Getting ants out of your kitchen and pet meals bowls might take some effort. (Getty Images)
DEAR JOAN: With all this rain, the native ants have sought shelter and sustenance inside. My standard technique of placing the cat meals bowl in water doesn’t appear to discourage them. I’ve tried wiping down the world with white vinegar, however this doesn’t appear to work both.
Any recommendations about learn how to hold them from swarming within the cat meals bowl? I’ve to depart a bit meals for (my cat) in a single day in his room, or else he howls vivid and early within the morning.
— Ellen, Inverness
DEAR ELLEN: Placing pet meals bowls in a shallow tray of water is the commonest weapon within the anti-ant arsenal. The moats work nicely in idea — as a result of ants can’t swim, they’ll’t attain the meals bowl island, proper?
It ought to work, besides that ants will use their lifeless, drowned brethren to create a bridge to the bowl. All’s truthful within the pursuit of meals for the colony, I suppose. Pets add to the issue, unintentionally dropping meals within the water, which might then be used as stepping stones. Vigilance — repeatedly cleansing the moat and altering the water — might assist. Some individuals suggest placing petroleum jelly across the fringe of the moat or bowl, however the first ants turn into mired within the goo, and people behind climb on their our bodies to succeed in the meals. It additionally will get throughout your pets.
There are dozens of ant-proof gadgets available on the market. A well-liked one is a bowl that seems to drift off the ground. It’s truly sitting on a base that elevates the bowl barely, so the ants should crawl underneath the bowl to the supporting base, climb up the aspect, make a U-turn to move down the other aspect, then summit the lip and up the skin of the bowl. Apparently, they get baffled on the U-turn and by no means full the journey.
To cease the ants earlier than they get in the home, specialists counsel utilizing outdoor-grade silicone caulk to fill cracks and gaps in your basis and siding, sealing up something bigger than 1 / 4 inch. Door sweeps might help with gaps at entryways, as will patching or changing broken home windows and screens.
If you possibly can monitor the place the ants are coming in, you possibly can sprinkle cinnamon or talcum powder over the doorway. And as an alternative of utilizing ant spray to kill the ants, use Windex or Febreeze. They will kill the intruders, however received’t hurt your pet.
Lastly, hold the feeding space spotless, cleansing up any dropped meals and selecting up the bowls when not in use. This will make it much less tempting to the ants.
DEAR JOAN: A neighbor has an undesirable nest of bees near her home. Any recommendations about removing?
