AIBU to inflict genocide on an ant colony?

[FlaminGreatGallah]

Bought one of these earlier.

Now they are all swarming around it and reeling almost-drunkenly away from it.

I feel a bit guilty.

Then again, they did frighten the life out of me last year when DS was up at 3 a.m and I found hundreds of the bastards all over the kitchen worktops.

If they are black YABU if they are red you are not. I wouldn't want to leave poison traps around for animals to find either. There are a lot of natural deterents for ants if you have a look for them I can't remeber if it was cream of tartar or cinamon that you pour across your doorways and they wont cross..mmm must google. It did work wahtever it was though!

Also the best way of getting rid of ants is getting rid of their food sources

i think whacking them on the head with a spade is a nicer end for them myself

my Nanna used to pour a kettle of boiling water over them

how we loved watching them panic and shrivel

why is she unreasonable if they're black ants? are they protected or something?

actually, I am reminded of the ant colony at my house when I was a kid. Used to drive my mum NUTS. She couldn't get rid of them.

I used to feed them jam every day.

I told her about it recently.

She got this funny look on her face and went a bit twitchy.

oh, question about black ants is serious btw. Reading it back it sounds like I might be being a cow. I'm not. I actually want to know.

My mother regales in telling people about the time she found me covered in ants in my cot.

Ground floor flat,summer of '76 and in the sweltering afternoon heat she had left the french doors open...

She came in to check on me (hours later?) and my cot,bedding and me were black with thousands of ants.

I doubt any animals could get into the poison traps as they are designed only for ants. But if the stray cats who shit all over the garden were to munch away on the plastic I wouldn't be too sad.

The food sources well, I have no food outside the door where they are coming in. I suppose I could move everything out of the kitchen upstairs though.

I googled and searched MN last year and found some ideas such as cinnamon and talc but the natural methods weren't very effective. Plus it didn't look particularly wholesome when the HV came to visit and there were chopped up lines of white powder everywhere.

Ew thingumy-I would have screamed.
We have black ants-I find them fascinating, of an evening after the kids have gone to bed they all march under my front door along the hallway and into the kitchen. They then scurry around the kitchen floor and up the table legs. I didnt realise they were nocturnal but the ones I have definitely are.

And this is why I love AIBU. I am baffled by the idea that black ants may be a protected species as I can't think of any type of creature on earth less likely to become extinct.

I may start a "save the black ant" FB campaign.

Although I am still wobbling because I think that all ants are fascinating...

Black ants don't bite you.

Red ants I have no sympathy for. Bitey mother fuckers. And in florida they FLY. Actually fucking fly

Oh as for eliminating food sources I mean baically getting rid of crumbs.. (hard to do with children I suppose) and sealing up food as best as possible.. Using tupperwares etc

Oh well that's fine then. Perfectly acceptable reasons. None of your bullshit ecology. I like your style VajazzHands

I feel its me or them

and I'm a vegetarian

Just to answer, crumbs? In my kitchen?

It is more tricky with children but because they are so disgusting careless I find myself doing it much more than I would have eons ago.

I haven't eaten meat or fish for over a year but because I have been known to about five times in the last decade despite not touching them for the first thirty of my life I am apparently not allowed to describe myself as a veggie on MN.

But I do see your point and agree with it

sorry I didn't mean to imply...

Maybe the neighbour's children left some round last time oh and those empty fruit shoot bottles..

If you know where they are getting in put down cinnamon as they do not pass it apparently
It is worth an eco friendly, ant loving try [otherwise strongest chemical known to man]

YANBU-at all! Have just used this in my greenhouse, as they were quite literally everywhere-they aren't now! Little gits undermined my whole garden last year, but the worst thing was when the eggs hatched and all the bitey flyers came out! Was terrified to go in there were so many! And they bit my DD who went to pick tomatoes:( Tried everything last year, talc, cinnamon, olbas oil, the works, to no avail. Bait station a good thing-as at least it's contained.

You have a good point there actually. We live in a cul-de-sac adjacent to a walkway from a housing estate to the main road. People throw their cans, bottles, kebab-detritus, crisp-packets and fruit-shoot bottles alongside the perimeter of our fence all weekend.

I might put an ant-trap out there.

Oh, for a scumbag-trap...

I personally hate red ants because of their bite.

We have them all over our allotment.

I do find ants fascinating,especially when they move their dead-they are intelligent little things (apart from when they decide my house is ok to invade)

Get a steel trap and put some Lambrini in the middle- Job done!

Now that is a fantastic idea! Cider or Stella might suit the demographic more though. I will report back.

The ants are milling around the little plastic disc in their hundreds weaving all over the place after exit and talking to each other like a RL ant club scene.

I am going to have to move the trap to just outside the air-brick now in order for the Special Treatment to take effect in the other community.