Ants' Antics!

I was always fascinated by ants, at the way they scent for food and take them away for storing, systematically! If we disrupt their line in some way, they take a roundabout way and reach their storage space, like, if we draw a line with Laxman Rekha chalk (insect repellent), they don't cross the line, like Sita did, but find some other way to take the food outside!

They seem to love my Tupperware boxes...virgin plastic?! If the lid is cracked like this, it is easy for them to get in through the crack, pierce the rava (sooji) pack and steal it!



Otherwise, they bite the edge of the lid (you can see so many holes here in this box) and take away the goodies!



They march with white dots of rava in their mouth and store some, in this tray first!




The big group/line of ants are inside the box, collecting the food. They store here and go back, I noticed, to bring some more! A small line of ants, takes the grains out through the switch board frame!



Now, I have found that Tupperware is useless for storing rava or sugar or anything which are ants' favourite food. I keep the packets in the freezer. Tupperware boxes are quite expensive but I feel that they don't serve the purpose of sealing the box completely. I am happy with their freezer storage boxes than these boxes now! Or, we should be particular about what to store in them...not eatables, when the ants are around! Once the lids are damaged, they take months to replace them in the Tupperware outlets and they pressure us to buy more boxes, if we want the replacements early!

Now, back to our ants' antics! Now, I have started leaving a phulka roti or some biscuit, outside the window, on the window sill, for the ants to eat, so that they don't destroy anymore of my expensive Tupperware boxes! Have a look here:



One variety of ant, which we call, Pillaiyar yerumbu (tiny black ants which suddenly crop up from nowhere near the walls, which move about very fast and have white tiny dots on their heads/mouths), if seen at some particular place, my grand mother used to ask us to keep a small ball of jaggery (gud) near them. I have seen them leaving the place within minutes. Even a tiny grain of jaggery could not be seen at the place. They don't select the kitchen, even the veranda is OK for them! I wonder why they chose these places where there is no food!

So, I am following my grandmother's trick...I am leaving some food for these, our house ants, now, so that they don't trouble us any more!

Tell me about your 'ant experience' now!