Creepy Crawlers

Black spot that caught my attention.

I've spent the last few days trying to decide what to post about next. Today my question was answered. I was in the kitchen when I noticed a black spot on the ceiling of my laundry room. My first thought was that a wasp had gotten in, not fun, but nothing to panic over either.

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.

I know the picture is a little fuzzy, but this is the corner of the laundry room ceiling, about three feet away from the first picture. My best guess is that the ants were in the molding along the entire wall and began looking for a second exit when I poisoned the first one. At this point I was wearing a towel over my face to avoid breathing in the ant spray and trying to block any new routes by spraying a perimeter.

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.

1. Continue to spray live ants I find and hope the situation doesn't get worse.
2. 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.
3. Spray outside of house with some sort of insecticide.
4. Make sure all food products are sealed and that rooms (especially the kitchen) stay clean.
5. Hire an exterminator.

Any suggestions are appreciated!