Possible Solution

I’m blogging a lot because my plans to do repairs and stuff today are being disrupted by rain. And laziness. Here I go again.

I have exciting news for Floridians who are suffering with ghost ants. These things are tiny; maybe a millimeter long. They have white rear ends. Not really white; more of a light beige. They can’t be kept out. Once you have them, they’re hell to get rid of. And they’re extremely annoying.

I have been fighting these things for what seems like eternity. None of the products sold locally are worth a damn. Yesterday I realized I had the answer. The Internet. When I’m in trouble because I don’t have information I need, only the Internet can provide it.

I found an article from New Zealand, of all places. It said that ghost ants were easily wiped out with a mixture of sucrose syrup and boric acid. They eat it, carry it home, feed it to their queen, and die.

I have sucrose! I have boric acid!

Last night I made a mixture, guessing at the 1% concentration the article suggested. I smeared it on the wall, in an area the ants have turned into a highway. Sure enough, the ants glommed around it and ate it up.

I poured about half a cup of this stuff on the ground, outside the kitchen. There are nests out there. I’m hoping they’ll suck it up and kill themselves. I may smear it on the wall by the bushes.

If your house is clean, ghost ants are easier to control. But due to an old plumbing issue, my ants have access to a large supply of old grease, inside the exterior wall. It will take them a thousand years to eat it all, and it can’t be cleaned out. So it’s poison or nothing.

One frustrating thing about ghost ants is that they eat different things at different times of year. Maybe that’s because worker ants are always female; you know how women are. Sometimes the ants like sugar, and sometimes they like grease or protein. Luckily, they’re in sugar mode this week.

I don’t know if this will kill them or not, but they are damn sure eating it.