I have ants. They are scaring me. They are doing weird things. They are acting as if auditioning for role in new, Stephen Moffat-helmed Doctor Who, in which everyday things such as ants suddenly take on terrifying resonance.
For example: If I must have ants, and it appears I must, I think it is normal, if I have not washed up, to come home to find inquisitive ants in my kitchen checking out the food scraps. I think it is normal, if I have left fruit in the fruit bowl for too long, to come home to find hungry ants swarming over a busted pear. I do NOT think it is normal, when I have not washed up AND I have left fruit in the fruit bowl for too long, thus allowing the ants a multitude of NORMAL ant choices, to come home and find ants SWARMING ALL OVER THE LIGHT SWITCH.
I am afraid. I am afraid of the ants.
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11 comments:
Hello, just found you, love the blog! That is deeply disturbing, why were they on the light bulb, was it still warm? Marianne
I don't mind ants... flying ants on the other hand.
*shudder*
Perhaps you have an edible light switch, or the ants are confused. Just as well they are not the size of the thing in the picture.
We have tiny ones that appear as if by magic on the toilet lid when someone is having a shower in the summer; slightly bigger ones that make a trail from the kitchen door to the cat food bin; and rather large black ones that wander in singly and are rather miffed when I wash them down the drain.
I understand they're useful to the ecological chain; I just want them to stay outside. I've tried cayenne pepper which stains the white trim around the windows, but they skirt around it, so I end up coating their entrance ways with toxic goo and feeling guilty.
Reading Lenigen and the Ants in junior high didn't help matters. My mum grew up in Kenya and recalls everyone giving the army ants a wide berth as they marched through the houses. So it could be worse...
Beware, they're looking for somewhere to live. You might actually have to take more serious measures with an ant poison or something, or else just get used to them. While I don't mind killing a few, I don't have the heart for full-scale ant-nihilation so we live with ours (totally hopeless cause anyway, where would we stop?).
Ant Powder. It's the only answer in the absence of six year old's stamping on them before breakfast, which is what happens in our house.
I am not ashamed to say that I once came home from work to discover ants swarming all over the kitchen window. The kitchen was DARK I tell you - it was like The Birds only worse. And I was an utter girly wuss and stood and screamed hysterically before realising no one was going to sort them out if I didn't, so I danced frantically round with spray poison instead. Still screaming though...
My maman has them in her bathroom, on the first floor, at that. She swears by ant powder, so get thee to a hardware shop, pronto.
But where do I put the powder now that they are living behind the light switch (as indeed they are)? They never seem to go near the floor.
I don't know if this is available in Britain, but I use the aforementioned "toxic goo" which is a squeezable version of Raid. It comes in small red bottles, a bit larger than the kind for eye drops; you wouldn't want to get those mixed up! It's about the consistency of glue, a wee bit runnier. You could squeeze it around your light switch like caulking. It's quite effective, but a bit nerve-wracking with kids and pets around.
You can actually get these things that plug into the wall and emit some kind of pulse that repels ants and other pests.
We had a BIG ant problem a couple of years ago, but now we only get the occasional one. Also works for spiders, apparently. More humane and less messy than powder or sticky stuff.
Maximumbob - nice that you have a sonic solution; I wonder if they do screwdrivers.
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