We have an ant problem. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have deduced this last week, when my tweets read something like: OMG THE ANTS! HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF ANTS!
I have an issue with ants and I blame that issue on the Scholastic Book Fair. Every year the Scholastic Book Fair paraded into our elementary school library, mocking us with it's selection of age appropriate books that the library itself did not carry. There was a certain set of books we all coveted, creatively titled "Scary Stories." I don't even like scary stories but those were the books the cool kids bought. So in the third grade, I took the $5 that my mother intended for me to buy Anne of Green Gables with and I bought Scary Stories Three.
In that book was a story about a boy who was killed by ants. Not because he was allergic. BECAUSE THEY PLOTTED TO KILL HIM. The wrote the word DIE in his ant farm and then crawled into his bed at night and WENT INTO HIS MOUTH AND CHOKED HIM TO DEATH.
Really? REALLY SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIRS? I can't fathom why anyone would give a child that book unless they HATE CHILDREN.
So you can see the problem I had yesterday when I noticed a line of ants headed into my scrapbook room. OH NO YOU DIDN'T ANTS. You can take my kitchen but you will never take my patterned paper. I followed the line of ants up the ironing board. I don't iron clothes but 2×3 pieces of vintage fabric for scrapbook layouts, those I iron. The ants, hundreds of ants were INSIDE MY IRON. There was nothing inside my iron but water. I do not understand this. I opened the spout and ants came pouring out so quickly that I frantically threw the iron in the bathroom sink and turned the faucet on in an attempt to drown them. I probably can't use that iron any more.
Then, when the ants were down to a number that didn't make me have a complete panic attack, I took a picture for the people that think I make stuff like this up (coughcoughJohnMcGukin). Is this normal? What do I do? P.S. I googled and found this similar story, and yeah, my iron looked like that. She was braver than I in her picture taking.
I had the same problem a few years ago!!! I killed them all but I was still unable to use my iron again, they ate the power cords inside it!!! I don’t know why, but I think they a thing with irons… LOL!!!!
Oh. My. GodandallthatisHoly. That would totally freak me out. Have you googled how to get rid of those little critters? I know there’s some kind of natural way. Vinegar or something. There HAS to be something. Or you may have to move.
Oh my goodness. Good thing DS took my iron when he moved to NY.
See if you can find where they’re coming in from – sprig of mint will deter them. So will cayenne but your cute little dog might get into the pepper.
Maybe they won’t eat on of those cute little pink Heidi Swapp irons?
I’d call Terminix right quick. That would freak me out totally.
AAAGGGHHH!!!
ants are attracted to the heat. I had a few in my computer at work recently that the IT people had to get rid of. if you want to stop the ant problem, in a earth friendly way, I suggest cinnamon and cayenne pepper. figure out where they are coming in from and sprinkle the cinnamon and cayenne along their path and the ants will not cross it. I had an ant problem near my kitchen sink several years ago. I did this, plus I made a mixture of water, cayenne and cinnamon that I sprayed on the wall outside of my kitchen window (where they were actually accessing the house)and they have never returned. good luck!
yah, there are some ant species that love water. we had an ant problem where the ants really liked hanging out in the kitchen sink and bathroom sinks. terro is the best. it’s like a liquid ant bait and it really works, but you have to change it out often. some people use borax and water or something like that…but i just stick to the terro. hope this helps get rid of them.
Gross! Can I just say how much this would creep me out?! I hate ants in large numbers.
Also want you to know that kids today still read the Scary Stories books. I teach 4th grade, and my students literally fight over these books in the library every week. They obsess over these books. I just don’t get it!
This same thing happened to me recently…I got out the windex and killed them. My iron had not been used in quite some time and was sitting on the counter in the laundry room…go figure!! it was the weirdest thing ever…creepy!!
So it wasn’t the heat they liked but who knows…call your friend the bug man.
Good luck!!
OMG!! What’s WITH the critters this year??? In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a ladybug infestation, wasps, flies and 2 mice in our house. No ants…YET!! My 2yo daughter even got stung by one of the wasps today. Oh, and fleas on the dog and cat who’ve NEVER had fleas. Get these critters outta here!!!!!!!
I HATE CRITTERS!!!!!
I hear your pain. My house is infamous at my local pest control office due to the amount of ants swarming the homestead. If you’re not thrilled about hosing down your home with toxic pesticide (which I have no problem with), then Terro is the next best thing. It really works. The individual bait traps are easy to use and safer around kids and pets, I think. Good luck!
OK, so our last house was built on an ant hill. Imagine the screech that came out of my mouth when the 24 handmade, hand piped, BEAUTIFUL cupcakes I made for my son’s pre-school class were literally black the next morning because of the ants. A moving wall of ants all over my beautiful creations. Anyway, I discovered one thing in my battle of the ants that may help you. Spray and Wash. Yep, Spray and Wash. Clean up the trail of ants and then squirt spray and wash where they were and where they were coming from (the spot in the wall, floor, etc.) and don’t wipe it up. Just let it dry there. For some reason they hate the smell and won’t cross it.
Ewwww, that is beyond disgusting! I probably would have just thrown the iron in the trash.
I know exactly what you mean about the Scary Stories books. I was never into scary things either, but all the cool kids were buying those books, so I did too.
we also had ant problem in our kitchen. u would clean them up and 5 min later there would be hundreds. we got those little round ant traps by Raid, they are flat and black, can get at kmaet, target, hardware store. within 1 day they were all gone. amazing little things. go get some and try setting them around. it took 3 set at different places in kitchen where we could see them coming in. never came back
connie
Eeeewwww – can’t stand those little creepy things ( I think I read a similar story as a kid…) – I really, really hate to use pesticides, but it only took one ant in my house before I sent my husband to Home Depot with instructions to get the deadliest form of whatever they had. He sprayed the perimeter of our house, and it worked. But this fall I was changing my planter and the ants!!! Zillions of them. I have these hollow-walled planters, and it seems they’ve layed eggs in there. I also hate to fill up the landfills, but those babies are going away as soon as my winter pansies start looking bedraggled.
Yeah, that would totally freak me out too. That iron would so be in the outside trash can. Yikes. -Diane
that made me sort of gag a little bit. so gross!
had it happen…threw away the iron and got a new one! And keep Terminix coming out every other month since I seem to live on an ant hill!
I HATE ants.
eewwww
Heebie jeebies heebie jeebies!!!! In your iron??? Come on now! I hate them SO MUCH!!!!! I bought this stuff at Home Depot that you spray on the outside of your house where they come in…so far it’s worked wonders! It’s in the aisle with all the regular stuff like Raid and ant traps. Good luck!!
i’ve tweeted about my ant problem a lot too… before i called the exterminator to drop that little gel all over the place. the ants take the gel back to the Queen and they all miraculously disappear!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, I have pretty much the same fear of ants. I actually think they DO plot against us!
LOL! So, I am here with you and I will pray that some how this matter gets resolved…I think I would die if I saw ants in my Scrap Studio! 
((HUGS))
Oh my god! The Scary Stories books! There are stories from those creepy books that haunt me to this day. How those are considered elementary age appropriate, I’ll never know…
Poor John…he gets such a bad rap
This morning I had Carpenter ants inside my iron! I think they were looking for water as there were some still inside. I think I am going to empty the tank from now on after each use and tape up the hole!