Adventures in Pest Control

So, what have we been doing lately? Besides a road trip to Ventura on Mother's Day/Jennifer's birthday where I actually drove all the way down there and all the way back, which is an accomplishment for me since I don't do all that much driving anymore, not a whole heck of a lot. I did buy a bunch of fabric and have been doing some sewing, which I'm really enjoying so far, but  other than that, business as usual around here.

I did do some research on natural pest control remedies, we get teeny tiny black ants in the house as the weather warms up, and also have nasty fire ants in the yard that love hot weather. The teeny black ants are just sort of annoying and there are usually only one or two of them out scouting so I just smoosh them with my finger (and then of course wash my hands) but occasionally they will find the cat food bowl or a pan that wasn't washed out well enough, and then out comes the bug spray.

The fire ants are a whole different story. And not a pretty one.

They are nasty mean little devils that love to swarm over your feet and up your legs if you should happen to disturb their nest by walking across it or doing mowing or weed whacking by it. Before you know what is happening, they have swarmed up your feet and legs and are biting away with a bite that stings like crazy and hurts for a long time. Nasty.

We've used ant crystals in the past that work really well, but my meanderings on the internet for natural pest control solutions were quite interesting in that you can use instant grits for the same effect at a whole lot cheaper price and much safer for the environment. The way it works is similar to birds and rice at a wedding, the ants take the little instant grits granules back to the nest and eat them where they swell up in their tiny little stomachs which causes the ants to explode. Tiny little ants exploding in the nest. Ha ha!

I found a few new nests forming recently, you can see them by the mounds of dirt along the driveway or sidewalk, so I tested out the instant grits, sprinkling them around the nest and whaddya know, ants like instant grits! I watched as they grabbed up those grits to take back to the nest but unfortunately didn't get to see any of them explode.

I'm wondering if this would work on our nasty yard cockroaches, which are starting to come out for the summer and are totally disgusting. Might be worth a try!