March of the Sugar Ants

It’s that time of year again when the Sugar Ants invade the houses. They are such tiny ants, that you don’t even know you have a problem until you mistakenly leave a particle of food on the kitchen counter. There have to be at least 25 of them before you can actually determine they are ants. I am against spraying poison in my kitchen, so after I arrived in the south about seven years ago, I started asking around to see what other people do about them. Each response I got started with a long sigh, and a rolling of eyes. Most of the women I talked to told me that they are like squirrels, you just have to get used to them and accept them as they are. You will never get rid of squirrels at your bird feeders, and you will never get rid of Sugar Ants in your kitchen. So I now do what everybody else in Raymond does. I simply wipe them away with a wet dish cloth when they appear. It is an incentive to keep your kitchen cleaner so there are fewer, but they are always waiting in the wings for the next food particle to drop. Oh, yes, and all food containers have to be hermetically sealed on the kitchen shelves. One small opening can lead to an invasion. I finally gave up and moved the sugar into the refrigerator. No matter how hard I tried to keep them out, they found a way in. I grew tired of finding them floating in my hot tea each morning. So far, they haven’t figured out how to open the refrigerator door, but I haven’t ruled that out yet. All things are possible.

While cruising the Internet, I found a musical composition for saxophones  entitled “The March of the Sugar Ants.” Here’s the URL if you’re interested in hearing their battle song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF-5Y_zRz6g