War on Ants Update #3

Out-Flanking Maneuver

Since the ants have retreated from my kitchen sink and in front of my refrigerator – just an occasional rogue stopping by from time to time to nip the poison that awaits them – my war on ants still continues. It seems that they’ve switched their point of attack by trying to out-flank me.

They’re now concentrating their offensive around to my front porch.

So I counter-attacked:

Removed the outdoor carpet to better assess the ants’ activities.
Identified entry point as a slight crack underneath siding.
Traced their trail along the front wall to a vertical crack at the edge of front door.
Laid out six bait traps – beer caps laced with a mixture of one part 20 Mule Team borax to three parts Domino sugar – directly under the crack. Plus another six at various distances between the two cracks.

Now I’m sitting back and watching.

I’m not sealing the cracks at the moment because I want the ants to keep coming and going until they’ve carried a sufficient quantity of poison back to their nest to eradicate the whole colony.

Once most of the bait is gone and the traffic becomes virtually non-existent, I’ll seal the cracks – and spray the area to discourage any remaining ants from returning.

Back Deck

There is another theater of operations on my back deck.

I stopped the initial surge back there, but I know the ants are still out there in great numbers in the great outdoors. So I’ve taken a pro-active approach:

Placed remnants of real food inside my trash can to attract whatever ants lived in the area.
Observed a slow trickle climbing the trash can to gain access to the food inside the trashcan.
Let that traffic build for two days.

With a healthy crop of ants now inside the trash can, I placed a plastic bowl containing a healthy heaping of bait inside the trash can.

Now I’ll sit back and wait.

I’ll check tomorrow to see how well the trap is working. If it works as predicted, I’ll keep the bait in place until the traffic stops. Then I’ll empty the trash can.

Pardon my French – but these ants don’t know who they’re fucking with.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com, Barry Bowe is also the author of: