Where have the ants gone?

[Erika]

In preparing my garden for planting this year, I find there are NO ants. Normally, there are ant hills and colonies. There are none this year.

We need to start addressing the disappearence of insects very seriously. Bees, ants.

[lonestarnot]

1. The ants aren't gone trust me.

When there's nothing left, there will be roaches and ants.

[ecstatic]

2. Hmm... interesting. I haven't had to spray in a while either

Quite some time actually.

[AlCzervik]

3. i would happy to share the bees and ants i have in my back yard with you.

the bees here are ferocious already and it's only April, on the other hand my plants look really good.

[babylonsister]

4. Do you want some of mine? I've got lots!

What state are you in, are you in a drought, etc.?

[Erika]

7. Idaho and we've had a low water year.

Only about 65% of normal. I've always had to chase the ants out. They are gone this year.

[babylonsister]

35. Isn't it a bit early to worry about the ants you want to kill?

You might just get what you wish for.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. Hmmm. None here in Tucson either. Very weird.

[lonestarnot]

6. They are under the ground somewhere. I'm sure of it.

[hedgehog]

10. and plotting - they found that leftover radiation that someone buried

[Erika]

13. Why aren't they venturing out on top?

I've read where the bees are missing. But nothing has been said about the ants. First year ever, I've not had to chase out the ants. People, things are happening.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

8. Plenty here in KC.

Now bees . . . that's another story.

[hfojvt]

55. really, I have a bunch of them in my house

I've probably been killing 100 a day except during that cold snap. I bought some new traps a couple days ago. Hope they help.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

67. .

:hi:

[k8conant]

9. We go through cycles here in West Virginia...

We have plenty of spiders right now...big spiders. I've seen a couple of ants in the house (one on a window sill today.

Greetings from the Blue Ridge.

[Akoto]

11. They've gone to my yard.

I swear, I have to use some fancy footwork to dodge the ant hills when walking my dogs. My yard has turned into more of an ant empire!

[lonestarnot]

14. be careful. Your house might sink into their hole.

And if they are those tree carvers or whatever their called, there will be nut'n left of yeah.

[Beststash]

12. Fire Ants are alive and well

They have all come to Texas and are everywhere. I do agree that we need to pay attention to nature and realize that this planet is suffering because of our greed.

Peace

[mahina]

15. They're all over my toilet.

Clean every day, and covered with ants. Very nasty and inconvenient when you really have to pee. Forgive me but there it is.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

41. sprinkle cinnamon around the base

they won't cross it. it really works, I had ant problems in AZ and I just crammed cheap bulk cinnamon in all the cracks where they were coming in. Got this tip from a Pima Grandma. :)

[mahina]

45. Mahalo! That's super cool!

Here's an ecofriendly fact for you- if you squirt cockroaches w simple green they die. No poison, easier to catch them by surprise, and it works every time.

[NickB79]

72. Do you happen to be diabetic?

Seriously, one of my professors in college mentioned that one way doctors in the "olden days" would diagnose diabetes was whether ants were attracted to the patient's urine. The elevated glucose levels in it would attract ants.

[gravity]

16. Just leave some old food around the house

They will come

[GregD]

17. no lack of ants here

you want ants? come on over - we have oodles.

Funny thing about one of the populations. We have a paved driveway (blacktop) about 20' wide. Each year a trail of ants cross that surface from one side to the other in such numbers that they actually change the color of the pavement. A 1/4" wide path marks their trail. Very interesting.

[alfredo]

18. had one crawl up my leg today.

[lonestarnot]

21. just don't get one on the badgiebeanieot.

[alfredo]

33. That would tickle.

[tularetom]

19. Lotsa ants and bees here in central CA

we have a small citrus orchard and it's loaded with bees as it is just about any other year but my brother who is a beekeeper has experienced losses of almost 50% per hive (he says 20 to 30% is expected).

[calimary]

28. Same here in So Cal.

Bees happily working on the flowering sage, basil, and "Wendy" plants. And on the orange and lemon blossoms. And ants galore - in the herb garden and busily farming aphids on only one branch of the lemon tree - interesting that it's just the one single branch. All the rest of the tree, branches, leaves, etc., is being left alone. But this ONE branch is thick with 'em.

When I see the bees buzzing around, I must say I'm relieved.

[JDPriestly]

31. Not in my yard in L.A.

[Nite Owl]

20. They are in my office

the big ones, carpenter ants I think they are. I found one on my keyboard today. I wish they were gone! Got some spray for outside the windows and some traps, hope they work.

[live love laugh]

25. Mine too. On the floor. n/t

[ecstatic]

26. Home Defense works well

I know they sell it at Home Depot. This thread just caused me to go on a spraying spree. The sight of just one ant here would give me severe anxiety.

