[Groop] Ants!!!!!

[Chris Schechner]

What I want to know is how odd is the ant in the kitchen? I mean, is it
really strange and how can you tell?

Glorko


on 6/17/08 6:13 PM, Alexander Durnan at alexian.emperor at earthlink.net wrote:

> Well, I see your point, Philippe,  but it really does work.  I've been in
> this house for 18 years now, and for the first 12 or so years we had an ant
> invasion/infestation in the kitchen regularly.  In the warmer months they
> were strongest.  They seemed to love the dishwasher in particular, and were
> always found on the kitchen counters, sinks, floor, walls, cat food, etc.
> Now I'm a bit of an environmentalist, so I tried everything  short of
> insecticides to get rid of them. I even used insecticidal baits on the
> outside and inside, all with very limited results.   Generally I will live
> harmoniously with them, so long as they stay outside.  My father (who owned
> the place until he died) who is by no means an environmentalist, called
> professional exterminators several times and sprayed countless bottles of
> poison around himself, also without success.  I searched the internet and
> other sources high and low, tried all kinds of crazy tricks, from feeding
> them coffee grounds to drawing chalk borders (which supposedly they will not
> cross - but they did).  Finally we found Terro.  Pour a nickel sized drop on
> a small piece of cardboard and place it near their trails.  Within a few
> minutes they are all gathered around the drop lapping it up like cows at a
> trough.  Replace the drop as they use it up.  After a few days- no ants.
> Amazing.  Now its true that you can never kill them all this way, you just
> put the colony out of commission for awhile.  It either rebuilds with a new
> queen or another colony replaces it.  So there have been periodic
> recurrences (which is why I used it many times).  These recurrences happen
> no more than twice a year, but never on the scale on which they once
> happened.  So I get the Terro out again, and poof!, the ants are gone again.
> I still see an odd ant in the kitchen from time to time (especially in the
> hot weather that we had last week) as they come in to get cool and find
> moisture in the sink, but one or two hear and there is easily dealt with by
> a slight amount of pressure between my finger and the surface on which the
> ant is walking.  I find it is good practice to kill these scouts as they are
> the ones who report back to the colony. All in all, I'm happy with Terro,
> and I can live in an (mostly) ant free home.
> 
> Well now you all know my history (abridged) with ants.  Hope I didn't bore
> you all to death.  But Philippe, you did ask.

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