Buggy Again and a Mess as Well
Woman in the Middle | August 5, 2017I generally try to live in harmony with the insect world. I am helped by the fact that I live in a desert, which tends to be less buggy than, say, a rain forest. As long as the bugs stay outside and leave me alone inside my house, it is usually all good. But the key is they stay OUTSIDE.
Ants in particular are not a huge problem for me. I see a few in the house, I deal with it, they usually go away and everything is fine for another year or so. I prefer not to spray poison all over the outside of my house, as that impacts the natural predators such as lizards and spiders.
Unfortunately, the ants are not sticking to their side of the bargain and staying OUTSIDE right now. I am up to seven known ant infestations in the house or garage. The latest is just about the final straw for me. Usually I can trace the infestation to the point on an outside wall where they are getting in. But the most recent one, discovered this evening, is around my sink in the master bath area. The sink isn’t by an outside wall, and I have no idea where the ants are coming from. We are going out soon and while we are out I am buying some ant bait traps and if that doesn’t work or if I get many more forays into the house, I may give up and hire a service. The constant fighting and smell of any spray is getting on my last nerve.
It doesn’t help that I have cats who seem to throw their food around like a bunch of teenagers in a cafeteria food fight. Blackie in particular is very bad about tossing food about. Hubby and I spent about an hour and a half between the two of us cleaning up Blackie’s eating area today due to ants in the front part of the house. I admit we didn’t clean it up for a few weeks. But I did clean it thoroughly a month ago and a week after that I gave it another spiff up. So three weeks worth of his eating mess took an HOUR AND A HALF to clean up. Seriously, I sometimes question why I have pets. But the ants love it, which is why we cleaned it up today. We are hoping that the generous amount of tin foil we employed to protect the wall and floor will make clean up faster next time the ants show up. Sigh.
In case you were wondering why foil was our covering of choice, we inherited quite a bit of foil from Mom in Law’s house. I can have Blackie covered, literally, for years to come. I knew it would come in handy and it did.
My cats are messy eaters too. I put their dishes on plastic place mats so it’s easy to clean up. Unlike you I didn’t inherit enough foil to side a house!
Ants don’t bother me unless I am hanging clothes on the line and they are all over the ground under the clothes line