Black spot that caught my attention. |
A closer look, however, revealed that the spot was actually a crowd of small, black ants coming in through the molding of my house. YUCK.
I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I absolutely loathe roaches. The few times I've come across one or two in my house I was ruthless. Ants are a close second to being the most dreaded infestation though.
I've had some trouble with ants for a couple weeks now, but only in my bathroom. I had high hopes that the problem was under control. Finding this nest was the last straw. I bypassed the corn meal that is supposed to kill ants naturally, gave up on the traps that have food for the ants to take back to the nest so the whole colony dies. I went straight for the "kill the buggers on contact" spray. And I coated them.
Of course, that sent the few that survived into a tizzy and a few seconds later this happened:
The battle truly begins. |
The picture doesn't do this situation justice. Not only do I have live ants trying to escape, but I have dead ants stuck to the wall with the spray and more dead ants dropping from the ceiling. I seriously hope that they are all dead and that I don't continue to have problems. Ants give me the creepy crawlies.
Oh, and I hope that the spray doesn't damage the paint.
Options for Termination
From here I have a few options if the problem isn't solved.
- Continue to spray live ants I find and hope the situation doesn't get worse.
- I plan to head outside with a rake as soon as the weather gets warmer and rake all the leaves and undergrowth away from the house.
- Spray outside of house with some sort of insecticide.
- Make sure all food products are sealed and that rooms (especially the kitchen) stay clean.
- Hire an exterminator.
I had really good luck with HotShots Ant Killer. the kind that they take back to the colony. they liked to come into my kitchen on the second floor apartment. I HATE ANTS! they are so gross. HotShots was little more than I wanted to pay but well worth it. I put out the trap in their path and it seemed to work- until a new colony comes. they seemed to be coming in for water last summer. Best of luck killing them off!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Rachel. I used HotShots kill on contact spray, but I'm considering having a pest company out to spray. I have to be careful with the traps since I have a small dog.
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