The Ant Wars: Mercenary Campaign, Part 2

The brave knight I hired to vanquish our household enemy, the piss ant, had to be recalled. He had come out and performed nobly in his attempt to dissuade the invading hordes from entering our home. For a full week, my enemy was held at bay. On about d-day +8 the enemy had again breached our defenses, so I recalled our mercenary.

He returned, aerosolized d-limonene in hand. After a short debriefing of the operational status, he went on a mission to inspect the perimeter of our fortress to seek out the source of the breeches. Returning to the command center to report, his furrowed brow belied his distress. His search for the source of the breech had been unsuccessful.

So we decided another inspection was in order, but this time I joined our warrior as a guide. Soon we discovered a massive enemy supply line. We then followed this superhighway of formicidae out into the back yard. The supply line stretched well over 70 feet to the perimeter and then branched out to several parts of our home, but mostly in the kitchen.

A massive nest was discovered in our back yard. Together we disrupted the nest, poisoned the supply routes with orange oil, and then sprinkled a bait all around the well-camouflaged colony.

Within an hour, the ant invasion had abated. Today, several weeks later, the ants have yet to return.

Now that the natural balance has again been disturbed, I patiently and watchfully wait to discover where the next enemy will appear.

The Ant Wars - Mutiny?

The vast ant armies launched their version of the Tet Offensive. For about a week we were overrun, fighting back the invading armies with the best weapons in our arsenal. Orange oil mixture as a front line weapon, boric acid and D.E. to create an impenetrable barrier, Spinosad bait to take them out from within, and my thumb as a last resort.

Ants were everywhere, in the kitchen, in the sun room, in the boys' bedrooms, and in the master bathroom. The only defenses that proved worthy was the the defenses established at the very beginning of our war, the dining room.

Ants had gotten into our home to such an extent, we had to put cereal in the fridge, all dry goods went in zipper bags, and the dogs had twenty minutes to eat, then the food was picked up.

But one day last week, the offensive stopped. Oh sure, I'll see a lone ant scout every now and again, but for the most part, the ants are not entering the house.

I don't know why the ants aren't coming in anymore, but I have two theories:

1. The Spinosad baits and the boric acid applications are working. The colonies are sick, and the queen is dying.
2. I've noticed a couple of fire ant mounds in the yard. I noticed them at about the same time the little sugar ants stopped coming into the house. Is it possible that the more aggressive fire ants are attacking the sugar ant colonies and providing a mutinous distraction for the Ant Armies leadership?

If the latter is true, I may need to adjust my strategy to encourage an extended battle between the two ant clans. Is it so unthinkable in my effort to eliminate the sugar ants, that for now I actually encourage and support them so that their civil war becomes more protracted?
For now I'll wait and watch. I'll strengthen the defensive perimeter, I will attack my enemy's enemy, and I will table the tactic of sickening the queen with bait. This is a gamble, to be certain. But all too often it is in misplaced pride that the consequences end in disaster.

The Ant Wars. Oh! My God!

The rain was heavy and lasted all morning. My defenses held, the ants, despite their habit of invading immediately after rain, have stayed outside for about 24 hours as of this posting. But the rains have revealed something far more ominous. It is perhaps both a blessing and a curse in this epic battle: I have discovered the source of the ant hordes power. I discovered their true home!

The rain has forced the ants to move their supply line from under the cover of the soil, plants and grass, to the drier paths above ground. With pureness of heart, Sue saw what I was unwilling to see: the ant hordes have a supply line that must extend at least 75 feet, extending from our mailbox all the way to our front doorstep. My initial reaction was, "Oh! My God!"

The ants have taken refuge in a fortress of stone that is our mailbox. Their supply lines are far more complex and far more extensive than I ever anticipated. Like attempting to melt the exposed part of an iceberg, my war will be never ending until I destroy the very foundation of the ants' power, their hidden base of operations, the home of the queen.

For now, I've placed boric acid baits along their supply line, but I fear the tools in my arsenal may not be enough to eliminate the threat. This will require a new level of ant control, perhaps even a new approach to hit the ants where they live.

Stay tuned...

The Ant Wars. The Calm Before the Storm

The weather forecast calls for a decent chance of rain today and tomorrow. During our last rain event, the first great ant invasion took place, catching us off guard. I am determined to not be caught off guard again.

I spent this morning fortifying my defenses. I sprayed the kitchen surfaces down with orange oil, making sure to leave a heavy coating of the spray in the areas the evil ant armies prefer to attack. I put a dusting of the diatomaceous earth and boric acid mixture along all the window sills. There are a few strategically placed boric acid baits indoors in an effort to distract and confuse the enemy. I also sprinkled a tablespoon of diatomaceous earth on the dogs' food bowls to further discourage the invading hordes. My outdoor baits, especially the Spinosad, will probably be rendered ineffective due to the rain.

I've thrown my entire arsenal at the enemy.

The past few days have been eerily calm. I can almost hear the drumbeat of the advancing armies....

The Ant Wars. Sabotage!

The Great War of the Ants continues! We now have tools to keep the armies of invaders at bay with our orange oil concoction. (Did you know that my orange oil spray makes a good surface cleaner, too? Water it down a bit to use as a cleaner, just don’t use it on windows.) Our strategy now calls for a more aggressive attack upon our enemies. We will be going behind enemy lines for this next phase of the war.

The underlying idea of this attack is to distract and destroy. The weapon is bait, laced with poison and inserted into the enemy’s base and along their supply lines. I am using two different types of bait, in different locations, as a test to determine which bait is most effective. One of the baits is homemade, a mixture of raw honey and boric acid. The other is Spinosad granules. Spinosad is a byproduct of the rum-making process, so it must be deadly. It can be purchased from your local gardening store that carries organic supplies.

The homemade honey and boric acid baits are a long time favorite of “natural” pest control practitioners. I spent last night making the baits. For instructions on making the boric acid baits see my article, How to Control Ants With Honey.

I went around the house today in serach of ant nests and ant supply lines. I found two major supply lines. Those little bastards were finding their way in through three windows along the front of the house and the window in the master bathroom. I chose the front windows as my test location for the boric acid baits and the bathroom window as my Spinosad trial location.

In the Spinosad areas I sprinkled the granules liberally around the ants’ point of entry. Along the front of the house, I strategically placed the boric acid baits along the ant supply lines. After just a few minutes, the ants had abandoned their attack on the house and were sippin’ the Kool-Aid, so to speak. We will see what the results of the test are tomorrow.