# I Conquered the ANTS!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806 "2005-07-23T16:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/1 "2005-07-23T16:01:07Z")
I walked in our home early last week after along day at work, and noticed our cats sitting in tandum looking down at something in the middle of the living room floor. To my dismay I walk over to find a steady stream of black ants heading up our bannister to the upstairs. One line going, another line coming. I walk up stairs and see they are heading into our master bath. Upon looking at our sink I was horrifed to find it covered with Ants. Immediately I took action and sprayed the little f\*ckers to oblivion. Then I went to the store and purchased those RAID ant traps that kill the queen and colony. But I didn’t place them inside. I put them outside where they were entering the house. I put all four down, and within minutes they were overcome with those little black nasties. And with-in two days, they were annhilated (sp?). 🙂 I came, and comquered. Oh and the tip of the day is, those little ant traps work outside as well as in 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/2 "2005-07-23T16:39:26Z")
Very good. Now, get some caulk & plug the hole they came in through. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/3 "2005-07-23T16:45:23Z")
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/4 "2005-07-23T19:50:27Z")
They’ll be back. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/5 "2005-07-23T22:54:40Z")
My understanding is that ants search for food sources and tell other ants to follow their scent cues to the food. Was there a food source in your sink? I sometimes get ants coming to e.g. a the remnants of a spilled soft drink. If I mop it up, they go away again. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/6 "2005-07-23T23:13:19Z")
> [@jawdirk](#): > > They’ll be back. They sure will. If they’re the same nasty little Argentine ants we have in California. They have multiple queens in each colony. We’re able to keep them mostly out of our house by keeping things extra clean and taking our trash out often, though even on very hot days they will come in and be around the sink, it looks like they just want water. After living here for 5 years I’ve just come to accept that they live here just as well as we do. There is no getting rid of them. On the plus side, we’re pretty much guaranteed not to have termites. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/7 "2005-07-24T00:23:40Z")
From March - June, every year, I have to battle the ants in my kitchen. They rarely form a line, so I can’t tell where they’re comming from. I don’t know if they disappear on their own, or if 4 months of spraying, and laying bait traps, finally takes it’s toll. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/8 "2005-07-24T01:29:28Z")
I’ve only had luck with the traps in connecticut. Here it seems to be doing the trick outside. But there is a monsoon impending right now and I have my doubts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/9 "2005-07-24T02:47:24Z")
I’ve known the little fuckers to go after toothpaste. I keep my toothpaste in a cabinet where they haven’t found it so far. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/10 "2005-07-24T03:07:09Z")
:: thinks of “Lenninger versus the Ants”, the old story about a man defending a plantation from army ants, which I heard on the radio while coming back from Ottawa a few years ago :: ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-conquered-the-ants/313806/11 "2005-07-24T08:31:57Z")
**Sunspace** , that story was supposedly based on a real incident. A movie was filmed about it in the mid-1950’s called _The Naked Jungle_. Freaked me out as a kid.