ackthpt's Journal: A Sad Monday

Ants have invaded the office.

Up to last Friday there was a tiny spider lurking in my window, which I would occasionally feed fruitflies audacious enough to seek out the bananas I kept in my desk drawer. A mere speck of an arachnid, it could take on fruitflies twice it's size with speed and daring. Alas, ants first appeared a week ago, few in number, and their scouts fed the spider for the week. Today the spider is gone and the ants have been dismantling it's web and hauling away carcasses of its victims.

It is not unusual to see the ants in this area traveling over 200 feet to some food source. If they get into your house, they take some serious doing to get rid of, as colonies seem to number in the tens of thousands. Someone told me they're an invader species from South America, think 'marabunta' and you might get the picture. When I lived in Michigan ants lived in tiny hills, probably totally 100-200 ants per colony and could be found as close as a foot away from their neighbor. Scarcely did they invade houses, where were more the domain of black ants.

A slury of sugar and borax works well on black ants and Windex seems to put down a barrier, killing their scent trail.

Some tape now covers the hole the ants entered by. Hopefully they won't find another way in.