Getting Rid of Ants

Posted on July 5, 2010 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Out Of The Box

Photo by gaab22

Since today is a holiday here in the U.S., I’m going to detour from the usual productivity article. Instead, I will tell you of something that happened recently.

I love nature. I take a live-and-let-live approach to it, trying hard not to interfere with the critters that live around my house. I don’t use pesticides so I won’t poison the frogs and lizards, and we don’t put chemicals on our yard that can find their way into the river.

But I draw the line (pun intended, read on) when the wildlife decides to move in with me.

I came downstairs a few evenings ago and noticed movement on one of my kitchen counters. As in dozens of ants crawling. After a predictable fit of heebie-jeebies, I noticed they seemed to be coming from the outlet right above the counter. A closer examination showed that there wasn’t a nest back there, but they were using that as a point of entry.

We’ve fought the battle of the ants for years, and it’s never been this bad. We won’t use an exterminator (see reasons above), and my choices for control are limited indoors because of the fur-beasts that live with us.

I remember reading that ants won’t cross a chalk line. I was desperate, and I took a piece of chalk from my daughter’s chalkboard and drew a solid thick line of chalk around the outlet.

The ants wouldn’t cross the line.

New ones came out of the outlet box, then went back in. The ants on the outside of the box wandered around and tried to find a way, then gave up.

A few swipes with cleaner and paper towel and the ants were gone. Thankfully they haven’t been back. But if they do, you can bet there’s going to be a lot more chalk drawings on my walls and floors.

Photo by gaab22