Last night was one of those sessions. I started by tossing some cardboard boxes into the recycling bin and moved on. There were two plastic storage tubs on the shelves that were nearly empty. I had held onto them 'just in case', but it was time for them to go. I consolidated their contents into a third tub and stacked the now-empty ones outside the storage unit.
Seeing the empty spots on the shelves was a great motivator. I decided to tackle a large plastic tub on
a bottom shelf that contained miscellaneous
gardening supplies. When I picked up the tub and hoisted it onto the
floor dozens of ants started cascading off of the shelf onto the floor. And when I looked at the shelf there were easily twice that many left!
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I dropped the tub back onto the shelf like a hot potato and hustled upstairs to ponder my options.
Tony was getting ready to leave for a meeting at church, and when I told him about the issue he asked what we could do. Years ago I used to sprinkle a combination of borax and flour around the outside perimeter of the house to keep ants from coming in, and responded that I thought it would be good to start with a natural remedy this time. Thee was an almost-empty box of borax in the laundry room, which I took downstairs and sprinkled on the floor and shelf.
I didn't see Tony again until this morning, and asked him if he had looked in the storage room. He told me he had, and that the ants were still active. Shortly after that I left to go to a meeting and run some errands. When I checked my phone after the meeting there was a text from Tony telling me he had gone to the hardware store, bought ant spray, and used it liberally in the storage room.
Tonight I went down to the unit to continue my interrupted decluttering. There were a few ants still moving around, so I think we'll be going back to the hardware store for some traps.
Five years ago today: Bountiful Biscuits
Glad you had some success treating the ants.
ReplyDeleteMe too. It was gross!
DeleteWhat a coincidence that I have a post coming up on Wednesday also about decluttering. It's so hard to do.
ReplyDeleteDecluttering seems to be a constant struggle.
DeleteIt seems that no matter how much I de-clutter, in time, I tend to fill it up again and need to start over with de-cluttering. Hope the ants were not the large carpenter ants that eat your wood. We have tiny ants all summer and can't seem to get rid of them no matter how careful I am. I keep out traps which helps but doesn't. really get rid of them. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThese ants were what my mom always called 'sugar ants'...small and generic.
DeleteNatural way to get rid of ants. Take a flat stone, place on it a mixture of sugar and pepper. The ants will be attracted by the sugar, breathe in the pepper and sneeze knocking themselves dead on the stone.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I can always count on you for good advice.
DeleteAnts can be a pain, but what is attracting them there?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question, and one I will need to find the answer to.
DeleteGood for you. I'm trying to declutter!
ReplyDeleteAnts must be multiplying this year. We had some in the kitchen which we haven't had for years and then some showed up in the bathroom where we've never had them before. Traps and ant spray got rid of them.
ReplyDeleteIn the old house I'd find columns of ants coming in every spring. I'd find out where the entrance was and use come combination of lemon juice and peel/powdered cinnamon/cayenne pepper to discourage them. Some years had to sprinkle the foundation with borax and flour as an extra 'Do Not Enter' sign.
DeleteWe have carnivorous ants and they do a good job of eating any termites that are here. The ants will also devour mouse and bird carcasses that the cats leave behind. The only problem is when the termites and the carcasses are in short supply, the ants come for the cat food and then attempt to come inside. We have ant "stakes" for the yard and Terry has a spray he uses at the entrances he finds into the house. So far, we have been fortunate this year and not had them in the house, but we have had to use the stakes around the patio perimeter to keep them from the cat food.
ReplyDeleteIt's fascinating but gross that the ants will take care of carcasses.
DeleteTerro is our ant stuff... it's a liquid you put down where the ants are and they take it back to their nest. Whatever is in the liquid kills the ants but is totally harmless to humans and animals
ReplyDeleteOne of the websites I was reading yesterday recommended Terro baits, but indicated that the liquid may come out if the baits aren't handled properly. I decided to go with a more enclosed product.
Delete