ANTZ!

[muckefuck]

This week, I had dinner in my apartment twice. It's been so long since the last time this happened, I can't even remember when it was. And what's my reward? ANTS! And not just one or two, a full-blown infestation. WTF? In two years of living there, I never saw any damn ants. I didn't see any when doing my stir-fry, but two hours later I came back to find the floor swarming with them. How are they getting in? I'm on the sixth floor for chrissakes! There were no telltale streams from the window or the back the door. Is there some sort of ant-sized wormhole lurking behind the stove?

Any punnya I've accumulated over the past few weeks by not stepping on beetles, capturing yellow jackets, or swatting flies has all been shot to hell with a few blasts of ant & roach spray. To get my mind off things, I finished up the dishes and--let me tell you--it was one ghastly walk back out of the kitchen amid all those tiny black corpses. At least they'd stopped writhing, but the sight of dozens of recently-living things curled up into inert little balls was more psychic disturbance than I needed on a night when I was already a bit anxious.

So I left them there and I'm dreading having to go back, sweep up all the bodies, and give the floor a good scrub down. Do I need to use something more noxious than Pine-Sol to prevent a repeat of this traumatic experience? Is there a service that hires out ant lions or aardvarks for domestic duty?

Comments

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Yeesh! We've had an infestation too. It has involved a lot of jumping around yelling "UGH!" on my part.

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

Blerach will generally throw them off their scent trails, and if you really want to DEAL with your arthropod problems, use Boric Acid (Roach Prufe in some states)in all the corners and edges. It etches their exoskeletons, making walking difficult and leading to dessication with time. More commonly recommended for raoches, it shoudl work with any jointed beast.

Ants can nest anywhere. I once had an amusing nest in the pillar of my car, which I noticed when they established a trail at the bottom of my door, through the firewall and to the hood. I think they were craving antifreeze.

As the reproductive state of ants are winged, being far from Terra firma is no protection. At least they're not fire ants, but probably sugar or house ants. No worries, just confuse them with Bleach, kill them with Boric acid, and deprive them with stringent food cleanup procedures, and you'll be fine by fall.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Diatomaceous earth, like boric acid, will also puncture the exoskeletons of most insects, and it's perfectly safe to use pretty much anywhere.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I might try that, since boric acid has let me down already. I limned the kitchen with it at the first sign of a cucarachita.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

We had a muy gigantor cucarichito in the house the other night that crawled on Kitsune's head. Apparently it wanted to see what was on TV.

I would have died. Just willed myself out of existence, right there. He is a brave man.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I've been to Texas and y'all don't have cucarachitas there; that, mis amigos, was a cucarachón!

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Shows you what I know about Spanish! (=nothing!)

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

Du Armer. Aber mir wären ein paar Ameisen lieber als Küchenschaben. Natürlich ist das kein wirklicher Trost. Viel Glück!

[gopower.livejournal.com]

You should have cleaned up right away -- more will follow the trail of these ants, even with the Raid. But even Pine Sol should do the job, without extra bleach et al (needless to say, never combine cleaners).

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

How much would you charge to slip into my house and do it for me before I come home?

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

You can do what a friend of mine did when he had ants -- he used a taser. It wasn't effective but after so many ants it WAS cathartic. ^o^

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

You could also sprinkle bits of aluminum foil or machine shavings across the floor for the same effect, with the addition of a bit of current. You don't have a high-pile or shag rug, do you?