Ant Rant: The Ant Invasion

Lorenza, in the box, and I, Moka, have nothing to do with this post. We just want to let Aunt Cherie know that every single part of our care package means a lot to us. We take turns using this cool box.

Friday morning after drinking my coffee I went up to the kitchen sink to wash the few dirty dishes. The usual routine. The housekeeper was here the day before so the kitchen was sparkly clean. There were no crumbs on the counter, a miracle in itself in a house where five young single guys use the kitchen. Not to be discriminatory, but most of the men I have known don’t notice details like crumbs on the counter.


Before I could wash one single coffee cup, little black ants were crawling up my legs. It was my mistake for forgetting my flip flops, so I ran to grab them after a quick rinse in the shower. Those little buggers bite, and their bites last a long time itching and blistering. I had one of those “Oh no I am going to be eaten alive” moments that linger from learning adventures gone by.

We have heavy duty ant killer, H24 Polvo Para Hormigas but we can’t use it in too many places because it’s so toxic. There are too many humans and animals about the house. I am aware of spraying areas with vinegar water to disorient the ants, but I can only handle so much vinegar smell. So I use talcum powder. Ants don’t seem to like it.

I looked at the floor and saw two Corn Pops and one dead palmetto roach. I know the male person who eats corn pops and the cats hunt down those giant roaches and bring them in to play with! Luckily they play to the death. Those three items were enough ant food for the zillions of ants I saw prancing around the kitchen floor. So I whipped out my talcum powder and ‘empanizado’d (a term meaning breaded, but after a shower when I cover myself in talcum powder, I say I am recently empanizado’d. A local thing, sorry.) The entire kitchen floor. The talc only confuses them, but it gives me a chance to sweep them up without them eating me alive first. The down side of this ant treatment is it leaves the floor extremely slippery, and I have to sweep it up several times.

After confusing, moving and then killing the kitchen ants, I headed over to the cat feeding station. Someone treated them the night before to some fresh fish and there were bones scattered about among crunchies that had been pulverized by teeny tiny red ants. There were trillions more ants just trailing along like they owned the cat station. In the cat station I use a spritzer of Fabuloso to clean the mess six cats plus the uninvited ones leave over night. Fabuloso also kills the ants. I don’t give those miniature red ants a chance to bite me, so I can’t say if they do bite. Then I throw talcum powder in the doorway to head them off in another direction.

It was a beautiful day and I decided after ant duty I’d head out to the pool, thinking there wouldn’t be ants there. There used to be! But I recently changed the plants in the planters that surround the pool. I had something in them before that it turned out ants loved. They look like this now and the ants could care less about them.

My last few outings to the pool have been ant free, so much so I was thinking how pleased my friend Mike would be when he comes over to swim. But not last Friday. I washed them all away with chemicalized water. However it was luckily the last ant detail of the day. They must have been very thirsty because they were heading for any wet spot and investigating the entire outdoor area. We haven’t had a drop of rain in months, and the ants have gotten out of hand.

We also have the giant biting red ants, but I don’t see them too often. We have the carpenter ants, the leaf cutters, from the prehistoric monsters to the newest alien versions. You live in the tropics, you deal with ants. By the time I got around to writing this blog post though, we have had some rain. And that means some respite from the ant problem. I still have to stay on my toes to keep it under control, but the rainy days seem to be helping a little. Only a little. There are other ants who like to come inside when it rains to see what goodies they can find on the floor. It really never ends. I just talcumed my bedroom floor.

Today my concern though is really mosquitoes, which are out in force after 24 hours of light rain. I have Mexican incense lit next to me; Raid Mosquito Killer Coils is the name if you want to find them at the store. Lavender scented. That’s it, that’s my ANT RANT.