Evo said:
But then the sugar is ruined and has to be thrown away. Cloves taste like medicine. Small children are punished for growing teeth by having their mom's rub clove oil on their gums.
LOL! Yeah, I'd rather have ants in the sugar than cloves too.
I had ants getting into the kitchen when I moved in last year. I just followed them to see where they were coming from and found entry points around the back door frame where it wasn't properly sealed under the sill. A little caulk went a long way there. Though, even that wouldn't stop them if I had just the screen door closed, so this year, at the first sign of ants emerging above ground in the spring, I went on a full out assault mission. I sprayed all around the foundation and about 3 ft out from it, along every gutter downspout, and any other place I thought provided a ground to house path (supports for the deck, etc). I did that twice, because the first time a surprise storm decided to show up a few hours after I was done and washed it all away again.
Then, after doing the outdoor spraying, I surrounded the house with the outdoor baits (the ones with a spike to stick in the ground) and made sure one was on either side of each entry way, plus scattered in a perimeter around the house. And, finished that off by setting up baits inside near each of the doors around the places I saw them entering last year. I put an assortment of baits around...the solid baits, the liquid baits, different brands...I figure whatever is to the ants' taste, I should have something of interest to them. The baits are not meant to be very fast acting, but they let the ants carry it back to the colony before they die. I mainly wanted to ensure that if any broke the exterior perimeter and found a way inside, there was something waiting for them long before they got to the kitchen or the cat food dishes.
So far, so good. I haven't seen any ants indoors this year yet, and we're long past the spring season when they usually emerge and make pests of themselves.
Then again, we may have just had so much rain this year that they're all drowning. And, I also put in more landscaping that is away from the sprayed areas that seems to be encouraging salamanders, garter snakes and wolf spiders (ick ick ick) to thrive, and as long as they don't take a turn in the house, I've been leaving them to thrive in the yard on any ants they want to eat.
In this house, my cat also has her own bedroom with hardwood floors, so it's easy to clean. I put her food in there, so when it does attract any sort of bug, they are confined to a room that is not normally a place any other food is stored or prepared. I don't mind throwing out a dish of catfood if it gets infested with something, as long as I can easily wash it out and clean the floors and the bugs don't head for the kitchen or pantry.
