the vynsane asylum

My kitchen and master bedroom are overrun. They came in during the two days we were gone and infested the cat food and trash can (which, apparently, wasn't as clean as I thought I'd left it).

We've killed them with traps before, but it was always "Hey, there's a couple of ants running around. We should do something." Never "Fuck! There's a column of a few billion ants stretching from the weephole in the window across the house to the cat dish!" Under this circumstance, it apparently takes a few days to deal with.

I can't spray, since we have cats and a baby. And the cats have to eat something.

I determined they're likely Argentine ants, which were introduced from South America and are fucking nasty. Among other things, they're attracted to electricity and can cause problems by getting into circuitry (which, luckily, doesn't appear to be the case yet). For another, they have multiple queens in each hive. And the queens go out to forage; my finding a few is one of the big reasons I think they're Argentines. (The size is another, as well as the fact that Argentine ants have wiped out native ants through most of southern California.)

I've taken out their food sources, tried to wipe out the scent trail, and poured cayenne on the floor beyond the traps to try to get them to go for the traps rather than anything else they might find beyond. I'm sure they'll be gone within a few days.

But, shit, this is a pain in the ass. I can't go to the fucking john without watching where I step.

Can you spray the exterior of your house? My wife found some stuff that works on roaches and we spray all the way around the house and along the fence in the backyard. She also buys some of those traps. Every so often when we leave and put the dogs in a kennel, she sets off one of those bug bombs. We rarely see bugs in the house, and when we do, they usually dead just inside the doorway.

Have you called an exterminator?

We don't normally have problems with bugs. The problem with an exterminator is, though it'd be done more quickly, we'd have to be out for several hours at the least. I'm going to get them backed up closer to where they're coming in (unfortunately, it's not what I thought, and they're coming from under the carpet, which can't easily be blocked up) and feed them the poison there.

(Plus, they cost a lot of money to just show up and spray chemicals. I can do that cheaper. It's not like we have a mouse infestation.)

As for spraying outside, apparently this breed of ant can immediately sense when the colony is in danger and will move very quickly, and recover from any losses almost as quickly. It wouldn't be anything more than a short-term solution.

anarky wrote:As for spraying outside, apparently this breed of ant can immediately sense when the colony is in danger and will move very quickly, and recover from any losses almost as quickly. It wouldn't be anything more than a short-term solution.

We spray every 3 or 4 months. I think. She doesn't ask me do it and I don't always pay attention to what she says.

Luckily we haven't had any problems with ants since we've live here and we've managed to control the roaches. Good luck.

Weird thing is, I don't think I've seen a single roach of any variety in this area, ever. But we were up in your neck of the woods over the weekend, and they're fucking everywhere.

I do the perimeter spray as well, but it apparently doesn't make much difference on these little buggers.

I was just thinking about this quote the other day:

"Hey look, cool! Carpenter ants!"

One thing about those traps: the minute you give up, you notice the trail of ants on the floor are all dead, and there are no new ones coming in.

Just when I was about to suggest using a flame thrower. Sure it is dangerous, but it is probably a hell of a lot more fun than employing an aardvark.

2-3 teaspoons of diazinone in a one gallon sprayer with water, spray the perimeter and anywhere else you think the might be coming from and presto, no more ants. For inside the house, spray them with Windex, I shit you not, it works like a charm!