago by Catbookss (13664)
35 replies | jump to latest

Not the movie, real ones, invading my new home 😐

First they attacked the kitchen. I fought numerous rounds with the buggers over several weeks. I like ants in general and find them fascinating, but when they won't take a hint and start covering *everything*, this means WAR 😡

Finally I gave up using the non-toxic stuff, went to Home Depot and got some Hot Shot Ant Bait Traps for a couple of bucks. Put two down in the line of their trail, and waited. First they ignored them except for one or two brave souls. The next day though they were in them like college kids in the local In 'N Out Burger. Third day, gone! 🎉

Fourth day (today), they showed up on my desk, which is in my bed/sitting room, at the opposite end of the house 😐. Can't see where they're getting in -- not from any of the windows or the door. Can't trace their trail past my desk because the carpeting's this brown and off white low shag.

I've taken one of the kitchen traps, put it on my desk, and am hoping for the best. Which means the worst for them.

What do you do when you've got an ant invasion?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

i love ants. i think they're the most fascinating creatures. i like reading about them, i like watching docs on them, & sometimes i keep little colonies in the summer. nothing too elaborate.

i have no special insight in keeping them out of your place, but i don't get a chance to tell people how much i like ants very often.

(i am 101% certain we've talked about ants before, in fact).

[–] Catbookss (13664) 4 years ago

You can go up to 200% certainty on that. I told you about that kids' book I loved so much that started my interest in them since childhood, called The City Under the Steps.

They are fascinating. I don't keep colonies of them because they're plentiful enough around here as it is -- inside or outside. Outside, I think they're great and I love observing them. Inside, when they refuse to leave and are invading my space, 😡

Don't you need a queen in order to sustain a colony?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

to keep a permanent colony, you definitely need a queen. in fact, i really shouldn't have used the word colony to describe what i do, because i really just keep a little farm for weeks at a time. they usually don't last more than 6-8 weeks (most ants live short lives), but it's fun to watch them dig and tend to their matters.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 4 years ago

Well now I'm curious. How do you do it, go outside and gather up X number of ants, put them and dirt into a transparent container, and, ? Do they start digging tunnels? What do they do? Eat, obviously, when you put food in there for them.

I guess I thought that without a queen, and just collecting random members of a colony, they'd wander around a container for a few days and then die. Never would have guessed they'd last for 6-8 weeks.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

i've had a few different setups over the years. mostly i've used the classic 'ant-farm' setup where you simply have a plexiglass container filled with soil, and you find a nice nest of ants and collect a pile of them to add. usually i'll order ants from a supply company rather than catch some usually harvester ants because they're a nice, good size & have big mandibles, so it's easy to watch them dig. sometimes i've also picked up 'gel farms' - which is just what it sounds like; the classic plexiglass ant farm, but with gel instead of soil. ant snobs look down on the gel units as being a little cheap, for kids, but i think they're really fun, and they give you a great perspective on watching them dig. fascinating to watch, really.

for food, it's usually just a bit of sugar water soaked into a cotton ball, and some seeds. but for the gel farms, the nice thing is that the gel itself actually provides them with enough sustenance to keep them going over their life-span.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 4 years ago

So I went to YouTube to search for gel ant farms, because I'd never heard of them before. One thing lead to another, as it so often does on YT, and I ended up at this guy's channel called AntsCanada. You may or may not know already him, being an ant fan and in Canada and all.

Then I came across this video of his and have to admit I watched the whole thing because it is pretty interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RDg9lDsEsI

Even though I think he's gone way over the top, calling his viewers "Ant fam," and the dramatic music and the over the top emotion about his ants. But hey, I guess whatever makes him happy. And it was interesting! I think you'll enjoy it too.

I wouldn't have any idea how to go about finding a nest and somehow transporting them from nest to container, without either harming them or having them wildly running around and out of the container. Ordering sounds safer. However, since I'm very seriously wanting to get *rid* of the ones I've got, the idea of buying some and importing them is pretty funny to me 😄

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

i do follow that channel - i haven't seen all of his uploads, but i've watched quite a few of them. when i woke up unexpectedly at 4 this morning, i watched the one you linked to above. silly of me, because i should have been looking for something much less interesting to lull me back to sleep.

i do think he gets a bit hammy at times - i prefer the dry, documentary style - but his videos are light and fun & he clearly loves what he does.

i'm pretty sure that guy lives in the Philippines now...he started that channel back when he was in canada, but i'm pretty sure he moved back to the philippines years ago, but stuck with the name regardless.

[–] kspkap (13056) 4 years ago

Being from humbug! (humidity & bugs) Florida we always used Terro Gel. You can put the little discs on a window sill, between major floor appliances, under the sink, anywhere that is safe from your fur baby. The scouts will find it and carry back to the hive. Eventually the dollup on the disc will be covered with ants who will take it with them. Ant problem goneZ!

https://www.lowes.com/pd/TERRO-1-Oz-Liquid-Ant-Killer/3047748?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_--_-bing-_-pla-_-241-_-indoorpesticide-_-3047748-_-0&kpid&placeholder=null&msclkid=1f7139b4e5ef11148aa167720b659814&gclid=CJ2yv6zvxekCFaOTxQId6E4LXA&gclsrc=ds

[–] Catbookss (13664) 4 years ago

Humbug, ha!

From what I've read the Terro Gel traps are the same as what I've already got, and it is toxic stuff. Less worrisome though because it's either enclosed in a plastic trap, and or you can put them out of harm's way. Mijo's not going to try to chow down on something like this, but if you've got a puppy, or a chewer, or a toddler, that'd be a different story.

These ants are extremely persistent! They've gone away and returned again 3 times now, in both the kitchen and my bedroom 😠. This is getting old.

I don't want to alert my landlord about it because he's one of those people who think spraying Roundup, even where people are growing vegetables, is fine, and would probably just grab a can of Raid and spray it around. I've learned that as a tenant, I have no rights about or say in this.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

nobody asked for it, but i'm going to take the opportunity to quote a few paragraphs from the epilogue of biologist eo wilson's great book 'journey to the ants.' i've always really liked his message & how he wrote it, & i think about it all the tie whenever i take a moment to observe an ant on the pavement.

if all of humanity were to disappear, the remainder of life would spring back and flourish. the mass extinctions now underway would cease, the damaged ecosystems heal and expand outward. if all the ants somehow disappeared, the effect would be exactly the opposite, and catastrophic. species extinction would increase even more over the present rate, and the land ecosystems would shrivel more rapidly as the considerable services provided by these insects were pulled away.

humanity will in fact live on, and so will the ants. but humankind's actions are impoverishing the earth; we are obliterating vast numbers of species and rendering the biosphere a far less beautiful and interesting place for human occupancy. the damage can only be truly repaired by evolution after millions of years, and only then if we let the ecosystems grow back. meanwhile let us not despise the lowly ants, but honor them. for a while longer at least, they will help to hold the world in balance for our liking, and they will serve as a reminder of what a wonderful place it was when we first arrived.

[–] kspkap (13056) 4 years ago

Forgive me but,...I say hogwash! Those lowly fire ants have killed people! When we have hurricanes we not only have to worry about snakes, we have to worry about the killer fire ants. They don’t drown. Several years ago after one of our storms they made an entrance into a nursing home and stung a poor man to death! One time they had found a way to enter our house via the AC line. They were crawling across the carpet and stinging our feet. The result is blisters. Every morning I went on ant patrol to put poison on the mounds. Animals including pets have been killed by them.