Revenge of the Ants!

We have been having ants in the house all summer, but never more than a few at a time. Trying to get unpacked and moved into a new house, plan a wedding, and plan for cutting our income in half seemed more important than getting ant traps set up. Thus, it has not happened until now. Now, though, it is finally time and finally necessary.

Over the last day or two, my wife and I have killed dozens of ants. In fact, I just heard her stomp on another one in the other room. My guess is that when we had our rehearsal dinner, some sort of food got left out to attract them in, and now that we are back from the honeymoon we are finding the results. I have not found anything yet, though.

There have been quite a few ants in the kitchen, but most of them are in the basement and the stairwell leading to the basement. The food they are eating is probably downstairs somewhere is my guess. I will find it sooner or later; I just have not had time to do anything but keep my eyes open as I rush back and forth through the basement on other errands. This is a problem, I know.

I made the trip out to Home Depot last night and bought three kinds of ant bait. The first is pretty toxic and stays outdoor. You press them into the ground, the ants take the bait back to the nest, and the ant colony dies. Unfortunately, our doors do not make for a good place to put those sort of traps, since none are near the ground and most have cement or bricks in front of them. As such, I put them at the edge of the cement down near the basement, at the foot of the deck next to the driveway, and underneath the deck around where the door is next to the foundation.

I also placed a dozen and a half indoor ant bait traps around the house. I put two in between the screen door and the door to the house, one beneath the sink, and one behind a metal cabinet near the basement door. The rest went in the stair well or the basement. I did my best to keep them in areas where my cat can not play with them, by sticking them to walls or beneath things. I hope that she does not get into them.

I also have a gel that I can squeeze into cracks that will also act as a bait that the ants bring back to the colony to kill the queen. I have not used any yet, since it was after 8 o’clock before I got the traps all set and I was ready to cook myself some dinner. I plan on using the gel tonight after I get home from my run. Hopefully we will stop seeing ants inside or around the house by the end of the weekend.