Sidetrack. Two funny stories about my bug farms...
(1) I had gotten a "bug hotel" for my birthday or something (basically a "fancy" screened in bug holder). So, immediately, I captured my first bug hotel guest, named him and bonded. It was going to rain that day so, to protect my new friend, I put him in the BBQ. Long story short - my Dad cranked up the ol' BBQ for dinner and POOF, bug hotel and new best friend fried. My Dad has the worst memory but he'll never forget that story because I was totally traumatized... I mean, the poor bug. He didn't have a chance! :p
(2) My sister decided to hop on the bug farm train... she was totally not hard core though and only joined the club because she found this really cute fuzzy black and yellow caterpillar. She bragged and showed off that caterpillar like crazy. So, we're sitting in our shed and she's got her fancy caterpillar out crawling around. She has to pee. She basically warned me if I hurt her caterpillar, I would die. Over and over, before she ran to the house, she reinforced not to touch, pick up, step on, squish, etc. HER caterpillar. Running back into the shed from the bathroom, she steps on it. ha ha ha. Priceless.
Ok, back to the topic of the day... Ants. I hate ants. Oh, I hate them. Just when you kill one, another one appears. Then, I think, hmmmm, if I leave some ant carcasses around maybe their friends will find them, realize this is a bad news type of place and tell their friends and they'll all leave. I hate killing them. Every time I kill them I think of that sweety Anty from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and my heart hurts a little. Regardless, I squish them every time.
Here's my problem. We've always got food on the floor. I have a 11 month old baby who LOVES to clear off her highchair with one swoop of her arm. It's ant heaven. So, how the heck do you get rid of them?
I did some research. Obviously, I was not going to use pesticide. Would kind of defeat the purpose of using all natural cleaners and such if I decided to spray pesticide all over my house, non? I found out some interesting things about ants. Apparently, there are hunter ants or some crap that go out looking for food or water and leave a trail for the other ants to follow. So, first of all you have to get rid of the trails. WTH? I used vinegar. Apparently vinegar (or a vinegar-water mix) is good for this. I thought, POOF, gone, done, finito (sp?). Not the case. Next day, anty and his friend are back. YUCK!
Then I went outside and found their home. Please be advised, the following paragraph contains content that may be disturbing to some viewers. :p So, I researched and found out that if you mix borax (my favourite laundry detergent ingredient and great household cleaner) with a bunch of sugar and leave it in a "dish" for the ants, they will bring the sweet borax back to the nest and it will kill them all. So, I got an old sour cream container, filled it with 1/2 sugar, 1/2 borax and put it next to the ant hill. An hour later, I decided to check and see if the ants had found my sweet treat yet and nothin'. Not one ant was near my trap. So, in typical "I have no time for this nonsense" style, I poured the mixture over what looked like the top of the next. POOF. I haven't seen an ant since. I know. I feel guilty just saying it. Perhaps, because I blocked off the top of the hole they just found somewhere else to go and didn't actually all die a horrible death?
Regardless, wanted to share these little tips as I know I can't be the only Mom out there with a crumb covered home.
Happy weekend! :)
3 comments:
Awesome tip about the Borax! Thanks :)
I use a steam mop every other day on the kitchen floor...and only twice a week on the living room laminate...but the point of this little ramble is that I use vinegar water in the steam mop...I never knew it could get rid of ants! But maybe that's why I don't have any?
I do, although, have a crumb covered house where cat hair is a condiment regularly brought to the table.
I clean for most of the day...in circles, mind you...but somehow, I never fail to find cat hair in whatever we're eating for supper.
YUCK! (<--do you have a fix for that? Is shaving cats inhumane?? LOL!)
It's funny you say that because I just threatened to do that to my cat last weekend... I have dark hardwood floors with a white cat - worst idea ever.
Not to mention a white cat + anything that's not white (clothes-wise) means you always look dirty. Awesome.
I absolutely hate them too! And they are so freakin' tiny that there has to be like a million of them if there is one. It's annoying!
I didn't want to spray poison in my house (i have a 2 month old) but I did find out if you treat the outside of your house, it's as good as treating the inside b/c they LIVE outside. It was great. I got some ant spray and went outside...sprayed the door where they were coming in and I haven't seen one the rest of the week.
We'll see how it works.
I hate them though.. just hate 'em!
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