[Nite Owl]

36. I just got that stuff

at Lowes this afternoon. Good to know that it should work because it is driving me crazy to have them crawling around. If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'll be spraying!

[StarryNite]

22. Very interesting

I wonder if other insects besides the bees are being tracked? I'm going to start paying more attention. So far the bees are a no show and I don't think I'm going to be getting any grapefruit on my tree this year. My palo verde trees should start to bloom soon and if there are no bees around them it will be a first.

[SeattleGirl]

23. They're all at my house.

Want some?

[Gregorian]

37. Well you ought to see MY ANTS!

I've got these one inch long monsters. They have somehow managed to invade the inside of the house. They've got wings! They're huge. I keep ushering them outside. It's pretty cool to see such large ants. I think they had a great orgy, and are now ending their spree for another year.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

39. I Found Them! They were in my Kudzu!

See my Aunt in the kudzu...

[teriyaki jones]

42. Those might be termites . . .

If you want to check out the difference, try http://www.pestproducts.com/flyingants.htm

[Gregorian]

68. Thanks.

Actually, it's not my house. Haha! I've sold my place several months ago. I'm free of worry. And property taxes. But not for long. I'm just waiting until I find something to call home. And something that's affordable.

But anyways, these are ANTS. I'm in redwood land. Huge trees. Huge ants. And loving it.

[Occulus]

24. I saw a... swarm?.. of them the other day at work

It looked as though they were starting to build a colony, as they were massed above ground, all collected in one spot. I'll take a look tomorrow and see if there's an anthill near that spot anywhere...

[HeeBGBz]

27. I've got an army of fire ants amassing on my patio

I'd be glad to share. Come to think of it, I've only seen their digs. I haven't seen an ant. I'll have to check it out tomorrow and stir em up.

[Elwood P Dowd]

29. I saw my local King Snake today

He has not been doing his job recently. A damn Copperhead hit the front of my boot back in February during an extended warm period. I need to explain to Mr King that global warming is bringing out the pit vipers early, and he needs to wake the fuck up in February rather than March or April.

[dweller]

50. i found myself eye to eye, w/in 4 inches of mr. black yesterday

and it was an eye-opening, heart-kicking moment. I have no qualms with black snakes, or other harmless creatures in the whole scheme of things. But this guy was coiled up, all 4-5 ft of him on my black fiberglass ladder on my shop door that i had walked by 1/2 a dozen times in and out of my shop in my workaday. During the last visit to my shop, as i brushed by the ladder i had that flash that my eye had registered ... 'that ladder has a strange ...shape...curl... sticking out scaled...like...a ...SNAKE!!! that flashed in that micro-second and as i turned at it was looking at his face at the end of my nose. But for only a micro-second for my body kicked in and i moved backwards in a leap of adrenaline reaction that took me 3 feet away. I was laughing next and catching my breath, found a stick and prodded him/her out off the ladder, and back to the field.
There's a wren's nest in the shop, i guess it was after the eggs/chicks. I looked and they were still there then, but haven't looked today. I hope they make it.

one of those moments that test the survival instincts, i guess.
dp

[Elwood P Dowd]

51. King snakes are black with yellow bands.

They kill and eat many critters, including the poisonous pit vipers. Take care of your black king snakes.

[dweller]

53. i never harm the snakes that don't harm me

or my family. Only had to kill a copperhead or 2 during the droughts when they come close for the water and attracted the cat.

not sure we have king snakes here (yellow-banded) but the plain old black snakes are abundant and keep the varmits (mice, etc) population under control. Unfortunately will take the bird's eggs, but that's expected.

dp

[JDPriestly]

30. We haven't had our yearly spring invasion yet either.

But it has been cool in LA. It just warmed up today.


The lack of beers is a real problem. Looks like we won't have any avocados this year. The blossoms are just drying up and falling off the tree without leaving baby avocados. It is so sad.

[UNCLE_Rico]

32. WTF has Karl Rove DONE WITH ALL THE ANTS!!!

I just figured, hey, we're about to pass over the 30 post mark, and nobody has mentioned Rove yet ... didn't want anyone to think we'd all gone soft on this thread ;)

I'm in the Sierra foothills near Sonora, and I just now blew an ant off the porch railing, and the front yard flowerbed was absolutely BUZZING with (literally hundreds of) honey and bumble bees earlier today, so I can assure you the problem of which you speak is not nationwide, fortunately!

[mahina]

34. thanks for the giggle about Rove

and the smile about your beeeeeezzzz.

[Libby2]

38. I've got plenty you can have.

[Matsubara]

40. Count your blessings.

I've been out gardening today, and our little yard is crawling with'em.

