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| Hello,
Today I had a (carpenter?) ant encounter which may be helpful to those
who follow this newsgroup and who perhaps can lend some feedback to
these comments.
First, note that I have a supply of Advance Ant Bait granules which I
used in this case.
Climate: today was the first good hot day we've had here in the
northeast (NJ). The spring has been mostly cool (and wet). I have not
seen significant ant activity before today (that's not to say there
wasn't any).
Story: I have an untreated wood picket fence next to house. About 10:30
am, I saw a few ants along a horizontal wood strip that runs behind
the pickets, about 1 foot above the ground. I grabbed some Advance ant
bait and placed a pile, about 1/2 inch diameter and (maybe) 1/8 inch
high, on this strip behind one of the fenceposts. The ants stopped on
it and started grabbing. I left the house and came back about 2 hours
later. I checked the bait pile, and most of it was now gone and larger
ants had arrived to grab some. I then replenished the pile. Later, I
stopped to watch them and where they went - one ant actually picked
some granules up and dropped them over the side of the wood strip to
the ground (for later pickup ?) - about 2-3 ants, each holding a
granule, were travelling across fence to side of house and along a
phone wire and up into house under where the siding meets the
foundation (about 1/2 foot from fence). As the day continued I
occasionally stopped to see what was going on. I'd say the traffic
never matched what I saw earlier in the day and this second bait pile
did not get reduced as quickly as the first.
My general comments and questions :
1) This activity seemed to me quite brazen - I made no effort to hide
my presence as I observed and yet none of the ants froze or scattered.
Are they just so freakin' hungry or in full "nest-building" mode
that I could see this all-out activity -- including the fact they
contacted other members of their group to come out and grab some right
then and there ?
2) Will there ever be a time when this group will stop this kind of
open activity and go back to foraging after dark (when I would be
coming out with a flashlight to check) ?
3) Does the 2-3 I saw go up into the house indicate the nest location
or should I have seen where the rest of the group went ?
4) I should continue to replenish the pile until exactly when ? Or I
should I just do it til the end of the season just in case any unseen
members are left ?
5) What should I be watching for now ?
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