Home Invaders

So we found some home invaders last night. Ants. Not fully sure what species they are:

I suspect they are Pharoh Ants tho the abdomens don’t seem to have the stripes, but that could just be because these fuckers are damn tiny and the BEST look I’ve had of them is the above images which were taken with my camera’s macro lens then cropped. Still the body morphology looks about right, especially with the segmented nation of the connection between the abdomen and thorax segments.

They don’t respond at all to cayenne pepper, and don’t seem to be interested in ant traps. We sprayed some stuff down that should collect on their bodies and poison the nest, but if that also doesn’t work, anybody have any idea if these are indeed pharaoh ants, and how best to deal with them?

Our next trick might be a mixture of sugar water and borax as another systemic poison that they’ll take home with them.

Oh and after Mrs. Weer’d freaking out about them (she does NOT like critters sharing domestic living space with her) I felt a strong urge to watch this on Netflix Instant View:

According to Hollywood of the 1950s Ants can be killed by judicious aplication of .45 ACP from a M1A1 Thompson

I might try that if the other stuff doesn’t work…

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0 Responses to Home Invaders

  1. cb says:

    I’m a friend of (Sailor) Curt’s. He referred me to your blog.

    I’ve always received excellent service and products from http://www.doityourselfpestcontrol.com/

  2. Jennifer says:

    Splenda. I know, weird. I had similar invaders and had heard it so I opened a packet of the stuff up and dumped it where they were congregating. Hubby decided I was crazy because they just carted it off like it was sugar. Then they started acting very strangely. Walking in circles and gyrating. And then they were gone.
    YMMV, but it has continued to work in our house.

  3. NightPaws says:

    Borax can be a decent ant deterrant alone too. They don’t like to walk through lines of it. That saved my first apartment from becoming THE ant destination when a jackass down the hall spilled beer (or something) in the hall right in front of my doorway which brough a billion ants in to hang out on it.

    My mom swears by the Ortho shakey stuff http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0253810-Ant-B-Gon-Killer-Shaker/dp/B000BO5CQW
    I agree- if you apply it around the outside of your home, a few times each summer it does keep them out.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      I use the Ortho stuff on my lawn and around the foundation, and it works AWESOME. Don’t think its safe to use in the kitchen tho…

      Thanks to EVERYBODY who’s giving us a hand, we’ll lick these 6-legged bastards!

      • NightPaws says:

        LOL! I don’t remember if they have a kitchen/inside the house formula. Otherwise, it does just explain a lot of things about me, doesn’t it? (Well, between the ant killing crap and the lead paint everywhere!)
        Maybe just try borax lines around the baseboards or areas of ant interest of the kitchen.

        On that same thought I believe Diatomaceous Earth will work miracles when it comes to insect issues if you sprinkle it around where you keep seeing them. Sure, it’s another messy thing, but it’s not a poison and you can still watch the little suckers die!

  4. Dev says:

    Good old timey movies.

  5. I’ve used the poison mixed with the sugar syrup stuff to good effect. It came prepackaged as 5.4% borax and I guess the rest was syrup. Brand name of Terro.

    The stuff worked so well that I’ve laid out little squares of it prophylactically under the counters and near the dishwasher

    Though the Splenda sounds totally evil.

  6. Geodkyt says:

    Terro is Da Bomb.

    Most inside infestations seem to take a couple of days of Terro to work, but I had a MASSIVE infestation of my mailbox (wooden post that looked like the Formican Freeway) that was wiped out in 24 hours with three squares of Terro.

  7. Bobby says:

    Use quaker instant grits. Just sprinkle them on the mound and they should all be dead in a few days. Non-poisionous and no mess to deal with.

    Good luck,

  8. BillyBob says:

    Grits work like a champ too. The instant kind, uncooked. They carry it to the nest, feed on it, it swells, they die. No fuss, no deadly chemicals to harm your pets…

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