Thursday, December 18, 2008

Ants in My Pants!

Well, not quite ... but there are ants in my bathroom!

*Shudder*

Ants belong outdoors, that's all there is to it! They do NOT belong in my bathroom -- or in any
other part of my home! I didn't have time to figure out what to do about them before I went to work this morning. Well, I did hurry up and mop both the kitchen & bath floors, just to make sure there wasn't something there that they were finding yummy. And I got out the bottle of vinegar I bought the last time they invaded, a couple years ago (Christmas morn, to be specific!), and wiped up several hundred of the little beasties. There's something about vinegar that ants don't like, at least for a short while.

This afternoon, I noticed a crack in the drywall near the tub, so I soaked a piece of TP with vinegar and stuck it in the crack. That took care of the ants for an hour or so, but they're baaaaaaack. It's just dawned on me that I have a "bug bomb" left over from the last time; I'll set that off in the morning right before I leave for work.

I had to go over to the management office to pick up a couple packages this afternoon, so I double-checked that they'd received my voicemail from this morning requesting a visit from the exterminator. They said yes, they had -- though they hadn't bothered to call (as I'd requested). Turns out they have a new policy of having tenants sign their rights away. Lovely ... I did hand write a note on the form about the office employee telling me that even though, by signing the form, I was agreeing to empty out ALL of the cupboards and under the sink & vanity, etc., they were still
only going to spray "the baseboards and around the edges." I haven't had an adverse reaction to the spray yet, so there's no reason to think this time will be any different. I hope Alicia Tové will be ok -- the instructions said to turn off aquarium filters before the spraying and leave them off for 4 hours or so afterwards. Alicia's little aquarium has a lid with just a wee feeding hole, so I'll need to remember to cover her up before the exterminator arrives -- or maybe, better yet, move her to a far corner away from where the "bug bomb" will be set off ... that will probably be riskier for her!

Have I mentioned how much I
hate ants?

2 comments:

Sandy said...

Oh poor you...I had the same problem about 2 years ago. We had a massive ants nest between the decking and the house. We had to tear down a part of our basement ceiling (I have a finished rec room) which really sucked. All my husband and I saw were ants...more ants and more ants. It was horrible. We had to leave our house for the night and bring our dog with us. The Exterminators came in and sprayed all three floors of the house...ALL OVER! Thank God it fixed the problem. The Exterminator said if we would have avoided the problem we would have became a insurance claim. That is how bad they were. I was grossed out for months so I completely understand when you say you don't like them.

Good Luck!

Sandy

Tall Pines said...

Each year late summer I have some sugar ants that try to move into my house. I use TERRO ant killer and that gets rid of them.

It is a liquid and you pour a few drops on a small piece of cardboard. There is something sweet in it that ants love. They will eat it then go back to their nest and die. For a few days (or more depending on bad your infestation is) you'll see ants lined up in a circle around the liquid - then no more ants.

Using TERRO eliminates my need to spray to rid the ants. And it is cheaper.