Woke up to a *mini* nightmare!

[Kiwibird]

I'm one of those rare "morning people" who wakes up at 4am no alarm ready to go for the day. And this morning was no different, woke up perfectly happy, went into the bathroom and.... my bathroom floor seemed to be moving. SUGAR ANTS. Probably 50-75 sugar ants ALL over the bathroom floor and when I tracked the line, streaming inform under the front door... Now, I am a good vegan when it comes to most bugs. Spiders I generally don't bother at all (they eat other bugs, but the really big guys I'll relocate outside), beetles, silverfish, etc... even the odd big carpenter ant, I'll catch and let go outside where they belong. But sugar ants? I feel terrible taking any life, no matter how small, but I have to kill them. I cannot tell you how many hundreds of dollars worth of food they ruined and what a continual nightmare they were when we lived in Arizona (the whole state was basically infested). I have to have a "zero tolerance" policy for them if they come indoors. So traumatized by my experience in Arizona with them, I'm never without a bottle of bird safe bug spray (safe to use in the vicinity of birds, not on or in their cage FYI) called "Orange Guard". Even though I haven't seen one since we moved up here to Oregon 5 years ago, I just knew the day would come I would encounter my old nemesis again and I'm very glad I was prepared. At least the stuff swiftly dispatches the little monsters and because it's just ultra concentrated citrus extracts, didn't leave any chemically odors to make me nauseated. I basically washed the floor in it to hopefully temporarily prevent them getting in until I can go get some new seals for the door they're getting in under first thing when Lowes opens. Thankfully I saw none around Kiwi's cage or in the kitchen. I hope to keep it that way. They have every right to exist on this planet as I do and I hope they have many happy prosperous nests out in the woods, but they can't come in my home and destroy our food and harass our bird.

Ugh though, the taking of multiple lives is just never my idea of a good morning I'm going to feel dirty and bad about it all day.

 

[SailBoat]

The reality is that here in the great white north they only stream in numbers when one of the scouts find something of interest. Mrs. Boats takes great pride in being sugar ant free.

Third Summer in the new house and at the end of a weeks visit of the two youngest members, the kitchen trash container was invaded! The grandkids had just left when she spotted the invaders! The incoming trail and the target of the invasion was treated the same as you did. After, the third deep clear of the trash container, she deem it as not trust worthy and trashed it!

Over the years, I have found it safer to just back away and response only when requested.

 

[GaleriaGila]

We battle them on Planet Rickeybird (Cleveland area), too... every few years they make a grand stand and I have to practice immaculate hygiene and mass insect slaughter. Ever since I had to give up being a vegan due to health problems, it's a little easier. Slippery slope, yes.
By the way, my biggest fear was always that they'd get to the Rb. A little smeared vaseline on the cage legs prevents that. They don't like that stuff and only a couple have dared to get into it and of course they get stuck.

 

[Kiwibird]

Vaseline on the cage legs! Brilliant!

It's not like we leave a ton of food out on the counter or anything, but it's nice if I'm soaking beans overnight or make a smoothie before I shower to not have to worry about them being invaded. Or if you dare leave a dish in the sink to wash later NOT finding a bajillion ants swarming it. Ugggghhhhh... Not sure what they found in the bathroom, as I keep our bathroom very clean. I'd assume the water but there were none in the tub, toilet or sinks. They were all just on the floor.

Guaranteed by noon, that front door is going to be sealed up tighter than Fort Knox and I'll be adding some of the orange guard to my vinegar/water floor cleaner to be on the safe side. I will also investigate the small decorative planter outside the front door. In AZ, I once traced a whole colony of them to one of my houseplants. Yup, they'd set up a base of operations INDOORS in my planter! I tossed the whole thing. My last houseplant died after our last move and I never replaced it, so no further indoor sources of dirt. The planter outside only has silk plants (as not enough sun would reach it for real plants) but it does have real dirt. If necessary, I'll dump the dirt, steam clean the ever living crap out of the planter and fill it with pebbles this time. Or maybe just replace the planter... and the faux plants.... just to be safe:33:

 

[LordTriggs]

oh god that's horrifying! Especially to me after a childhood trauma involving ants. I'm not exactly a fan of any insects so you're far kinder than I when it comes to them. I know how you feel with the leaving a dish out overnight to wash in the morning, with my previous roach infestation I had to keep the place as clean as possible so if I dared even left a flake of onion peel on a chopping board there would be a few of those guys hanging around it. For a first time moving out I was not pleased with it I at least wanted not to have to worry about leaving a bowl in the sink!

