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Jun. 6th, 2008 06:24 pmI can totally get behind living more naturally, but I draw the line at motherfucking ants.
I've compiled a list of things and stuff regarding ants and preventative measures. This is not comprehensive, naturally. Also, beware that some things may be poisonous to you, or kids, or pets, or D, all of the above. (Like bay leaves. Weird.)
Short term things:
- Use Simple Green to kill the motherfuckers when they come in.
- Move all foodstuffs from the cupboards to somewhere the hell else for a week.
- Scrub the kitchen. The whole kitchen.
Clean:
- All dishes and the like are rinsed immediately. Things with stuck stuff (like if I forget my pasta and it burns) get to be scrubbed immediately, merry christmas. Any ants who get into the dishwasher deserve their fucking fate.
- Maintain a strict regimen of cleaning everything cat-food-related after my Magic has her food.
- Put an ant trap in the under-the-sink area, where the trash and recycling stuff is. Get some simple sort of "lock" that'll keep the cats from opening the door - a good idea anyways. (The handles are knobs, so we can't just put a stick through them.)
- Clean all cat-related dishes, including the waterers and surfaces 'neath the cat food.
Prevent:
- Put all cupboardy food items into jars or other such containers. Raid the yard sale shop down the street from us, or go to Fred Meyer's. Start with food in boxes/open bags, naturally.
- Ask B if he has a caulking gun. We have a few nooks and/or crannies that could do with some sealing. Apparently, white glue is also effective, and is less toxic. I don't know how it holds up over time compared to caulk, though; I'll have to research. (Apparently, 100% silicon caulk is the least toxic variety.)
- Move the recycling bins to a couple of feet away from the house.
- Move B's cats' kibble feederer back to a wider spot on the dresser (don't ask), and put it in a cake tin that has water in it. Moat!
- Oh! I get 5-pound tins of coffee. Use the leftover coffee tins to store B's cat kibble in. Ha!
Kill/Deter/Other:
I hear that ants dislike or are killed by a huge list of things:
* peppermint - deterrent
- Mix peppermint oil with water and spritz them.
- After cleaning all surfaces, polish with a cloth that has a touch of peppermint oil.
* coffee grounds - boundary
* soap - poison
- Mix 1/4c soap (Dawn) with 5gal water, and water the lawn. Grass will be fine.
* borax - poison
- This, and varieties of this, is the usual ingredient in a lot of ant traps. This is bad for pets; use caution.
* baby powder - boundary, poison
* vinegar - deterrent
- Fill a spritzer with half vinegar, half water, and spritz away.
* powdered red pepper - deterrent
- Put on trails, in cracks, and near entryways.
* bay leaves - deterrent
- Apparently, one can just... put bay leaves in common antly areas (cabinets, entryways, &c), and that works. Weird. This is dangerous to pets.
* chalk - boundary
* cinnamon string - boundary
- Soak some string in a cinnamon solution. (Alliteration!)
* instant grits or Cream of Wheat - explosive
- You know, like rice and pigeons.
* petroleum jelly - boundary
* feed them - ?
- Some people will just put a jar of honey or a pile of sugar in some place nearby the house (but not too near). Since they have everything they need, why would they go further?
Some References:
- http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Ants
- http://www.ehow.com/how_3791_rid-ants-naturally.html
- http://www.ehow.com/tips_3791.html
- http://dietrich.livejournal.com/298218.html (focuses on moths, but still)
- http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
- http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070101215117AAZDp6W
- http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Ants-in-Your-House-Naturally-and-Easily
Random Ant Fact:
"In some parts of the world large ants, especially army ants, are said to be used as sutures by pressing the wound together and applying ants along it. The ant in defensive attitude seizes the edges in its mandibles and locks in place. The body is then cut off and the head and mandibles can remain in place, closing the wound."
- F. Gottrup & David Leaper (2004). Wound healing: historical aspects
Short term things:
- Use Simple Green to kill the motherfuckers when they come in.
- Move all foodstuffs from the cupboards to somewhere the hell else for a week.
- Scrub the kitchen. The whole kitchen.
Clean:
- All dishes and the like are rinsed immediately. Things with stuck stuff (like if I forget my pasta and it burns) get to be scrubbed immediately, merry christmas. Any ants who get into the dishwasher deserve their fucking fate.
- Maintain a strict regimen of cleaning everything cat-food-related after my Magic has her food.
- Put an ant trap in the under-the-sink area, where the trash and recycling stuff is. Get some simple sort of "lock" that'll keep the cats from opening the door - a good idea anyways. (The handles are knobs, so we can't just put a stick through them.)
- Clean all cat-related dishes, including the waterers and surfaces 'neath the cat food.
