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The Ants Go Marching One By One is a children's song set to the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
The posted lyrics read:The ants go marching one by one. Hoora, hoora!
The ants go marching one by one. Hoora, hoora!
The ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to suck on his thumb,
And they all went marching, down to get of the rain. (BOO- BOOM!)
The ants go marching two by two. Hoora, hoora!
The ants go marching two by two. Hoora, hoora!
The ants go marching two by two, the little one stopped to tie up his shoe,
And they all went marching, down to get of the rain. (BOO- BOOM!)
The ants go marching three by three. Hoora, hoora!
The ants go marching three by three. Hoora, hoora!
The ants go marching three by three, the little one stopped to climb a tree,
And they all went marching, down to get of the rain. (BOO- BOOM!)
The ants go marching four by four. Hoora, hoora!
... etc.>>
Well, this time of year we are totally inundated, and I wish more than anything that they would climb a tree or stop to suck their thumbs -- if ants have thumbs. Right now, they are marching here by the tens of thousands. They may be after the rain, as the above suggests, but rain will not be due here for several more months, so they must make do with the cat food, the dog food, the eggs, anything in the kitchen or in the house or the garbage or in the surrounding half-mile.
The cat would make periodic pilgrimages inside to cry at us when his food bowl was totally over-run. The dogs' food would remain uneaten - by them - while the ants feasted. But when I found myself waking up several times a night to pick ants out of my ears, off of my face and out of my eyes, I finally realized that we had a serious problem.
Since we live in the country, I tend to adopt a live-and-let-live philosophy whenever possible; I despise the idea of using poisons of any sort. Ground squirrels and rabbits pretty much have free rein. Bugs enjoy the fruits of our garden pretty much at will. But enough is enough. When I can't sleep, the war has begun.
I dug out a recipe that I had used in years past, and prepared a snack for our little friends.
Measure 2 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons of boric acid, and one cup of water into a pan and boil for several minutes to make a syrup. I put a few cotton balls in jar lids, soaked them with the syrup, and let things be. In about three days the ants were gone. That nest had been dessicated. Unfortunately, every few feet there seems to be a new tribe, so we are now working our way around the house. Boric acid does not seem to be very toxic, and no one else in the household seems to be interested in it, so ... so far, so good. We'll keep you posted.
1 comment:
Another trick to keep ants out of the out-door pet food bowl is to put them in a pan of water. For instance put the cat's food bowl into a pie tin, then fill the tin with water. Ants can't cross the "moat". I do this all the time in Lakeside. :)
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