 

[Kiwibird]

I feel your pain LordTriggs! I really try to be understanding that all creatures have a right to be here and have a role in their local ecosystem, but ants are very hard for me to feel any compassion towards. At summer camp as a kid, invariably on the nights you were required to "camp out" (like literally sleep on the ground outdoors in a sleeping bag, which I hated), you'd wake up covered in the large carpenter ants that lived in the woods up there. Then our first ever apartment (which was a complete s-hole), the heater kicked in the first time and like some kind of disturbing movie, fire ants POURING out the vents in the thousands (and hubby, then boyfriend, was at work until late at night). Some kind of nest was disturbed. This was pre-Kiwi and Tiffany the bearded dragon was still alive. I grabbed my reptiles, stuffed them in my sweatshirt pocket (both regularly came out with me, but not in the cold) and drove like 150MPH to Walmart to buy about 50 cans of Raid. Fortunately, a neighbor with an iguana took the reptiles for the night while I fumigated the ever living crap out of that apartment. Both my husband when he got home and the landlord when I called first thing in the morning thought I was being a dramatic girl. HA! Both jumped when they entered and saw the thousands of ant carcasses on the floor, furniture, walls and ceiling. It was horrific. And you'll never guess who got to clean it all up:06:

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

I'm with you on most bugs. Spiders, centipedes, etc are all fine and dandy. They eat other bugs and I am perfectly content to let them hang out in the dark corners of the house. Even the occasional ant is usually allowed to pass through (as long as it's not an entire colony).

Earwigs are my downfall. I hate them with a passion. I can't even get close enough to the things to kill them half the time, I usually make my wife do it. I don't even know why, I can't remember ever having a bad experience with them, they just creep me the #*$& out.

 

[Kentuckienne]

OMG! we have the little ants ... I do a couple things to knock them back. One, put ant bait in inaccessible areas. There are lots of recipes .. a mix of boric acid and sugar works well. Also, food grade diatomaceous earth sprinkled on them kills them almost at once. And you can also put that on their trails in places birdie can't reach. Boric acid powder ... I use that in my bookbindery to keep bugs out because it's almost impossible to keep bugs out of a room full of paper and leather.

Way back when I had my first apartment, I noticed roaches, so I bought some spray, took the dishes out of an upper cupboard, and started spraying to keep them away. I was standing on the counter spraying the top of a cabinet, when THOUSANDS of roaches came pouring out from behind the cabinet. I must have found the mother nest. I stood my ground, screaming, spraying them as they swarmed out, fell off the edge like tiny lemmings, and died on the floor. I don't remember anything about the cleanup, or what if anything fell on the counter by my feet, but I remember that dark horde to this day. I never could get rid of them ... it was an old building and they just came in from other apartments. At one point I started catching them, painting them with tempera paint, and letting them go to see if the same ones were coming back.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

At one point I started catching them, painting them with tempera paint, and letting them go to see if the same ones were coming back.

HA HA, now I am just picturing a bunch of neon colored roaches running around, glowing in the dark for some reason.

 

[Kiwibird]

At one point I started catching them, painting them with tempera paint, and letting them go to see if the same ones were coming back.

HA HA, now I am just picturing a bunch of neon colored roaches running around, glowing in the dark for some reason.

My mom did this with permanent markers to kangaroo rats when her house got an infestation. She'd mark their bellies through the live trap and checked each one to make sure she was releasing them far enough away they weren't coming back.

So I do have to ask, did the technicolor roaches return?

