When Windex and Petroleum Jelly Are the Weapons of Choice
There was a time, a simpler time, when Aimee Walker and the ants were practically friends. When the insects came calling, as they invariably did, she’d put an “offering” bowl of sweets and other goodies for her guests by her back door.
“I thought it would be good karma,” said Walker, 36, a Silver Lake resident.
But then there was the time the ants crept into her second-story bedroom. Then there was the time they swarmed over her indoor garbage can. Then there was the time they blanketed her dog’s food bowl.
And then they were friends no more.
“I’ve saved every other insect on the planet, but I hate them now. I absolutely hate them,” said Walker, a stay-at-home mom studying for her real estate license. “I kill them with my bare hands.”
Like many Angelenos, Walker’s hands are busy these days guarding her homestead from the ant invasion that lays siege to Southern California this time of year. “I actually use my thumb a lot,” Walker added.
Ants are virtually a year-round problem here, but are a particular one in early autumn. So much so that it settles the long-debated question of whether Los Angeles has any distinct seasons. Summer may imperceptibly bleed into autumn, and autumn into winter. But there is an ant season.
During the onset of fall, the region labors under a twin curse--or blessing, if you are an eighth of an inch long, can lift up to 50 times your own weight and reproduce every 28 days. Cooler temperatures drive warmth-seeking ants to relocate their colonies--which can number anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands--underneath houses and from there, inside. Also, periodic hot weather spikes send ants marching into homes in search of water. (Ants dehydrate easily, poor little lambs).
The result is an inevitable showdown between the two-legged and the six-legged. So far, six beats two, hands down.
Argentine ants, or Linepithema humile, easily outnumber the local Homo sapiens population despite humankind’s best eradication efforts. It’s especially surprising since the blackish-brown ant only arrived in the United States in the late 1800s, probably aboard a coffee ship arriving in New Orleans.
The Argentine ants, which hail from the same continent that brought us killer bees, are known for their extremely aggressive behavior. It’s not that they are a threat to human flesh, but that they conquer almost any other ant species in their path.
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Their favorite nesting places range from holes in the ground to the cracks and crevices in concrete walls. From there, they can easily enter a house along plumbing fixtures and through windows and electrical sockets. Time and again, they use the same paths, following chemical residue left by their forefathers.
“I see scouts coming through a small crack in my bathroom wall all the time,” said Margaret Burton of Echo Park. “I squash them, I spray. I think I’ve tried everything, but they always seem to come back.”
“It can get so demoralizing that I try not to get so mad about it anymore,” added the 28-year-old administrative assistant.
Others aren’t ready to put their anger aside. When the black ants invade, they see red.
“I get right on top of them when they come in and I kill every last one of them,” said Bill Bliss, a substitute schoolteacher who lives in Los Angeles.
After six years of battling the ants in his apartment building, Bliss has a favorite method of execution. He follows the ant trails, finds their base, and hits them with hot water and soap.
“They drown real easy,” he notes.
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Many residents, like Bliss, who has a 10-year-old child, don’t like to use poisons or insecticides to combat the ants. Instead they choose from an arsenal of home remedies and techniques that include everything from vacuuming to petroleum jelly. “I’ve found Windex stops them dead in their tracks,” said Walker. “I used to spray with Raid, but I refuse to buy something special for the ants.”
Imaginative extermination efforts, even if vigorously applied, still won’t defeat the Argentine ant, say pest control experts. Short of a nuclear strike, the best you can do is to keep them at bay. “They are really able to adapt to any environment,” said Darrell Roach, manager of American City Pest Control in Los Angeles. “That’s the reason they are still around and in such great numbers.”
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Pest control experts recommend preventive steps. Don’t leave out pet food. Clean up food deposits, especially sweets, from floors, counters and other household areas. Also, avoid over-watering the lawn since saturation forces egg-toting ants from their yard nests to seek new shelter areas.
Despite the inevitable six-legged onslaught, some residents are still able to look on the bright side.
“The ants really force me to keep my house clean,” said Bliss.
