We lived in this
house since April 1986 and our experiences with vermin has been limited. We have seen the occasional spider inside the
house in the initial years and other than a scream from the female occupants, there
was no concern. In the last few years the insect assault on the house increased
to where we had to decide whether it would be the insects or us residing in the
house.
I should mention
before I forget that ten years ago we had bumble bees take residence under the
stoop outside the front door. Our
approach had always been live and let live for any organism living outside the
four walls of the house. That mantra
took a hit when the bumble bees stung the youngest daughter, at that time of
high school age, as she walked out the front door. After the trauma of the sting, the bumble
bees received their death sentence and a bee exterminator meted out their
punishment. After that incident, any
insect seen inside or outside died. Our live
and let live credo turned into "make them die" once the insect
assault moved inside the house.
After that initial
bee assault, the insects left us alone until three years ago. The replacement insect to the dead bumble
bees were tiny ants. The ants dubbed
"pavement ants" are smaller than a paper clip. Their small size
allows them to breed in almost any space.
They are very good at breeding and can manufacture an army of ants in
short order under, it appears, any weather condition.
At first the ant
invasion started slowly. We found a few
in the cellar. Then we found a few in the half bathroom. Then we found a few in the main upstairs
bathroom. After a few weeks and the initial incursion we found ants all over
the house. The ant population increased
so there were significant numbers anywhere in the house. They were especially numerous in the basement
where they were coming out of cracks in the pored cement foundation. They were in the kitchen. They were in the fruit of the kitchen table.
They even tried crawling into people's mouths as the unfortunate person rested
in a chair.
I tried to curb the
invasion. I bought different
insecticides from Home Depot. The
insecticides would temporarily pause their invasion but they were at invasion
level a few hours after the insecticide.
I knew we were in trouble when one day I peered at our sidewalk in the
front of the house and saw a mass of ants moving from one side of the driveway
to the other. The ant cluster moved food
and future ants for a major attack on the house. I tried spraying them with the Home Depot
insecticide. The insecticide killed a
few ants but the vast army continued across the sidewalk unhindered.
We were losing the
ant war. We decided it was time to take
the offensive and hire an exterminator.
The first
exterminator claimed extensive success in Dane County, our county, and
guaranteed the ant problem would be solved.
They came and sprayed a few times in the fall. The ants took a hit. Little ant bodies were strewn all over the
basement. The east side floor was
covered in dead ants. The first
exterminator claimed success and walked away after receiving payment.
The first
exterminator was wrong. The ants were
not done. During the winter alive ants
became more and more numerous in the house until they approached their fall
levels.
The next spring we
decided to use a different exterminator, Orkin.
Bruce, the Orkin man, would come and spray the inside and outside of the
house with chemicals every two months during the year.
Bruce's initial
sprayings were effective. We had piles
of dead ants along walls in the basement.
After six months of spraying however, the ants made a comeback and we
were again seeing ants upstairs in the kitchen and bathrooms.
I thought six months
of spraying should be enough to stem the ant invasion. I called Orkin and suggested Bruce be
accompanied by his manager with the next spraying. Bruce and the manager then could figure out
why the spraying was not effective.
Bruce and his
manager completed the next spraying. The
manager instructed Bruce to use more insecticide and spray in areas he had
missed (or neglected). After that visit,
the ant invasion appeared to be if not stopped, then paused.
For the past six
months we have seen only an occasional ant in the house. These scout ants have
not made it back to their colonies and we have remained relatively ant free.
The ants are still
out there and have not given up on their house invasion. I find them in large numbers climbing on
certain parts of the outside siding. I
then spray them with the Home Depot concoction.
The Home Depot insecticide kills the ants if sprayed directly on the
ants. By routinely walking around the
house after Bruce does his spraying, noticing when the ants start their
invasion mode, and spraying some of the invasion forces, I hope to keep them
out of the house.
Hopefully we can
keep the ants under control with the help of Orkin, Bruce, and Home Depot. Nothing disrupts your sleep more than having
a pavement ant crawl into your mouth while you are sleeping.
