The ants come marching.... (Day 2)

...into my house, fa, la, fa, la.....

I woke yesterday morning to a trail of little soldiers marching between my front door and a sticky spill (juice?) in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Gross.

Mentioned it to DH, who commented that they must have come in the cedar mulch he spread on the front garden beds. Great. Now what?

I like ants - all creatures have a reason for being, and as a gardener, I know they are an integral part of a healthy eco-system. But I do NOT like them in my house.

I checked Vanessa's list for eco-friendly insect solutions. She only dealt with fruit flies, so I was on my own. I planned to spend part of the day doing research with my friend, Google, but between the kids and household stuff, just didn't get a chance. I swept up the errant insects and dumped them back outside.

DH came home from work that night with a tip from one of the admin assistants. She suggested a mixture of equal amounts of baking powder and icing sugar. "Icing sugar to attract them," he said "and baking powder to make them explode!" Apparently, their little internal systems can't handle baking powder and everything shuts down. Seems kind of cruel, but on the other hand, I don't think it's any more cruel than poison or traps.

I gave it a shot. I mixed the powders together and sprinkled them on the front porch around the base of the door, and in the flower bed where they seemed to be nesting. I watched some of the ants pick up pieces of the mixture and dutifully carry them back to the nest.

And this morning, not an ant was to be found.

Not in the house, not on the front porch and only a few in the flower bed. It was kind of eerie, actually. Like I created my own little ghost town.

But I think I'll keep the recipe handy, just in case.