We had ants this week. One of the first places we saw them was at Mollie’s feeding area on an interior wall on the second floor. I have visions of ant elevators inside my walls.
Shasha was hoovering up any leftover food. She stood there, looked at the ants walking around on the plate and said “Oh, what the hey!” She ate the remaining food, ants and all. What a trooper.
In the picture she is chewing (licking, sucking) on a catnip bag for dessert with another one within paw reach.
Shasha and all the cats wish you a great holiday weekend if you celebrate. If you don’t have a great weekend anyhow.
Where can I get a cat that eats insects?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I only have one cat out of 4 that will. They must be rare!
LikeLike
Sasha is worth her weight in gold if she’s willing to be a part-time anteater! Seems early in the year for ants, but I suppose they’re never very far away. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a little early but they say we’ve had a warm April. We usually get them in May.
LikeLike
Well, the nip does give you the munchies. 😉 Hope the ants are easily gotten rid of – blech! Sasha gets more adorable every day 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sasha is a food cat. She says she’s a gourmet but I’m not having it. I’ve seen her eat bugs and cat food that sat out for 20 minutes. The other cats are much more particular.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s, um, aged!
LikeLike
Sasha is a ham, even when it isn’t Easter. Try putting little dishes of cornmeal around, as the ants will eat it, seek a water source and the cornmeal will expand causing bodily harm to those ants – they explode.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exploding ants. Sounds intriguing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The first year I didn’t have any cornmeal in the house and I understand Cream of Wheat works – same principle. Used that first, then cornmeal next time to Meijer. It doesn’t get rid of all of them, but they do gravitate toward it and if you leave a drip in your sink, if they congregate on a counter top (that’s where all mine were), then the cornmeal will expand in their stomachs once they drink water.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Score one for Shasha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
She likes food and nothing will stop her, even if it’s moving.
LikeLike
She ate the ants! Ha! Louis Catorze eats spiders, for which I shall forever be grateful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
She is the only one. The others wouldn’t touch it. They don’t like crawly food.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’re upping the ante on ants here. I’ve seen one in the bathroom and several in the kitchen.
I wonder if our cats ate spiders. I never saw them do it, but maybe I found the spiders first.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or maybe they ate them before you saw them.
LikeLike
I don’t know about the lack of spiders. My spider antenna is super sensitive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For the most part I like spiders. They eat the other bugs and are much more solitary so I don’t see a dozen marching on my counters. The only exception is in the shower when I am stark naked. Then it has to die.
LikeLike
Death to shower spiders!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’ve had terrible experiences with ants over the years. In our semi, we watched in disbelief as an army of them marched up my net curtain! In the cottage, we had them marching along the ceiling beams in the lounge, and also up through the cavity and into the vent in the bathroom. Every time we cut the back grass, we would disturb at least four mounds of red ants. We have them here, but they know their place and stay outside. Saying that though, we found three containers of ant powder in the cupboard so we obviously got prepared for this year!
Happy Easter Kate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Happy Easter to you too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘Hoppy’ Easter to you and the kitties. Here’s hoping the elevators are permanently sidelined. 🐜🐜🐜
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s too funny! Sophie will try and play with ants, but I haven’t seen her eat any.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All my cats eat spiders but only Sasha eats ants.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Terro is the best! For years, we fought ants and paid a lot of money to pest companies. The ants would start moving inside in April…a lot of ants. I was determined to get rid of them. When I discovered the Terro stakes, it was a game changer. You stick them into the ground around the foundation of your home. It takes time, but once the queen or queens are killed, the colonies are wiped out. Last summer we didn’t have one ant inside of our home. I believe we had multiple colonies underneath our brick patio and I think I successfully killed them all. So far this year, not one ant. The liquid that Nancy refers to works well too, but if used inside, it will draw in more ants first, but it will get rid of them. I purchase our stakes at Walmart. You get a box of 6 or 8 stakes for $7. It’s the best investment I’ve ever made. As soon as the rain clears out, I’ll be putting new stakes around for the season, just as a precaution. I should do a commercial for them because I’ve never believed in a product as much as I do this one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the idea. I’ve never used them but they sound somewhat saver than spraying everywhere.
LikeLike
Hi, Kate – That’s an absolutely adorable photo of Shasha at the top of the stairs. With a face like that, it is hard to believe that she wasn’t adopted immediately!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nope, she was in the rescue almost a year. She would hide from people. Now she’s all over them!
LikeLike
Ugg, ants. How they are able to find tiny bits of food – let alone the cat’s food – from outside of the house, I just don’t understand. I used to put my cat’s food bowl in a shallow dish of water (making a moat around it) to keep the ants away. Funny that Sasha considered them appetizers and dove in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been thinking of doing that for Mollie’s dish which is the one that attracted ants. If I haven’t solved the problem, that’s plan B.
LikeLike
I hate ant invasions!
