Las Vegas’ ants are built different. I learned this the hard way. When I first arrived I had a sealed pack of instant noodles in my suitcase along with some chocolate. They came for my chocolate and the instant noodles. So, from my experience it’s best to assume no food is safe.
Note: The building in which I live in is quite old, which is why ants can be so rampant if not dealt with properly.
The tips below all come from my experience:
Problematic Places You Find Ants
1. Washroom and Kitchen Sink
- After brushing your teeth, use a piece of used paper to wipe the sink, even after rinsing it with water.
- Or use the dish spray (pic below) after removing all the ants.
2. Outdoor Sink
- Don’t leave any food scraps.
3. Bedsheet
- After the ants invaded my suitcase, they started searching my bed. I had to hang my bedsheet outside until all of them got off. Then I washed it.
4. Bath/drying towel
- Solution: Same thing as I did for the bedsheet.
- I think they were interested because of the residue left on the towel, so it’s best to wash it somewhat often.
5. The Shower
- I wasn’t able to get rid of all the ants in the shower, so I started to shower at another house.
- Later, a neat thing (pic below) to catch the water drops was set up, and the number of ants lessened dramatically—to the point where I was able to catch them in a few minutes before showering.
- Spray the dish spray at the shower drain (make sure none are hiding beneath the drain).
- Clean up the shower drain after showering with used paper.
6. Toothbrush & Toothpaste
- Solution: I placed my toothpaste in a high location in the washroom and my toothbrush and cup in my room.
Accidentally Killing and Killing/Harming in the Process of Removing
1. Tape Problem
- Don’t allow the sticky side of tape to be exposed to ants and just any little bugs in general.
- Eg. This one time ants got into an electric kettle’s base, because I thought it was too cold to release them outside (this was in Vancouver), and so I put them in a cardboard box inside my house and fed them—waiting for the weather to become warmer to release them. However in the end I found them all dead sticking to the exposed part of tape in the cardboard box. There were around 40 ants.
2. Dish Spray Problem
- Don’t spray it onto the ants.
- Don’t spray too near to the ants. Err on the side of caution.
3. Sun/Surface Being Too Hot
- I’ve heard that releasing ants onto very hot surfaces in Vegas can kill them.
- Bedsheets hung outside will have a side of the metal fence and sheet that isn’t exposed to the sun. So I don’t think it killed the ants.
4. “Wet Paper Method”
- You can use wet toilet paper to pick them up, but be careful not to make it too wet and suffocate them. I usually use the corners to get stick them.
Read What Is Cultivation? to understand why we cannot kill living beings.
