Mike McCaffrey 
Crap, I found an entire colony of #ants living on some warm power bricks in our living room. I can't leave them like that since ants and electricity don't seem like a safe combination, and I'm about to leave town, but I feel so bad about unplugging the heat on their babies and I have no idea where they will relocate to!
Mar 22 at 7:38amWeb
Show threadMike McCaffrey 2d ago

I gave the ants a rabbits foot fern to hang out in, if they need a place to move to. It isn't a warm power brick, but it is a lot like the orchid I used to have a colony of ants living in on my kitchen counter. Otherwise, I have no idea where they are about to move to

My wife is being remarkably fine with the idea that we have a colony of ants that is about to move somewhere else, probably in our house.

Show threadMike McCaffrey 2d ago
@futurebird Is there some sort of box or such that you can get that is irresistible to colonies of ants, so you can put it down and coax them out of a place that they shouldn't be nesting, like they do with swarms of bees?
Show threadmyrmepropagandist2d ago

@mikemccaffrey

Sort of. Though ants are kind of notorious for not doing what you expect.

They like heat and moisture, your best bet is to make that place dry and cold and they may move.

Right now they think they are so slick having found a perfect place to warm their young.

Show threadMike McCaffrey 2d ago

@futurebird Alas, I have unplugged their electric heater, so I'm guessing that will make them less inclined to stick around out in the open. I just have no idea where they are going to go next, and since I'm heading out of town I can't follow the parade.

Maybe they will accept my proffered plant since it is a tangle of roots and leaves to hang out in and currently has both dry and wet areas.

Show threadPlantwizard2d ago
@mikemccaffrey @futurebird Damned ants are all over the place in Beaverton too. We're fans of Terro ant bait. I put it on plastic plant labels and leave them around where the ants our. They'll soon pony up to the trough. You do have to rebait when the next batch hatches. But then I have no problem killing ants. If you do I got nothing.
Show threadmyrmepropagandist2d ago

@mikemccaffrey

Can you unplug the brick for a bit? It's the heat that they are attracted to.

I would use the bug vacuume on this situation. Move them outside in batches while looking for the queen. Any idea where they came from?

They are excited to heat their babies so they will grow up faster and the brick is the perfect temp.

Show threadmyrmepropagandist2d ago

@mikemccaffrey

I'm sorry but this is cracking me up. They really said "this is for us, thank you for the heated nursery"

OMG