Conference misery::feline_v1

Get, in any fashion you can, GRANTS ANT STAKES.  These are little metal
things with a point on the bottom that allows you to "stake" them into
the ground.  I simply stir up the contents of the little round part with
a toothpick dipped in hot water and lay them around where I see ants.
The cats (and dog when I had one) did not care about the stakes, but
the ants carried the stuff back to the nest in DROVES - the stuff is
so attractive, they swarmed it!  In 3 days, ants are gone.  I now
lay these outside in the spring, near every window, and near a pan
of water I keep to attract the ants.  Replace your stakes approx.
once a month during hot weather.  Keep the stakes out of direct
sun if you can.

I'm NOT one for product testimonials, usually, but these little suckers
really do the job.

	Upon reading the base note and reply .1 I was wondering where the
    thin line between an animal lover and a cruel person lies?
    
    	I have read this conference for a few months and know that if someone
    entered a note such as:
    
    "does anyone know of anything which will kill dogs but not cats"
    
    then it would be met by much abuse, however Ants seem to be fair
    game.
    
    Please dont get me wrong, I am NOT having a go at anyone, and I
    would probably be asking the same question as .0 if I was in the
    same situation, but where do YOU draw the line? is it ants/flies
    or rats/mice or hampsters/guineapigs or cats/dogs ?
    
    I would be interested to know which animals you think it is O.K.
    to start killing indescriminately (SP?).
    
    Martyn.
           
    P.S. 
    
    Moderator(s) please feel free to move this note if you think it
    appropriate.
                                            

    
    Martyn, firstly welcome to feline !!  Nice having you about.
    
    I think I can understand how you feel, maybe.  Are you accross the
    pond?  Here in the US we sometimes are overrun with ants - I guess
    I just don't want to share my home with a zillion ants - I can't
    say that I could ever love an ant or a bug.  
    
    

    Re: .2
    
    Are you for real???  Hey, you can have ants, roaches, mice, chickens
    or elephants runnin around your house, but I'll decide what lives in
    mine!  What do you want me to do, pick 'em up one at a time and let
    them loose outside??  Do you have an ant farm?  You can come over and
    pick 'em up and give 'em a nice home!  How's that?
    
    Pound sand...
    
    
    Bob

    I read some time ago that ants folow trails, so one helpful thing to
    do when you find an occasional ant problem in the house is to not only
    clobber the ants, but to wash the path they followed.  There are a lot
    of ants in my yard and on rare occasions a few make it inside.  I've
    used the washing business and it does seem to work.
    

    Re: .5
    
    I suppose the floor could use a washing anyway so that's worth a
    try.  I have a pretty good idea where they're coming from outside
    and will probably try spraying something there.  The strange thing
    is that they only come in during the spring and aren't a problem
    most of the year.
    
    Guess I could just get an anteater for my two cats to play with ;').
    
    
    
    Bob

    What I have done in past when ants were all over my kitchen is leave
    cucumber peels around on the counters and on the floor.  When left for
    a day or so, the ants dissapear.  Hard to believe but it works.  They
    hate cucumber peels......
    
    Plus no poison for the furfaces to get into..
    
    Good luck,
    Judie

    
    	really? cucumber peels???? wow...my mother said garlic, but
    	I didn't want to sprinkle it all over my kitchen....
    
    	I'll have to try it....thanks!
    

    Re: 8
    
    You have your mother's directions confused.  Garlic is for
    warding off vampires, not ants.
    

    Cucumber peels, huh?  Now that's the type of thing I was looking
    for....a natural thing that works(?) and won't hurt the cats even
    if they eat it...which I seriously doubt!  Cucumber inside and the
    poison outside sounds like a good combination.
    
    
    Thanks!
    
    Bob

    
            Try cloves sprinkled at areas where they might come in, around
    baseboards, cabinets, etc.  Ants HATE the smell!  I've done that 
    and I have't had an ant in my house in many years.........
    There are herbs that can be planted outside near the house foundation
    also if you are interested.
    
                                   Denise

     Re .2
     WOW!! I bet you've never walked in the woods in May in New
    England...or if you DID I'm surprised that you survived....in fact I'm
    surprised the black-flies didn't carry you off...and you must RELLLY
    look great after allowing 19000 mosquitoes to bite you without ever
    hitting one of the poor lil critters... Ya gotta draw the line
    SOMEWHERE!!
    
     Re .9
      Will garlic ward off the "vampire bunnies" that someone mentioned in
    the GARDEN notes??? (last couple of days...)
    
