Ant attack

[fluffymark]

Got to the kitchen this morning to make breakfast, and found a few invaders living there. The cooker was swarming with hundreds of annoying little ants!! Oh no! *eeeek*

Where did they come from? They weren't there yesterday. And theres no trail of them invading from outside. There must be a nest *inside* the cooker. As it's a fitted kitchen, I'm unable do anything to move/open the cooker and find them, but theres lots of little ant size holes for them to run about in. Ants one, me nil. This is probably going to require someone to be called in to sort out. Oh no! *sob*

I'd appreciate any helpful comments on ant extermination. In the meantime I've washed the cooker and nearby surfaces with strong bleach. I think I'll need to find some ant repellent.

Comments

[zotz]

If they're living in the cooker, then why don't you just turn it on for a few hours?

[fluffymark]

Now why didn't I think of that? That sounds way too easy. The cooker hasn't been used at all since friday. Sounds like a top plan, graham. Yay!

[enslore.livejournal.com]

You can move the cooker in a fitted kitchen. I know this because my stopcock is behind mine. You have to look for some little screws on the front when you open the door. (probably)

Also, if you have any honey, syrup, or other forms of sugar around, try to put them somewhere where the ants can't smell them.

[fluffymark]

Aha! Yes I can see the screws you mean. That line of attack may be investigated, but only after I check what it says in the rental contract with the landlord. And I may try the zotz heat death treatment first.

Things are already looking better. Got back this evening to find no swarms of ants anymore. Theres a couple of them crawling around the narrow crack between the top of the oven and the surface above but thats all!! Yay! I think my bleach scared them off. But it does looks like theres a nest inside that crack.

And they've got nowhere near the food cupboards. The sugar and cake-making stuff is safe.

[enslore.livejournal.com]

The sugar and cake-making stuff is safe.

Well that's the important thing!

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Poison the suckers. You can get little tubs of ant poison that you put down and they crawl into, but then they live long enough to return to the nest.

[fluffymark]

Now that sounds very useful. Very promising. Have you any idea on the effectiveness of such ant-poisoning tubs? Do they work more often than not? :)

[eveilena.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid my only comment on ant extermination is 'BLEARRRGH!'

We had them in the fluffhouse kitchen all last summer, and nobody got food poisoning or anything... I think someone found and blocked up the hole they were coming in by in the end.

[fluffymark]

Well at the moment it looks like the bleach got them. Theres been no swarms of ants today! Hurrah! *bounce*

Re:

[eveilena.livejournal.com]

Well, 'bleachaaargh' then :P

[aiwendel.livejournal.com]

when i had ants before... had left a carton of orange juice out, and they'd found it, and well and turely claimed it... very grim... so chucked that, and had a cleaning blitz, without hurting any if possible... cleaned everywhere of sugar and food, and within half an hour they'd vanished!
basically they'd return if food was left out for a length of time, and disappear entirely when it wasn't....

the only way to lose them completely i guess is to block entrance holes/ use killing powder, but i think its nicer just not to tempt them in the first place....
they don't do any harm really....

[fluffymark]

I think you're correct they only come out after things. The part of the cooker they were swarming on had been used to cook a divine steamed chocolate pudding (with added jellybeans!) on friday, creating some mess that hadn't been fully cleaned up at the time. Perfect for ants once they found it.

I don't want to kill them. I *like* ants. They're lovely creatures really and they're so itneresting with their social habits and things. In fact I want to keep ants as pets one day if I manage to get the right things to keep them in and feed them properly. If I get organised I guess I could catch one of the dozens of new queen ants that are roaming around and start a new ant colony. But they would required a special fully sealed tank and allsorts.
Preblem is don't like ants roaming free in house, and my housemate is terrified to death of them.

Re:

[aiwendel.livejournal.com]

awwww cool :)
how about a chocolate and jelly bean feast in a friendly ant house.... i'm sure you'd attract a following happy to stay :)