August 12, 2009

• War Declared on Ants

  I hereby enlist my friends in my ant battle.

  Most of the previously purchased ant insecticides are not effective in getting to the many varieties that live around me.... so my store of  'won't work's  is growing and waiting for one of those collection days at the dump. 

  Having been told it is best if I can locate the nests, clean them out and then, revisit the location more often than the ants.. there are trails that we cannot see, but have to clear off.

  We had them in our our TV and the stereo. We eradicated the colonies,  cleaned the equipment of all  nest residue and finally, I was so paranoid over 'bugs', I gave them away... only to have ants try to set up housekeeping in the new equipment in the old location 

  ( The recipients of the older equipment tell me that no ants have moved back in )  

  Ants are partial to spaces in  'warm equipment'  like TV's ( as we know) Stereo's ( as we know, computers and printers,  as we know), inside the jackets of electric water heaters ( as we know) , plug in type calculators.. in binders that have not been frequented by the owners and even in the tubing in tables and desk chairs .

  They just want to live with me! ... rent free and unwanted! ...it seems that what does not live here is trying to.
  Today, I went to Kona to get fresh 'war' supplies

  Here is a micro ant nest.. under the hinge cap on the 'fridge'
  

  Micro ants are really hard to see individually. One has to almost have to be looking for them and they are fast!
  Testing my patience to the inth... I've spent hours tracking these teeny ones.. but mostly, I'd lose the trail to the tiniest of cracks. I feel fortunate that we located two!
  Sadly, there are more that have escaped and certainly there is another nest. 
     
  The arsenal of war supplies ....
  

  I made certain that some of what I got are baits.. so they can take 'food' back to their nests. 
  Debi sent me an interesting article about getting rid of ants and ant behavior. . it indicated that baits are best staged outside so they will not draw the ants inside.
  Now the problem is to locate them where Daisy and the local wild kitties will not get into them.  I am thinking double back tape.....
   
   
   No food or even a splash of anything and they all know it.. With Daisy, I was able to get an acrylic tray and fill it with water and then set her water and food down on the tray. It does work, but one bit gone astray and there are ants. 
  If your dogs are bigger, you might need a concrete batch mixing container.  lol

  It is hot and humid.. It was 85 degrees here and 60% humidity, even with winds from the north....so that is probably contributing to the ants wanting to move inside.

  Thankfully, Hurricane Felicia has been downgraded to a tropical storm or less as the day went on. Early this morning the other side of the Island, the Kahala's ( volcanic mountain range) and Hamakua Coast (just north of me) are having the rains. I hope we get some. We do need rain, it has been a long time

  Hurricanes, tropical storms and active volcanoes are something that we Islanders all just have to learn to live with.  ... and bugs! BUG's have to stay outside!

  We, personally,  have tucked in all things that would get blown or be tossed through windows in the high winds away into the garages or stacked heavy into protected areas.

  There are two other homes that we take care because the owners are still on the mainland... and sometimes for friends that are off island. so, there is more than just our place that we lovingly watch over.

  We had another 100 acre fire and another smaller one. Both are out because of the dedicated fire personnel.
  Public details are scarce on the source, so....
  
  In other news, my neighbor children whose Russian dessert turtle (legal) has wandered off.
  As we all searched the area, I offered some of the smidgeon of my turtle knowledge. I mentioned  to Mike, the father that a particular hole looked like a turtle dig. (cave) .
  I showed them one that I was certain had been made by a turtle. .. but no turtle. 
  Hoping not to see sideways glance in my direction, I continued with tidbits of information such as male turtles can catch the scent of a female in season for well over 6 miles....In the deserts there can be great distances between them... 
  Sometimes turtle digs can be as deep as 6 foot on the mainland because they have deep soil. Here, they may be pretty shallow because of all the lava rock surface .

  "Just keep fresh food out where he can find it to eat......" good advice for any lost pet.
  They did. There was a regular feast... laying out a turtle breakfast and plenty of grapes,

  This morning Mike said that yesterday morning he was outside, sipping his coffee and screening the hillside between us. Sure enough he said...a hole had caught his eye and it looked like a fresh turtle dig.
  As he moved to go investigate, his foot tripped over something..
  You guessed it.. the turtle! 
  ... and just for funnies, they watched as Mr. Turtle returned to his dig. Whew! my credibility is still good somewhere~

   

  • 1:20 am
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