    Re a few.... 
      Maybe we should develope some sort of "Medicine pouch" like the
    Native Americans used to wear around their necks...fill it with
    cucumber peels, garlic, cloves, and for the hell of it put in some
    cinnamon, a little hair from a dog, some bird droppings....maybe some
    residue from the litter-box.... Hey!! when the ants get a whiff of
    THAT, they'll move to the next planet!!  (Course your family and cats
    will probably share the same moving van with them, but think of the
    quiet??????)
    
    JM

reply:  where do I draw the line..

Any beast that invades my home AND that can cause harm to myself or
the other welcome occupants of the home either directly (through
poisonous bites, allergy reactions, etc), or indirectly (through
germs, etc.) is fair game.  If they live outside and don't come
in, they are left alone.  I think it is a fair and balanced way
to live my life.  I live with avid carnivores (my cats), and I
AM an occasional carnivore (chicken,fish, even beef sometimes),
so I must add that I am willing to participate in the killing
of that which we eat (by paying, I participate)...and I cannot
wear plastic or immitation leather (skin breaks out in a hive-like
rash), so I also am willing to participate in killing the source
of my shoes.  I DO harbor hope that the animals which are eaten
are ALSO the source of the shoe leather, making the whole process
a little more efficient.....

When it comes to ants, they can carry germs that infest food, they
can sting (and can cause a very nasty allergic reaction on me when
they do), and they travel in great herds, as well.  In the silicon
valley, we are suffering a water shortage, and that, coupled with
very mild winters has increased the ant infestations 20-fold.  I
have discovered a method that will drive them from my house, not
poison the dirt and contribute to the infusion of poisons to the 
water table  (like sprays can), and not poison my cats or any
other animals....I feel that is the best I can do.

    Cloves...another good idea.  Does anyone know if they could be
    harmful to cats?  I have one cat that it seems will eat anything!
    
    
    Thx
    Bob

    When we had carpenter ants I was told to wash surfaces with white
    vinegar.  It really seemed to help and obviously won't hurt the
    cats or you. Its especially useful for food preparation surfaces.
    
    re: where do you draw the line - I agree that anything that
    invades my home, especially in large numbers and is potentially 
    harmful is fair game.  Poisoning anything should be a last resort
    and should only be undertaken after a great deal of consideration.
    All life is valuable and that is also sufficient justification for
    protecting mine and the life of my cats.  
    
    Cats and dogs do NOT generally qualify as "pests" like insects.  I
    don't touch spiders and will try to catch and release bees, but 
    when something threatens to eat my house out from under me - well
    that's definitely way over the limit.
      Nancy

    
    RE: 15  "Poisoning anything should be a last resort and should only
    be undertaken after a great deal of consideration."
    
    My consideration took about 15 seconds.  I live in a basement apartment
    and go through "ANT HELL" every year.  This year was an invasion!
    They got into tupperware containers of dry cat food, into my iron,
    into cupboards, drawers, and my all-time favorite --my bed.  I have
    tried Grants Ant Stakes, home remedies, ant cups, ant bottles, etc.,
    etc.  I have scrubbed and scoured. Using Raid or substances like that 
    is not my idea of a good time, but sometimes that is the only thing
    that works. Making sure that his food is not out, I spray up in the 
    cupboards, in the drawers and in any knook and cranny that they can
    come in (but not around the baseboards where Bailey can get at it).
    I open the windows and we go for a ride or to a friends house.  I
    don't think twice about getting rid of the ants.  It's them or us, 
    and I think Bailey and I are more important than a army of ants.
    Next year I'll pay the $ 200.00 + for the exterminator!         
                                             
    

    try Diazon.  I am not sure if they are safe around pets/children, but
    they work mint!  It is a granular  that you sprinkle over the ant
    hills.

    Hello folks,
    	Our network has just come back up and I thought I would clarify
    my situation. I do live in the U.K. and realise how lucky we are
    over here as regards pests. I have only really suffered from ants
    and mosquitos etc. when on holidays. I personally draw the line
    somewhere near those who replied that anything which invades their
    house is fair game, I never kill spiders 'cos they keep down the
    flies but I do kill flies and would also have no problem killing
    ants, mice etc.
    
    Martyn_who_just_wanted_to_see_what_some_other_noters_felt.
    
    Bye.
    

    That's diazanon (sp?).  We used that outside to get rid of carpenter
    ants.  I don't believe its for indoor use.  It has a definite odor
    and it turned my stomach when I went down into the cellar (we had
    treated the stairs from the outside into the cellar).  
    
    re: ants - It only takes 15 seconds because we've already done all
    the thinking years ago.  I don't think it even took 15 seconds for
    me to decide that the carpenter ants had to go  :-)  
    
    I can't believe they got into the tupperware containers!! and your
    iron!!  what was in an iron that they could want?  Water?
    
