Bugs and critters at the Nelsons home.


Last month we declared war on the ants. For several months we cautiously tolerated the steady stream of ants that flowed across our sidewalk and through our yard. As the stream grew broader and thicker, our apprehension increased proportionately. However, it wasn't until I found a trickle of ants making their way determinedly across the ceiling and down the wall to our kitchen trash that tolerance became dislike and apprehension turned into aggression. I declared war on the ants about 1 month ago. Our first tactic involved 8 ant traps placed in strategic locations along the ant route. This was accompanied by generous doses of "ant raid" to take out all currently living ants outside their ant dens. This worked great and for one whole day there were no signs of any ants. We congratulated ourselves on a job well done, but our celebration was premature. The next morning a wave of ant reinforcements could be found making their way across the dead bodies of their fallen comrades. Soon, the ant stream in the house had doubled in size.

Once more we tried the ant traps and ant raid and eliminated every living ant. This time it didn't even take a whole day for them to reemerge. By that night they were back in marching order as if no disturbance had ever occurred. We tried this cycle several more times with equally dismal success rates. Eric and I finally realized we would have to be much more aggressive.

Thankfully, Karen Mederos came to our rescue (which she has done oh so many times before) with super duper ant killer spray. It was truly heavy duty stuff (literally heavy!) and I was very tired by the time I had finished spraying it all around our house foundation, windows, and doors. It literally worked like magic. The next morning, all the ants were GONE!

I thought the warfare ended and victory sure until.... today.... a full three weeks after "the spray" I found, to my horror, another line of ants marching uniformly and tenaciously, across the ceiling, down the wall, and over MY KITCHEN COUNTER!!!!! OHHHHHHH..... They have recruited all their aunts, uncles, cousins, friends (and probably foes) to make another determined comeback. I guess the saga with the ants isn't over yet.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rachel