Is it just me, or is the city being undermined by ants?
About a month ago, I noticed piles of dirt and sand piling up around the cracks in the walkway to my front door. Those piles turned into little mounds, complete with dead-giveaway ant holes. Then, ants. Busy little antholes that they were, the sidewalk was being consumed pretty quick – then I noticed them by the retaining wall closer to my door. Out of curiosity, I pulled back a brick. Bad idea. It was alive down there, and even more cunning, they’d made their egg nurseries, or whatever they’re called, right underneath the brick. So very alien. Ew.
So, after doses of pink poison and corn meal – common wisdom says they can’t digest it, but they’ll eat it, thus killing themselves – common wisdom seems to be full of crap. They’re still there. And why would one of the oldest, most evolved organisms on the planet not be able to tell food from not-food?
I even used a personal loophole in my mildly Buddhist approach to life on Earth – “bugs are icky – if they get in the way, do what you’ve got to do.” I devised that one when I was 6, because dodging bugs while riding a bike never ends well, and my knees and elbows had filed a complaint. Anyhow, I turned to boiling water. It pushed them back, but not for long.
So, my question to you all – is this diving flag syndrome. as in you never notice all the cars and trucks with diving flag stickers until you take up diving yourself. Ants are pretty prevalent, but they seem more prevalent lately, at least in Mount Pleasant area. Is that because they are actually very active this year or is it because I’ve got bugs on the brain?
And if it’s the former, how do we kill them? Ok, ok – how do I kill them? “Take off and nuke them from orbit” is technically the only way to be sure, but a bit drastic, I feel.
[photo by poagao]