LikeLike
Ick. Ants. Not a fan. Condolences. Love the photo in your header right now. Nothing quite as appropriate as a cat looking down on you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Any day now her head won’t fit between the rails. Ants are a rite of spring. And maybe fall although that’s mouse season here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, look – Yoga letter “C” – RC will be so impressed…although muttering about “too cute”
Not ants – ugh.
Please discourage the ant nibbling. When RC was freelancing as a kite in the wilds, she apparently was eating ants to survive. Vet said that’s not very good for digestive track and that was why she was not tolerating food and probably wouldn’t make it…but she showed him…once we found the one (not vet recommended) canned turkey dinner (and nothing else) she thrived..
However Such an excellent Letter Yoga performance indicates she is purrrfectly fine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My other cats would absolutely turn their noses up if anything moved on their food. I was so stunned I just watched. I am hopeful we are past the ant invasion. Did a lot of work caulking, cleaning, etc. The weird part was that Sasha’s dish is by the sliding glass doors. That’s the first place we get ants but she is so meticulous about licking her plate clean that we didn’t get any there. However, they did invade my spice cabinet. Ants are nature’s way of making me clean. BTW RC is too stubborn to die. She knew she had work to do training a household.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not the spice cabinet. Maybe you’ve stumbled upon the answer to a great mystery – ants are in collusion with Spring cleaning companies …maybe Martha Stewart? (Please not let it be moms haunting their hopeless children still trying to get through to them…)
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is collusion there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
BFF uses Terro Ant Killer ~ it’s a liquid that comes in a bottle. He gets it at Ace Hardware. He puts a dollop on a piece of painter’s tape near the trail of beasties (and out of the reach of the cats). Within 24 hours, bye-bye ants.
LikeLiked by 2 people
One problem I’ve had is that I can’t find a trail. It’s a dozen ants here or there and not even near each other. Good idea with the painter’s tape. Never thought of that.
LikeLike
Sasha the stoner! Haha! Great picture Kate as she oozes out of the bed. She is going to be a formidable force on the ant front for you!
Ants… I don’t like them at all. I’ll take silverfish over them, which we have here in good old Florida. We had ghost ants last summer and they were the most tiny, see thru, motivated ants I have ever encountered. They marched from the lanai right into the kitchen and started to get friendly with the counter tops and pantry. I found their trail to the outside and blasted them with vinegar Windex while CH went and bought something with more punch! Hope you get them, Kate. I am intrigued by the Raid Ant Gel that derrycats suggests. Guess who is going to go purchase some of that? Be prepared, be in control… my motto for bugs in Florida.
Happy Easter to the hoomins and the Sassy Cats!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Gosh, don’t like silverfish. I haven’t seen them at this house they usually are in a basement. I use vinegar with water or Windex and just keep at it. The cats heard that the tuna bunny is coming! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yuck! I hate silverfish!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Creepy!
LikeLike
Ants. Ugh. They tend to go for our pantry, which means no poisons. Just a lot of vigilance and killing them by hand and wiping up scent trails.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Talking about scents. I smooshed some ants on the floor in the room where Mollie sleeps. OMG! All the cats came and rolled in the area. There were no ant remnants but there must have been a scent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sasha is so adorable!! For ants we use the Raid Ant Gel. Works like a charm, but you have to let the ants all come and eat for a bit for it to work. Ant convention, and then they are all gone!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Never heard of it! I hate chemicals inside so I used 50-50 mix of vinegar and water. Did not do the job completely. We cleaned and caulked and sprayed nasty chemicals outside where we think they may come in. Unfortunately for the second floor I has to spray inside a bedroom that attaches to the attic over the garage. I’ll look for this.
LikeLike
I get it at the grocery store. Here’s a link so so you know to look for. https://www.amazon.com/Raid-Precision-Placement-Ant-Bait/dp/B00IV17WO2/ref=asc_df_B00IV17WO2/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198059943785&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15068390538059990536&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9006604&hvtargid=pla-349539935480&psc=1 The trick is to figure out where the ants are entering, and leave leave one or two drops of it, about the size of a raindrop each, and the ants come and bring all their buddies – huge convention for about 12 hours. They eat and take this back to the nest, share it with everyone there, and it kills off the nest. I have sometimes needed to close off a room or area for 24 hours so I can use it without worrying that the cats will eat it. But it works better than anything I’ve ever tried.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLike
At my last residence, I always knew it was spring when the ants came back. I didn’t have any cute helpers to get rid of them – had to rely on good ol’ Raid. Hope your ant problem is resolved soon!
Deb
LikeLiked by 1 person
We didn’t get them the first ten years we were here but now they are a harbinger of spring.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a great picture of Sasha. We get the little black ants here in the Spring as well. Down here we call them “sugar ants”. I hope you can get them back down the elevators.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We call them sugar ants too but I don’t know why. The drawer where I keep my sugar was the one cabinet they didn’t enter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’ll just have to rename them to “confused ants” (Confusium Cabinetorius antomine)
LikeLiked by 1 person