 

[LordTriggs]

oh how I wish it was just ants that were my downfall. Every insect I see horrifies me, to the point I can't even look at a picture of a spider without looking visibly scared. So to have a swarm of ants like that in the bathroom is among my worst nightmares, not too far behind giant spiders just existing.

My fear of them came from when I was a child playing in the woods and stood on a soldier ant nest. The nest swarmed me of course and that's where the fear comes from

 

[Kiwibird]

oh how I wish it was just ants that were my downfall. Every insect I see horrifies me, to the point I can't even look at a picture of a spider without looking visibly scared. So to have a swarm of ants like that in the bathroom is among my worst nightmares, not too far behind giant spiders just existing.

My fear of them came from when I was a child playing in the woods and stood on a soldier ant nest. The nest swarmed me of course and that's where the fear comes from

I think it's a pretty common fear- bugs. Especially after being swarmed by a whole bunch as a kid. I'm sure that was terrifying!

Growing up, I started keeping reptiles and amphibians (also an aquarium at one point) from a young age, so I've been feeding live insects, worms, baby mice you name it, I've probably fed it to something else. My dad also used to drag me fishing as a kid, so sticking live worms on hooks... That's not even mentioning encountering giant centipedes, tarantulas, wolf spiders, black widows, brown recluses, bark scorpions (twice discovered in my bed!), fire ants and a variety of harmless bugs big enough to saddle up and ride growing up in the desert southwest. The teeny tiny non poisonous bugs up here in OR are laughable in comparison.

The only 'creepy crawly' things that really bothers me are centipedes. I woke up with a 6" giant desert centipede in my bed biting my arm one night. Screamed so loud my parents thought an axe murder was in my room or something. They aren't deathly poisonous, but their sting hurts extremely bad and my arm swelled up a good deal. I think I'd have to let my husband deal with any centipede or centipede-like bugs that got in *shudders*.

 

[LordTriggs]

I hear those stories and I'm so glad I'm in a climate that doesn't promote such insects, I'd agree that centipedes are the absolute worst! They look almost alien to me, to even see one of that size I would be requesting both a young priest and an old priest

 

[dhraiden]

My is terrified of house centipedes. They do look pretty monstrous. It's a good they're so small. Like spiders they're good for keeping other more invasive/damaging pests at bay.

I do try to escort moths and the like safely outdoors when I can. I don't feel especially terrible at slaying tiny bugs, as long as its quickly and efficiently done.

 

[SailBoat]

And, why I like the Great White North and Ground Frost!!!

 

[RavensGryf]

Oh no, I hate ants! We get them when it gets hot out. I use Orange Guard. In fact, the reason I use Orange Guard is because of YOU mentioning it here several years ago! I love it, and it really works.

One thing that I’ve seen work before is, spraying the entire outside perimeter of the house at the point the structure meets the ground, with poison. Not good for people with dogs and cats that go out though.

Good luck getting rid of the nasty critters!

4 am and bright eyed and ready to go? You’re insane April

 

[Kiwibird]

So my efforts, thus far, seem to be effective (knock on wood). I replaced ALL the weatherstripping around the door and added these corner seals as well. I sprayed orange guard along the perimeter of the entryway (we are in a second story condo), including on our neighbors side in case they were getting hit too. I emptied the outdoor planter dirt, despite no signs of a nest in it, and thoroughly cleaned it and the faux plants. It now has pebbles in it.

I killed a couple more ants yesterday afternoon, but I think they were already trapped in here from the initial onslaught. So far, have not seen one since yesterday afternoon. Hopefully the problem was nipped in the bud and the ants will stay outside where they belong.

4 am and bright eyed and ready to go? You’re insane April

This morning I was up at 3! And I'm almost never 'tired' except right before bed or if I've done something exhausting like a big hike or something. I only seem to need 5/6 hours of sleep these days and can hardly ever sleep more (but suffer no ill effects from "lack" of sleep and quit drinking coffee a year ago). Guess my lifetime of poor sleep habits has finally regulated itself?