We have shared our home with ants ever since we arrived. In the daytime it’s the little ones that are out and about, mostly in the kitchen and dining rooms. It’s not always easy to keep things tidy with two young children preparing their own snacks but I do my best to keep things sealed up and clean enough that the ants don’t often get too out of hand. Once in a while there are enough of them that I follow their trail back to a crack or hole and give that spot a little blast of bug spray, but usually I take a live-and-let-live approach to them.
At night, the small black ants go to bed and larger red ants come out. They don’t seem to be up to much, just checking things out. My husband steps on them when he sees them. In the morning you can see the small black ants carrying away the carcasses to wherever they live. The food chain at work!
I could spray for them I suppose, but I’m not so enthusiastic about the idea. Also, I’m not sure it would do much good. So far as I understand the construction practices here in Egypt, they fill in the floors with sand for insulation. If that’s true then the whole building is really one large ant farm!
Lately the small ants have found their way into my bedroom. Since generally speaking I don’t do any eating in bed at all, why do I keep finding them crawling on me when I’m reading at night? The fact that they are started to bite me in my sleep is just proof of their vicious and aggressive nature. Little beasts. Since I have a mild allergic reaction to their bites, I decided to find out what they were really after because sweet as I am, surely I am not the main attraction.
Turns out there were a couple of candy canes in my nightstand, from several Christmases ago.
I’ve removed them (and about a hundred ants) so I hope that takes care of the problem. I guess have to find another place to hide my treats – or else put them in a baggie before I stash them!
