Ants

[Dante]

So. I have ants, ants on the crumbs in the floor, ants crawling on my pants in the laundry and recently... ants that discored the motherload... MY CLOSET FULL OF PHOOD!!! O_O.

Needless to say objects have been moved to higher locations to avoid further intrusions... they already have an infinite supply of calories from my garbage and random chips that I might drop on the floor (they can't even eat all of those so why go after my stuff in the closet T_T).

The good news is that even though they look exactly identical to the mean black ants that live in Phoenix... I have only been bitten once... and I think I stepped on that ant so I might have deserved it. (Sorry little gal!)

But then there is the bad news, I have followed their tracks... and they don't lead outside... the just vanish... right in my room... not at the door... or the window... thus I'm starting to get worried that they have found my residence to be their new home...

Even more bad news... I promised myself that as long as they weren't biting me I wasn't going to use the nuclear option on them (bugspray) and given that they live in a sealed closed enviroment with me I'm not sure that that would be such a good option anyways X_x... so, because I can't see killing lifeforms that might have pain sensors that have never tried to intentially cause me pain (except when perhaps I stepped on them... so that's really self defense) I am left with the following dilemna...

HOW DO I STOP THEM FROM RAIDING MY PHOOD! So that's my question, has anyone found any viable, non-carpet staining, non-lethal ant repellant. That way I can keep them from raiding my food and they can happily clean any pieces of debris off my carpet that the vacuum misses. (If I can suceed in living in harmony with them, I'd feel like a better anime enthusiast anyways ... plus I could finally test my own twisted mind ideas out and build a mobius strip, hang it in the air with a cracker on it... and then place a happy ant on the surface... before long a chain will form over the wall, down the line and to the cracker... ANTS ON A MOBIUS STRIP! (what paths will they take upon it's singular surface!)

Oh and Pascal is ebil, but not evil... so please don't recommend anything that will actually kill them...

Thank you!
Pascal

[Peanut]

Ants are one of the major problems in the dorm I was in last year and this year. I think spraying pledge (or something like that) on surfaces makes it hard for them to climb up on desks/counters and things. Also, cleaning up clutter helps a lot...

[Whitefang]

Poison.

You put the little canister/package on the floor, out of reach of any pets or accidental human contact. The ants come in, collect their nutritious breakfast, take it back to the queen...and then you are rid of your ant problem.

The Earth has plenty of ants. Go ahead and don't feel guilty killing a few thousand.

Sorry Pascal, it's really all you can do at this point. Once you are rid of the current infestation, make sure that you don't leave crumbs on the floor and don't leave open food containers around. Ants don't search very hard for food unless they know an area contains high concentrations of food, so prevention is the best cure. If you are intent on sparing their miserable little lives, then all I can recommend is that you clean up the food. Pitch everything that the ants are gathering or seal it up somewhere. Eat a lot of refrigerated/frozen foods, always put the dishes in the dishwasher immediately, and be sure that they are not gathering from your trashcan. Maybe burning some incense will help? I honestly don't know. They use some type of sense to find the trails where food is, so perhaps that could help, though I doubt it.

Ah, another idea is to vacuum them up and throw out the bag right away, sealing it very well. This will keep them alive and "relocate" them to the nearest landfill.

As for the mobius strip question, I hate to be a downer, but they would most likely just walk over the edge of the strip. Ants are flexible like that!

[Tsukuyomi]

This may prove difficult o_o; I was going to suggest Windex, but.. yeah ^ ^;

My guess is to try to lure them into a closed container with food in it :-? It may take some work, but it could work

[Dante]

As for the mobius strip question, I hate to be a downer, but they would most likely just walk over the edge of the strip. Ants are flexible like that!

The the food must be placed within a Klein Bottle!

Oh and thanks for the suggestions! Oh and I just noticed that they seem much less active today (AN EVIL cold front just swept through Flagstaff... frigid) so, because my room is at a constant temperature, this suggests their nest might be outside after all (and something like cinnamon might work).

[Whitefang]

The the food must be placed within a Klein Bottle!

You make a klein bottle and I suspect ants will never concern you again!

[Peanut]

Wait! No Pascal! Better idea...you train the ants to kill and use them as a super invincible army to take over the world! Or...just annoy somebody next door by giving them tons of ant bites...

[Dante]

Wait! No Pascal! Better idea...you train the ants to kill and use them as a super invincible army to take over the world! Or...just annoy somebody next door by giving them tons of ant bites...

But they DON'T bite... lest I would have already gone nuclear on them.

[Paul]

Well poisons are out and so are the marines. I liked the paramilitary ant training. We could ship them out to battle terrorism and the war on drugs. (Hehe).

But for a not lethal rendition of keeping your neighbors at bay, may be easier than you think. My wife and I share a huge success in keeping the little anties at bay, it may work for you too.

Patroleum Jelly.

There is something about this stuff that they won't cross it. When I lived in California where we had the red ants, they was coming in every door and window to the outside and raiding everything. I had heard about Petroleum Jelly helping, so I bought a large jar and I smeared a decent coating around every door and window frame and the ants quit coming in. The ones who were trapped on the inside we found curled up on the floor dead.

We do the same thing in our house in Kansas. If the ants access the food, we simply investigate how they are doing it and swipe or smear a barrier of defence. We coat the power cords, and any table legs, the door and window frames, outlets, we even stopped an invasion of the dog food by applying a barrier to the inside of the bag. The ants are kept at bay. You may have to work at it and several times where they find a hole in your barrier, but once you seal it off, your ant invasion should dissapear.

Now I don't know if this will stain clothes or not. I don't know. But I haven't had any noticable problems I could see. But it's easy to clean up, and it's cheap, effective, and painless to the ants. I think once they figure it out they ain't getting anywhere or getting food, they move on to someone else.

Give it a shot, it works for us.

[Peanut]

Well poisons are out and so are the marines. I liked the paramilitary ant training. We could ship them out to battle terrorism and the war on drugs. (Hehe).

See Pascal, somebody else sees the brilliance behind my plan to create a super army of ants.

[Dante]

Thank you Paul! That sounds like an excellent idea! I think I'll give it a shot!

-Pascal

[~darkelfgirl~]

Wow, thanks Paul! Interesting idea ... I need to tell my parents that!