Or I should say, HAD ants.
In the kitchen, sneaking in through the back door seal (because it's not the best door seal and needs to be replaced, but want to wait until we figure out if we're going to move the back door from the side wall to the back wall of the house. This is TBD, and will be done when we renovate the kitchen in a year or two).
We just noticed this over the past 36 hours. First there were only a few....and then over the course of yesterday afternoon/evening, we noticed more, and they were scattered and isolated, a few on the counter, a few by the door, one in the dishwasher, a few on the backsplash.
Have you experienced this? Particularly this time of the year? If so, read on - maybe you can relate. Or maybe you'll give what we did a try instead.
Our dear friends (who also live in a 90-year-old home in the Upper Beach, and have had an invasion of these cute little crawlers) lent us some traps last night, and we put those out, but we wanted to be sure we nipped this in the bud ASAP, so while we were out and about today (including a very successful trip to Lowe's and Canadian Tire), we picked up this:
In the kitchen, sneaking in through the back door seal (because it's not the best door seal and needs to be replaced, but want to wait until we figure out if we're going to move the back door from the side wall to the back wall of the house. This is TBD, and will be done when we renovate the kitchen in a year or two).
We just noticed this over the past 36 hours. First there were only a few....and then over the course of yesterday afternoon/evening, we noticed more, and they were scattered and isolated, a few on the counter, a few by the door, one in the dishwasher, a few on the backsplash.
Have you experienced this? Particularly this time of the year? If so, read on - maybe you can relate. Or maybe you'll give what we did a try instead.
Our dear friends (who also live in a 90-year-old home in the Upper Beach, and have had an invasion of these cute little crawlers) lent us some traps last night, and we put those out, but we wanted to be sure we nipped this in the bud ASAP, so while we were out and about today (including a very successful trip to Lowe's and Canadian Tire), we picked up this:
100% natural ant killer. Effective on all types of ants. For use indoors or outdoors
We looked at a whooooooole bunch of different pest control products, and I have to say....it was hard to make a decision! I think because we didn't want to KILL the ants (despite the name of the product we ended up getting), but we wanted to deter them from wanting to come into the house. So we went with this, mainly because it was for both indoor and outdoor, and it was safe for animals and plants. We didn't want to spray anything toxic that could make Ruby potentially ill should she ingest the product. So we got home, and promptly distributed Insectigone. Which I have to mention - is a powder. I thought this was an interesting since most bug replants are sprays or gel. I want skeptical of it's success rate because of this, but we figured we'd give it a whirl. So we "dusted" the door frame on the outside and then along the inside of the door and floor where they were coming in. And we waited. I started cleaning up the kitchen, putting dishes away, wiping the counters, took out the recycling....a good 1/2 hour of time goes by. I take a look - no ants. Hmmm.....okay, so far so good. I continue on with my chores, start making a batch of West African Peanut Soup (post on that to come later - for those that want the recipe), chopping veggies, and tidying up as I go.....another 1/2 hour to 40 minutes goes by, I have another look - no more (new) ants. I was pretty impressed. This stuff seems to be working in that it's deterring the ants from coming into our kitchen! HURRAY!!!
Again - I didn't want to really HURT the ants that were lingering around. I mean, if you've ever seen the movie, A Bug's Life, then I'm CERTAIN you would feel the same way! There were some casualties however, I can't lie - but for the most part - this process was relatively painless and totally successful!
Here are some other things we picked up today:
Again - I didn't want to really HURT the ants that were lingering around. I mean, if you've ever seen the movie, A Bug's Life, then I'm CERTAIN you would feel the same way! There were some casualties however, I can't lie - but for the most part - this process was relatively painless and totally successful!
Here are some other things we picked up today:
Here's a cute picture I stole of Steve raking up the leaves on our front lawn/boulevard. CUTE!!!! Nothing makes you feel like a real homeowner than having to rake up the leaves from the tree in your front yard, right?!
Have a great week all!
xo
xo