(thanks {or no thanks} Google for the image)We have had problems with sugar ants lately - the teeny, tiny ones that march in single file to the nearest dropped crumb(s) on the floor. I sprayed the perimeter of the back door with Raid and mopped the floor by hand yesterday.
This morning, when I started pulling the cereal boxes out of the cupboard, Aidan said, "Ants! Ants everywhere!" I looked closely at the counter (my countertop kind of looks like fake marble so they weren't easy to spot at first) and sure enough, there were mounds of ants eating at last night's syrup and waffle leftovers my kids had so lovingly left for them.
Where were these ants coming from? I looked near the back door - no ants. I searched the kitchen and found another pile of ants in the sink chomping on a semi-large piece of food. I searched and searched for the origin of these little ants, and finally found it...
There is a tiny hole in the wall between the counter and the cupboards where the previous owners had had a tiny nail for a picture. They were climbing through the tiny hole. In the wall.
I sprayed the hole, and spent the next few minutes cleaning ants off of my kitchen top.
Sugar ants, tarantulas, worm-horned caterpillar thingies that eat your tomatoes...southern Utah is VERY different from northern Utah. (I was raised in Logan, which is only 30 minutes from the Idaho border. Now I live 45 minutes from the Arizona border.)
P.S. As I searched for a visual on Google, I started itching up a storm. I'm pretty sure there are multitudes of sugar ants on me right now. Are there sugar ants on you too? You're welcome.
29 people wanted to leave a comment:
Gross!! We had ants in the house yesterday; thankfully just the laundry room by the dog dish. EWWW. Gross. Nasty.
I hate ants. We had them in our house in Rexburg. I could never figure out how they were getting in and as a preventative measure, I caulked all around our counter, sink, cabinets everything. It didn't work. And then we moved so it was okay.
I hope yours go away soon. . .
Ants are the worst! We used to have an ant problem in Mesa, ants and crickets.. lots of crickets. I was just glad we didn't have cockroaches and scorpions.
Glad you found the source.
Ummm....yeah there are ants all over me now. Thanks.
Yuck! The thought of any creepy crawly thing in my kitchen creeps me out. I heard that if you put out cornmeal, they will eat it, but can't digest it and it kills them. Not sure if it really works or not.
Ants creep me out more than spiders... it's that whole swarming and covering thing they do.
I probably DO have sugar ants on me, since we've had these stupid things in our house for MONTHS!!! I HATE them. Ours come through the walls, too. Tiny little cracks we never knew existed. Oh, and just wait. They'll start coming through the electrical sockets, too.
I HATE these ants, but it makes me feel a little better that someone else is going through the same thing with me! :) But yeah, I totally feel your pain!!
I hope they are gone for good!
I. Hate. Bugs. Ugh! We get earwigs in my kitchen and it grosses me out to no end. Oh it's grossing me out juts thinking about it. We rent so there is only a limit of things we can do but no matter what it doesnt rid them entirely. And yes just thinking about it all makes me super itchy. Thanks. :)
Oh Erin that is so yucky for you. We usually get some ants (just a couple) every year so we just buy the little ant traps and it takes care of the problem. I have never seen them on my counters though, I wouldn't have handled it very well.
I guess the bright side is that they were ants rather than cockroaches. Thank GOODNESS we don't have those around here.
Well, except for when I lived in Merrill Hall at USU. The summer previous they had all the international students housed there and somehow they brought them in. We had to wait 2 weeks to move in so they could spray everything down.
My worst bug incident was with moths in the pantry. I had to dump my pantry 3 times and wrap everything in plastic for a YEAR to get rid of them. Oh- and i even repainted the whole thing and used a bug-killing primer to try and solve tha problem. Ick!
I have ants that cover my kitchen sink nightly, and by my back door, We bait them, and hopefully get them sprayed to get rid of them soon! I hate them!
i hate sugar ants too. bugs down here in the south are very much on the rampage. We always get ants, crickets, spiders, and coakroaches around here. I once saw a spider outside of my apt when we first moved here that's body alone was the size of my 2 yr olds palm. NOT KIDDING! it was disgusting
Ewww..Thanks for the creepy crawly feeling! :) I hate bugs. We had an ant problem in our first apartment together..I thought I was going to go insane! Way to be a detective and figure out where they were coming in!
Erin, I hate to break it to you but a professional may be the only permanent solution. Sugar Ants leave a faramone (can't figure out how to spell that) that they WILL find no matter what. So once you have one, his friends will just keep coming and coming no matter what. I would put caulking in the hole but it probably won't matter. We had these at Blockbuster when I worked there and we had to have a professional come and spray every week or so for the summer before they went away. So good luck! I am lucky to know all of this because my husband is obsessed with ants for some reason. I know way more about them then I really care to know.
Yup--itching all over now. But I am glad that you solved the problem of the magical appearing ants.
ACK! My sister used to live in Mesa, and it was NORMAL to watch out for scorpions in your pool towels. I swear you people who live in the desert take your life into your hands. I couldn't take it!
(I know ants aren't life threatening, but they'd sure FREAK me out!)
Sorry about your ants. But really, did you have to send them this way. Now I'm all itchy. :o)
Fill that hole up! YUCK!
We have horrible ant problems here in Texas. I find little holes they've chewed in the caulking, and let themselves right in. I keep recaulking the holes and having the bug guy out to spray, but I don't know that I'm winning the battle!
Luckily the ants have stayed outside this year. But we did have a bee buzzing around the kitchen yesterday.
here is a great link about getting rid of the pests:
http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-sugar-ants.htm
Okay, that is so creepy for them to be coming in a tiny hole in the wall! We had a major ant infestation last year and attacked all the hills in sight in our yard this year so it hasn't been so bad, but still...ugh.
So, I have an ant story.
One day, my very stupid friend left an empty soda can in my bathroom.
The next day, unaware of this, I went into the bathroom without the lights on and without my glasses on.
I felt things under my feet.
I turned on the lights.
I was standing in a pile of 2000 ants.
I'm terrified of ants now. I have never cried that hard because of a bug before.
I hate sugar ants (and mice.) Last year they came into my kitchen. They stayed on the floor and never got in my pantry or on my counters. I had them again at the first of the summer and got rid of them. I am now dealing with mice. I think a mom-to-be mouse sneak into my house and had babies. We've caught four under my kitchen sink in the last week. As bad as the ants were I think I would take them over the mice.
We've got sugar ants, too. I usually just spray them to death with whatever bottle of cleaning product is closest. Drown them in chemicals.
We had those when we lived in LA and they would seriously make stripes diagonally across the kitchen wall, etc. Ugh. So sorry. I hate bugs.
UGH! I think they are trying to tell you to give up sugar for good! LOL.
Just reading this, I'm itching up a storm. Sorry about the ants. I hope you've taken care of them!
Post a Comment