It was war this summer, they started to appear very gradual, down on the floor an occasional small brown ant would be seen...not to worry I thought, sweet pea will probably never notice them down there. A man left in charge of a home is probably a perfect storm as far as ant production is concerned. Sometimes a banana peel or spilled sugar on the counter, one of those things that can be put off for a day or two until it rains and you have more time to clean the place up.
A month passed and these guys moved to the counter tops but stayed kind of out of sight for the most part hiding under the coffee jar or behind the dog treats, in and around the spice tray..Not a huge problem but becoming one, the perfect storm for them is becoming the perfect storm for me it seems.
Then it happened, peices of a partially spoiled peach were left out on the counter over night, (I ate the good part) and as I moved to the counter to make my morning coffee there they were. It was like watching the old movie "wagon train", no Indians but man the long line of what could have been pioneer wagons looking down from an airplane maybe. There was a dual highway more or less as they were out in huge numbers and were harvesting that delicious jucy sweet peach (I should have ate all of it I guess)...The lines were from the back of the stove and about 6 feet long to the end of the counter top where the food source awaited them....
I knew action needed to happen here and happen quick, I jumped in my car and headed to D and R grocery store.. I said I think I need "ant traps or baits" of some sort.
He said don't have that try the dollar store next door I bet they will....They did, they had "RAID Ant Baits", a little expensive I thought but then I remembered the wagon train at home and grabbed an arm full of them and checked out. As I drove home I knew those boys days were now numbered...I read the instructions and put them out along the back of the counter tops where the trails of ants were scurrying hether to and fro and back again....I thought this will be like shooting fish in a barrel...I then stood and watched them as they came to the small white 2 inch by 2 inch igloo like plastic structures with holes in them and then they would take a turn and went right around the bait trap and then continued on their merry way to look for food intened for me and maybe sweet pea...
This was war and my artillary was not working. I stood and watched this for maybe an hour, thinking what the hell is going on here? I finally arrived at the logical conclusion that the dollar store had purchased no doubt a bunch of outdated worthless ant baits and selling the defective war materials to poor inocents like myself...I grabed a bait package, and there was an 800 number to call for help...I got a nice lady on the line and told her I think my baits are defective and that there was no scent from them and my ants refused to enter in and feast upon the poison I wanted to provide for them. She then told me what I needed to do to make them work, why this info was not on the package I wondered...Then after recent thought of proper housekeeping I realised that probably only men left alone in a house experience this...she said you have to clean the counter tops before you put the bait out for them, because when and ant finds a food source he then leaves a chemical scent trail back to the nest so others can then follow that path. So that is how they do it I thought, thanked her for the tip and did what men left alone in a house usually don't do and cleaned my counter tops. I used clorox with bleach spray and that in itself scares the hell out of and even kills some of the ants...
After my good clean up I again placed my baits out on the counter as the enemies started to once again appear seemingly disoriented because I had distroyed all their little trails to the food...Sure enough the little buggers ran up to and entered into the bait stations...Got themselves and big arm full of the poison and took it back to the women and children at "home"....Well it was kind of like this current war in Iraq for quite a few days...If I remember we killed a bunch of the bad boys over there but they kept coming...Our President said what I was thinking God Bless him, "hey bring it on", let invite all the bad boys in from all around and "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition", and kill them all. Well anyway back to "my war", it was a very slow process, way to slow for sweet pea, she would come out and look at my counter tops and grab my clorox spray and just "open up on these guys", reminisant of a Marine gunny behind a machine gun even....I told her we had to have patients here and allow these workers to carry this delicious poison back to the family behind the cabinets....She would look at me like I had just told her the earth was flat and again open up on any "still kicking" poor little al-kida type ants. I held my ground and kept the bait stations in place..When she was not visiting I would allow the enemy to wonder all around and harvest these little bait stations...
I am happy to report that today and maybe for the past 2 weeks I am 100% "ant free"..
Those Raid ant baits if allowed to work do the job and do it well...{*considering you are a normal house keeper and occasionally clean your counter tops) you got to destroy those chemical trails now and then...That I have learned this summer, that cleanlyness leads to happyness....All probably in the learning process of a "man left alone in a house", has to go through....
It is a great day here, not an ant in sight.........
1 comment:
Well Farmer John, I went through the same thing this year and the bait traps might have worked but I'm with Sweet Pea. I hired an exterminator and $485 later I'm free of ants. Next time I'm trying Chlorox Cleanup and bait traps!
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