The little enemies
by Mieko Takaoka

comparison-contrast
research

One warm night, he came through the bedroom window. His sudden intrusion angered me. That was the first time I saw him in this house. His tiny round eyes seemed innocent enough, but he was frightened by my stare. His skinny long legs were trembling. He turned his head, saying, "I'm completely lost." That was certainly not a good excuse for breaking into my private property. "Hey, YOU, get outta here," I said as I picked him and threw him out of the window. "Never come back!"

But I saw him a second time; he was in the kitchen with his friends. They were stealing my roommate Susie's peach from her shelf. With his triumphant face, he proclaimed, "I conquered your kitchen. Ha, ha, ha." I was furious. "Oh, shut up!" I declared. "I'm gonna terminate you guys!" Our long battle began. I took COMBAT from under the sink and sprayed it toward them. The ones there died, but it wasn't over. His brothers and sisters keep coming to the kitchen. The little ants with all their relatives are the most annoying enemies in any family's kitchen.

Initially, I used ant killer sprays to kill ants. These sprays easily clear up thousands of crawling ants at once. Nevertheless, the number of ants increased, ants invaded the bathroom next to the kitchen. I aimed thenozzle at endless lines of ants. My battle cry for the day was, "1, 2, 3, Fire!" Combat Ant & Roach Instant Killer keeps on killing even after the surface is dry. At first, I believed that eliminating foraging workers through spraying them might result in exterminating the colony. However, as I found out, spraying only kills a small fraction of the colony's population -even the ones that are killed are quickly replaced.

There are also unexpected ways that sprays make the problem worse. Queens are sensitive to insecticide residues. When you spray one area with ant sprays, one or more queens move to a new site with another group ofworkers to begin another colony. Thus, spraying can even result in greater number of ants. Ants will continuously coming to your house even though you may have previously killed thousands of worker ants. This fight might never end.

Not only are sprays ineffective in exterminating ants but spraying is also harmful for humans and pets. COMBAT Ant & Roach Instant Killer includes many toxic chemicals like the 73 % petroleum distillates. Petroleum distillates are frequently found in gasoline, paint thinner, and charcoal lighter. It's no wonder the spray smells so much like gasoline. When you spray, these petroleum distillates allow the toxic chemicals in the spray can to go under furniture, behind appliances and into corners and even into walls to kill ants where they hide. Unfortunately, these toxic chemicals also cover the entire room. Unconsciously, you may touch these chemicals many times, increasing the risk of being poisoned. While you are sprayinga group of ants, your puppy behind you may accidentally inhale the mist and become sick. While cutting carrots, you may drop a piece on the sprayed counter. Later, when you throw it into your mouth, you would be eating poison. Many ant killer sprays advise, "Wash thoroughly with soap andwater after handling and before eating or smoking. Avoid contamination of cooking utensils and food preparation surfaces. Do not use in edible products." The questionable effectivenessand high risks of using ant sprays make this method a poor choice.

Though using the spray to exterminate ants is pretty hopeless, there are other choices like ant bait. Bait stations are much safer and inexpensive. I bought six bait stations with a quick kill formula for four dollars.Even if it won't work instantly, you will begin to see results overnight or in a few days. Bait stations are easy to set up; you just place a station inthe corner of the room. There is nothing to activate, there is no vapor, and there is no odor. In fact, 99% of bait ingredients is inert, so you don't need to hold your breath when you are placing bait. I placed two bait stations: one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. The foraging workers happily took the bait back to the nest where they passed it to the queen, thus killing the entire colony. Similarly, in chess, you'll never win the war if you go after the pawns. In the case of ants, you've got to go for the queen. This is the technique is used by professional pest control companies.

Now, I seldom have seen ants in the kitchen. Without them, I feel much more comfortable when I use the kitchen. For me, it was a hard won peace after a long battle with those pesky ants. Are you sick of seeing ants all over the counters? They are just laughing at your frowning face. It's time to exterminate them with ant bait stations.

Reference:

"POISONED!" http://workingdogs.com/doc0175.htm
"PHARAOH ANT LOGIC." http://www.donspestcontrol.com/
COMBAT Ant & Roach Instant Killer
COMBAT quick kill formula six bait stations

Return to English 122 syllabus
Return to English 122 main page
Questions? Brian McKinney (bmckinne@home.com)