Prevent:
- Put all cupboardy food items into jars or other such containers. Raid the yard sale shop down the street from us, or go to Fred Meyer's. Start with food in boxes/open bags, naturally.
- Ask B if he has a caulking gun. We have a few nooks and/or crannies that could do with some sealing. Apparently, white glue is also effective, and is less toxic. I don't know how it holds up over time compared to caulk, though; I'll have to research. (Apparently, 100% silicon caulk is the least toxic variety.)
- Move the recycling bins to a couple of feet away from the house.
- Move B's cats' kibble feederer back to a wider spot on the dresser (don't ask), and put it in a cake tin that has water in it. Moat!
- Oh! I get 5-pound tins of coffee. Use the leftover coffee tins to store B's cat kibble in. Ha!
Kill/Deter/Other:
I hear that ants dislike or are killed by a huge list of things:
* peppermint - deterrent
- Mix peppermint oil with water and spritz them.
- After cleaning all surfaces, polish with a cloth that has a touch of peppermint oil.
* coffee grounds - boundary
* soap - poison
- Mix 1/4c soap (Dawn) with 5gal water, and water the lawn. Grass will be fine.
* borax - poison
- This, and varieties of this, is the usual ingredient in a lot of ant traps. This is bad for pets; use caution.
* baby powder - boundary, poison
* vinegar - deterrent
- Fill a spritzer with half vinegar, half water, and spritz away.
* powdered red pepper - deterrent
- Put on trails, in cracks, and near entryways.
* bay leaves - deterrent
- Apparently, one can just... put bay leaves in common antly areas (cabinets, entryways, &c), and that works. Weird. This is dangerous to pets.
* chalk - boundary
* cinnamon string - boundary
- Soak some string in a cinnamon solution. (Alliteration!)
* instant grits or Cream of Wheat - explosive
- You know, like rice and pigeons.
* petroleum jelly - boundary
* feed them - ?
- Some people will just put a jar of honey or a pile of sugar in some place nearby the house (but not too near). Since they have everything they need, why would they go further?
Some References:
- http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Ants
- http://www.ehow.com/how_3791_rid-ants-naturally.html
- http://www.ehow.com/tips_3791.html
- http://dietrich.livejournal.com/298218.html (focuses on moths, but still)
- http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
- http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070101215117AAZDp6W
- http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Ants-in-Your-House-Naturally-and-Easily
Random Ant Fact:
"In some parts of the world large ants, especially army ants, are said to be used as sutures by pressing the wound together and applying ants along it. The ant in defensive attitude seizes the edges in its mandibles and locks in place. The body is then cut off and the head and mandibles can remain in place, closing the wound."
- F. Gottrup & David Leaper (2004). Wound healing: historical aspects
(no subject)
Jul. 9th, 2007 11:07 amI hate ants.
I blasted huge chunks of the kitchen with Simple Green. I lined four suspected points of entry with SG, as well. I did a load of dishes, scrubbed the counters, scrubbed parts of the floor, and killed a lot of ants, swearing the entire time. B put out a couple of ant traps outside, where the trail began. He also used bleach along the trail, to hopefully kill enough of the scent. And then he stayed far, far away from the kitchen, in a display of extreme smarts, because I think I would have killed him. Not because he was at all doing wrong, but because I hate ants.
I stayed up until 3a because I was too jazzed to even contemplate sleep. When the rush faded and I slumped, I still couldn't sleep, because every time I closed my eyes, I would see ants. Every speck on any surface could be an ant. Every possible nerve sensation could be an ant. And god help me, it's going to take a lot of willpower to not throw out every bit of food in the cupboards that's not hermetically sealed.
Hate.
--
In related news, apparently boric acid is used for everything. And related to that, I'm going to edit that page a lot, because damn.
I blasted huge chunks of the kitchen with Simple Green. I lined four suspected points of entry with SG, as well. I did a load of dishes, scrubbed the counters, scrubbed parts of the floor, and killed a lot of ants, swearing the entire time. B put out a couple of ant traps outside, where the trail began. He also used bleach along the trail, to hopefully kill enough of the scent. And then he stayed far, far away from the kitchen, in a display of extreme smarts, because I think I would have killed him. Not because he was at all doing wrong, but because I hate ants.
I stayed up until 3a because I was too jazzed to even contemplate sleep. When the rush faded and I slumped, I still couldn't sleep, because every time I closed my eyes, I would see ants. Every speck on any surface could be an ant. Every possible nerve sensation could be an ant. And god help me, it's going to take a lot of willpower to not throw out every bit of food in the cupboards that's not hermetically sealed.
Hate.
--
In related news, apparently boric acid is used for everything. And related to that, I'm going to edit that page a lot, because damn.
