The fight against ants

It didn't take ants long to colonise our garden. The evidence was there to see in the form of piles of loose soil where they had made their nests. Quite how they managed to make their way through the heavy clay I'm not sure but they did. Later we would see them in lines processing across the paths and onto the soil. I sprayed and sprayed in an attempt to eradicate the blighters.

Of course the attraction for the ants is any source of food. If we had an al fresco lunch on the terracing, lines of ants would appear within minutes to carry away any crumbs that were left. I even discovered ants in the brickwork under the pool laying in wait for such events. Actually it is fascinating to watch them working together to remove crumbs that are much larger than the individual ants.

Then ants started appearing in the kitchen. Unlike the ones outside, the ants in the kitchen were the tiniest creatures you could imagine. They were nimble though and in spite of their diminutive size they would scurry across the granite work surfaces at breakneck speeds. Hard to detect and hard to stop!

Once we started finding them in the sugar jar and the cereal packets, it was time to take action. I spotted a line of ants coming from the corner at the bottom of the pantry cupboard one day and sprayed them with the chemical I'd used in the garden. That saw them off for a short while but these little buggers were obviously determined and came back.

I reckon they live in the brickwork under the floor of the house and find any tiny hole that they can force their way through. One day we found them climbing up from the corner of one of the concrete pillars that hold the house up. The hole they were using was the size of a pinhead.I quickly sealed the hole up but how many other similar holes are there?

Our strategy now is to keep the sugar in a well sealed box and to close packets of cereals carefully. So far this seems to have worked because we've had no more ants in the sugar. It hasn't got rid of them though because we still find the odd one making its way across the work tops. I might have won the battle but the war is far from over.