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truly inspired.....

priceless!!

How do I get rid of the ants that invade my kitchen? I've tried Grant's ant traps and they don't seem to help. I've also got issues with those "daddy long legs" spiders putting webs in all the corners. Any thoughts on eradication? I'd rather not have to get a service over here to spray. I live in the "Y" area if that helps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Dear bill fusion,

No need to spray!! much less "eradicate"!!

Ants are friendly harmless creatures who don't want to be where they are not wanted.

1. Keep your kitchen very clean. Ants are scavengers for the smallest particles.

2. Use lots of strong cleanser to wipe down surfaces where ants travel. Ants are like chemical robots that follow chemical trails laid down by other ants. If they can't smell the trails they won't keep on them.

3. Find the entry points where they are getting into the house and block those physically with putty or wax or wet paper stuffed into crevices or whatever it takes.

Whatever you do, don't use poison! It will kill all kinds of other creatures including possibly you!

Dear bill fusion,

I concur with the wise advice of ant patrol. For many years ants came into my house to eat left-over catfood and invade the honey jar. For those types of situations I would carry the item full of ants away from the house (saving the lives of as many as possible). For some reason this year I've had no indoor ant problems. They only get into the catfood left outside. There are tons of natural remedies --but the best is prevention by keeping counters, etc., clean and putting the honey jar in a pan of water. (It's a mystery to me why this year so far not a single ant has been drawn to the honey jar that sits on the counter.)

For those etheric, light weight daddy long leg type spiders, about once a month I take a long poled lambs-wool duster (purchased at Rains years ago) and gently coax them onto the duster and then gently shake them off outside. They are usually very cooperative and sometimes I "catch" up to six at a time. Or I catch them in my hand and flick them outside. Other types of spiders are usually easilly coaxed into a paper cup and returned to the great outdoors.

When I was eight-years old I saw the artist Beatrice Wood carefully catch spiders and bring them outside. She taught me that "Every creature loves his life as much as you do."

Wow! That was an amazing performance. Can't wait to try it!

I like to catch those daddy logleg spiders and fed them to my fish in my aquarium, them gobble them up !! Ants are my enemy, I have to move all of my hives out of Ojai by the begining of August or they will get over run by the ants. Strong hives can keep the ants away by sealing all the cracks in the hive with propolis. Last year I lost around 50 hives due to ants and the combination of no rain. This year I have all my hives under eucalyptus trees. The oil of the eucalyptus seems to make it an inhospitable place for ants to make there nests. The bees have a particularly difficult time dealing with ants, they are too small for the bees to sting so all they can do is try and keep them out. Sometimes at the entrance of the hive they will blow them away by fanning, they keep the entrance polished also using propolis.

Maybe you can nuke'em

Didn't anyone ever tell y'all that Ojai is just one big ant hill?

Shoot, Tyler, you got me again! Anyway, I'm really bummed because Michael Phelps hasn't won anymore golds. And I'm missing the close-ups of his mom.

You need a tamadua:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamanduagirl/

http://taqmanduagirl.blogspot.com/

....or maybe even a tamaNdua.

Sheesh.

whenever i "kill" an ant because their sheer numbers and persistence just overwhelm me, i always say "evolve" as i squish their little formic acid laden body to rest

Speaking of "nuking" did you here that the FDA is going to allow for spinach to be irradiated ! That will help the problems that the spinach growers have been having.

Thank you for all your helpful suggestions. I'm going to the humane society today, think they'll have an Aardvark for me? Maybe I'll "borrow" one from the Santa Barbara zoo.

Speaking of "nuking" did you here that the FDA is going to allow for spinach to be irradiated ! That will help the problems that the spinach growers have been having.

This will certainly help to increase the demand for certified organic nuke-free spinach. And, I don't want growers to think that they can lower their hygiene and handling standards just because they plan on irradiating their product.

That said, I hear that we've all been consuming and using irradiated spices for years.

True, irradiation does not replace proper cleanliness.