Loving ants?
Ok - Loving ants? Not really!!
Ants are a problem reguardless of timing but our luck has happened at the very wrong time. With company coming and things getting busy around the holiday season, projects were taking a back seat to cleaning and preparing beds for our guests.
When you purchase an old house you are invetably taking on all of the PO's neglect and other disasters that they have caused over the years. (I'll make a bathroom post soon) One of our receient discoveries is that yes there is an ant problem here. (Again - bad timing). Needless to say I will be in full distruction mode this weekend.
We are proud of ourselves for putting our two heads together to think through this problem and figure out just why, when, and how the tiny destructive creatures are in our midst. Best described in a timeline I guess.
- We first started seeing an ant or two roughly around last friday.
- Tuesday we were seeing more of these thigs and wondering what was going on. First thoughts were we have to keep this old (junky) kitchen cleaner.
- The discovery of an ant on the landing to the second floor made us think a bit more. Why are they up there? This is not good!
- Research on the internet during the evening. Colleges alwase have entimology departments with loads of info. :-)
- Wednesday we put some timing in place.
- we first moved into MBR the previous Wed.
- Mel closes the door to small bathroom
- bathroom has radiator and gets very warm.
- Kevin has taken some parts and pieces apart in the bathroom (disturbance)
- warmth wakes up the colony
- we first moved into MBR the previous Wed.
- The bathroom must be a key.
- More research on the internet during the evening solidifies our guess. The horable job done in creating that bathroom has created numerous water leaks and suspect wood rot areas where ants like to develop colonies.
- Thursday Mel picksup Boric Acid and Raid. I know, raid is not our solution. Destruction and removal is.
- Confirm nest is some where in bathroom area. Most likely in the pannel wall dividing the bathroom.
In hind site we both agree that this bathroom project has taken a very long time to get started. But we (I) now know that when I get started destroying I'd better have the shopvac and raid handy. In this situation this is a better thing to know ahead of time. I have purchased my sawzall and am very ready for distruction saturday to happen.