When Hidden Worlds Become Visible... and Unwelcome.

Three Unwelcome Guests in our apartment. 

If you follow this blog,  you may have seen an older post about my wife's battle with the local fauna... specifically insects.   Spiders, House Centipedes, and Lady bugs have all found their various battles cataloged here.   But there is one army that persists...  The ants.

Ants on our window... in winter!

I'm not sure what species of ants are within our walls or near our foundation,  but they somehow find their way into our apartment in the dead of winter.  ( And Spring!  And sometimes Fall. ) My wife went full on chemical warfare  last spring, and the ants continues to come.   Eventually,  some vinegar treatments did the job... OR  ( and most likely)  The ants had finished their invasion and settled on a new colony elsewhere.

Finally!  One in focus...

A Drone and a Queen. And my finger...

But now it is winter!  And the ants are back.   Larger ones this time.  I believe they are queens looking to create new colonies.   I know about as much about ants as the Animal Planet and National Geographic shows tell me. (Which is still probably more than the average, non-bug person.)  I'm more into butterflies, moths and beetles.  But last night we watched a program of the Leaf-Cutter Ant from South America.
 And then another program from a You-Tuber who shows off his ant colonies.       It gave me ideas. I must say,  I was entertained when three different species were battling each other for the food.  ( Two wild species had invaded his "Titan Ant Eden")

Fascinating!  But can you pet them?

But watching ants is a lot like watching fish.   It's calming,  fascinating....  and eventually rather boring.  They are not as active or annoying as say:   A cat!  But that is the point after all, isn't it?

Kinda annoying.  But he's so soft!

#1.  They are already in your apartment.

You gain inner peace by watching the ants diligently and methodically work to find food and build a network of caves.  As small as they are, their work ethic and ingenuity makes you feel like what you do in life does matter in the bigger picture.   But maybe that is just me.

If a Vacuum and a Gun had a baby.... It would look like this.

A New Toy for Cheryl.

In the mean time,  there is very little that can be done about our current ant invasion.   The temps have warmed outside, but transplanting the ants outside would just be mean.    I don't feel like hosing down the windows and outside areas with vinegar.  At some point,  even we will be driven away by that smell.   So perhaps there is another answer that is still humane and less toxic...   The BUGZOOKA!

Harassing my Hummers!   It's WAR!

A POW awaiting her fate!  No Prisoners!

Cheryl is very excited.   I never knew a kids toy could pique her interest so.  Maybe it will make collecting the bugs more of a game than a hassle.  I have watched a few videos of the BUGZOOKA in action and it looks like it actually works!

 And I have big plans for it once the Yellow Jackets return to harass my humming birds.   LET THE WAR BEGIN!