    YUCK!!!  I remember some friends of mine who had a cockroach problem.
    It was compounded by a dish war where one roommate refused to clean
    the kitchen because the other roommate wasn't doing his share (two
    men) so the roaches had a field day.  I was trying to cook supper
    one night and the kitchen was blue from the smoke of baking
    cockroaches.  I was using the oven.  At one point I lifed up the
    top of the stove and discovered that you couldn't see the pipes that
    supplied the gas burners because they were solid cockroach.  
    
    I lost it!!!!!!!!    I dont think I ever returned to that kitchen 
    again.  ARGH!!!!!!

    Re: .18

>                 I do live in the U.K. and realise how lucky we are
>   over here as regards pests. I have only really suffered from ants
>   and mosquitos etc. when on holidays. I personally draw the line
>   somewhere near those who replied that anything which invades their
>   house is fair game, I never kill spiders 'cos they keep down the
>   flies but I do kill flies and would also have no problem killing
>   ants, mice etc.

    I don't kill anything I don't "have" to. I do defend myself outdoors
    against mosquitoes and black flies, which can be quite fierce here
    in New Hampshire, and indoors against ants, flies, fleas, and other
    "pests." Spiders fall into a gray area because they are beneficial
    but creepy. I can, after years of conditioning, ignore the little ones, 
    but the big, fast-moving ones I consider dangerous to my mental and
    physical health, so they usually get tucked into a paper towel "bed"
    with a book, a large heavy book. That is, if the cats don't get
    'em first -- they have been known to do my dirty work for me! I would 
    have trouble killing anything of a higher life form than insects, 
    though. (Discriminatory, I know.)

    Your reply reminds me of an experience I had some years ago. The biggest 
    spider I ever saw in my life was in a guest house in Basingstoke, U.K.  
    I awoke early one morning and groggily noticed that there was a large 
    dark spot in a corner of the ceiling that wasn't there when I went to 
    bed the night before. Being nearsighted, I plopped my glasses on and then 
    nearly had a heart attack! The dark spot was a huge dark spider. This 
    spider, if it had sat down and stuck its legs straight out, would have 
    been as big as my entire hand. Having been afraid of spiders for most of 
    my life, I leaped out of bed ran to the other side of the room. Even half-
    awake I could figure out that this spider would eventually try to return 
    outside through the open, unscreened window at the opposite end of the
    room; my bed lay in its path. Sure enough, a short time later Mr. Spider 
    began to amble along the molding towards the window. When it was directly 
    over my bed, it stumbled and fell RIGHT ONTO MY PILLOW! (The truth, I 
    swear!) If I hadn't awakened when I did this thing would have landed on 
    my face! Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to take the empty 
    wastebasket and drop it, upside down, over the spider on the pillow.
    The spider remained there until the manager came to my rescue and ushered 
    it out. 

    Cheers,

    Linda

    I have not hesitation in ridding the premises of ants. After having
    been gone for a week-end I came home to find the entire kitchen
    counter covered with the little suckers.  What had been white was
    entirely black and moving.  They also got into my silverware drawers.
    The beasts had, now mind this, come in through a space under the
    front door, marched up 32 steps in single file, down a very long
    hall, into the kitchen, up around the door molding and into the
    pantry.  Gino, who gets turned on by ants, was rolling in them,
    Pippin was stomping on them and I had squashed ants and frienzied
    cats running amuck.  It took me hours "dispose" of them and wash
    all the silverware.  Now when I notice even an attempt on their
    part to enter my place I take immediate action and spray the living
    hell out of them.
    
    I do not kill spiders, lady bugs, crickets, etc. but I have been 
    known to demolish other spcies of insects which pose a threat to
    my sanity.
    
    
    Giudi, Pippin and Gino do'en the Ant-fan-dango						

    Being that the weather in New England has decided to turn warm
    we are invaded by ALL kinds of UGLY bugs.  Ants in the house, fleas
    and ticks out side (which attach themselves to Mocha and us if they
    have a mind to,) and then they are in the house also. Just when it
    nice to enjoy the out doors and the fresh air we polute the air with
    all kinds of CRITTER spray.
    
    The ticks seem particularly plentiful this year. Get them in your house
    and fleas are a piece of cake.
    
    Keep spraying those indoor-outdoor furfaces as well as the door step
    decks and floors, and carpets, AND ENJOY THE WARM WEATHER.
    
    Barbara