Anthony HortonLadies, I generally don't mind having a few ants around the house, but I really don't think a shelf in our laundry press is a good place to keep your brood.
I guess it's the ants' house now.
If it were just a few workers foraging around the kitchen I'd be confident about persuading them to go elsewhere just by being scrupulous about preventing them from getting into any of our food. These girls have clearly settled in to our laundry, however. I'm not sure that they'll pack up and leave just because food becomes more scarce in the immediate vicinity.
Anyone want a colony of, I think, Ochetellus glaber? Free to a good home.
A while back the kid was asking for some pet ants. I guess they're in luck...
I don't think tiny black house ants would have been first choice of species though. We'd probably have gone for one of the big Camponotus species, so it would be easier to see what they're doing.
The laundry ant colony has at least given me something interesting to point my cheapo USB microscope at.
Lots of workers looking after the larvae, some callows, and a few alates.
The bright light from the USB microscope clearly agitated them, which suggests to me I might be able to persuade them to move the brood out of the linen press by opening the doors, taking out the linen, and thereby denying them the darkness that they need to feel that the brood is safe. I'm sure they'd only move as far as the nearest dark nook or cranny, but that would still be a move in the right direction.
They've gone! I checked the linen press this morning and the ants were no longer there. That established colony with their brood laid out on the cupboard shelf have packed up their eggs, larvae, pupae and alates and moved out, leaving no trace behind. I didn't even see any individual workers wandering around the laundry or kitchen.
I don't know whether it was me disturbing them with bright lights or something else that prompted them to relocate, and I don't know where they've moved to, but as long as they're no longer all up in our linen I'll take that as a win.
Oh no, they're back! Or, more likely, never really left. The brood is now one shelf further up the linen press.
Clearly more drastic action is needed in order to make this cupboard unappealing to them. At a minimum I'm going to have to take out all the towels and linen for a while. Bare shelves in an open cupboard will, hopefully, be too exposed to be considered a suitable nesting site.
Urban legend has it that wiping surfaces with a little diluted vinegar acts as at least a temporary house ant repellent, I may give that a go too.
Trish Roberts