[Erika]

43. Hey, I told you the ants are missing

You're acting like the GOP claiming Global Warming doesn't exist. Exactly like them. Think you should wake up?

[ninkasi]

44. You are more than welcome to mine

Every time it rains, especially, we get a new, huge ant bed. I am also, honestly, pleased to announce that some of my flowering plants now have a great number of honey-bees surrounding them. The ants are a pain, but the bees are the reason I don't use commercial insecticides. We might be talking about different ants, ours are the dread fire-ants, and when they sting, you understand why they earned that name.

Just as a hint to anybody who gets stung by fire-ants, if you go inside right away, and dab a solution of chlorine bleach and water on the bites, they will nut result in the usual blisters. I read that years ago in my vet's office, and can tell you that for me, at least, it works. I was delighted the other day to see the bees swarming in my early flowering plants.

[Warren DeMontague]

46. Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap.

Works like a charm.

[Jamastiene]

47. They were in my kitchen last weekend.

I put some water outside the window for them. Now, they are gone. They were after the water droplets in the sink. :shrug:

We do need to address the disappearance of the bees and other necessary insects though. I agree on that.

[hang a left]

48. They have all moved to my mother's kitchen. nt

[orleans]

49. i was going to tell you they have a lovely home in my front yard

and a second home in my back yard.

but everyone is saying about the same thing--so i will hold my tongue.

ewe....now my keyboard is wet! :P



on a more serious note--did you listen to bill maher doing his earth day rant where he talked about the bees?

two weeks ago there was a big bumblebee that was crawling/sitting on a decoration i have on my patio table. it was there for a day, moving around on it a little. next day it was gone. a week later i found what i assume was the same bee dead on the patio floor. i've never seen a dead bee like that before. (and we don't spray or use lawn poisons, although one neighbor does).

i think they're on to something with the cell phone frequencies. my friend was telling me that cities/towns have all these security towers and there are all these invisible waves/rays/whatever she called them, all over the place--and she said if this has anything to do with it then we are fucked because municipalities are spending big money to get hooked up to this (she works for a security company) and they're not going to want to change what they're doing or lose the money they have put into it.

[OxQQme]

52. For those of us with ants in our plants,

(or kitchens), go buy some diatomaceous earth. Spread it around as a barrier.
Unless you're, like, totally a pacifist and couldn't kill a flea.

[orleans]

54. what the heck is diatomaceous earth? and will it get rid of earwigs

in case i have another crazed bizarre invasion of those fuckers like i did last year?

[Raine]

56. Here

in my house in my kitchen.

[symbolman]

57. C'mon over to Hawaii

I'll load you up :)

Got extra roaches, centipedes, scorpians, etc.. all you can carry, along with some nice fresh papayas that the rats knock out of the trees :)

[Roland99]

58. You can have mine. I've been seeing streams in my apt. over the last couple of weeks

I think I finally have that resolved, though.

[RebelOne]

59. I live in North Georgia and when the weather turns warm,

I would be overwhelmed with ants and roaches. For the past 2 years, I have not seen even one ant. And there have only been a few roaches and they have been dead. Usually, there were many fire ant mounds in the field where I take my dogs for a walk. They have disappeared also.

[fight4my3sons]

60. They must all be here...

There are a ton right here in my house! ugh, I'll send them your way if you'd like...

[salin]

61. migrated to my mother's property?

She has more small anthills in her front yard than I have ever seen before.

[Vinca]

62. Need ants? I can send you some. The usual suspects are already

building their hills on my back walkway.

[mwb970]

63. They're all over my kitchen counter!

Just like every spring.

[Trailrider1951]

64. Come on down to Texas

We'll give y'all all the fire ants you can carry! We have no dearth of them here, and I have been fighting those little sugar ants on and off all spring. The honeybees are a different story. If you've been to Central Texas in April, you'll know that this area turns into the world's biggest flower garden at this time of year, especially if we have sufficient rainfall. Well, the flowers are here in abundance, but I'm seeing far fewer bees visiting them as I have in the past. I hope they find out what is happening to them. :(

[Ganja Ninja]

65. I can't say I've noticed a big drop in the ant population. n/t

[City Lights]

66. They're on my patio.

And around the bushes in front of my house.

[blues90]

69. none here

As dry as it's been in southern calif we usually have millions of ants but so far I have not seen one , even in the trash containers usually there are billions , it's odd that I did not notice this before .

[Beetwasher]

70. HAIL ANTS!!!

"I for one welcome our new insect overlords".

[Marrah_G]

71. They are at my house, come get 'em

Damn things are everywhere. The cats like to chase them though!

[MissB]

73. They're crawling all over my peony buds.

Doing their thing to help that flower bloom.