All Quiet on the Ant Front

This past summer Kelli and I were assaulted, ambushed, and became prisoners in our own apartment. Okay, it wasn't quite that bad--or was it?
Our onslaught began in May. One morning I ambled into the kitchen and noticed a string of ants from the kitchen window leading directly to the sugar bowl. I scooped the ants out, tried to move the sugar bowl but the end result? By that afternoon the sugar was dumped and the bowl ended up in the dishwasher.
Shortly after, Kelli bought a package of red velvet whoopie pies. That night after getting home late, she decided to have a midnight whoopie pie snack. She bit into the whoopie pie, and realized that something was moving in her mouth and on her arm. She looked down and realized the pie was moving. The ants had swarmed the whoopie pies. The whoopie pies were dumped and shortly thereafter moved into the dumpster outside.*
The rest of the summer was a series of skirmishes against the ants. The ants would swarm inside the dishwasher whenever I didn't completely clean out the dish I used to store ice cream base. Occasionally, I'd find a lone piece of sugared cereal on the cupboard that was almost black from the ants on top of it. The only place in the house that was safe from the ants? The fridge and the microwave.
We tried several natural remedies, ant traps, and other tricks. We found that Terro traps work great. They aren't very aesthetic, as they are clear traps, but they seem to deter the little beasties. Keeping the kitchen spotless as well as bleaching down surfaces works well too.
Now that it's November, I haven't seen a sugar ant in the kitchen for a month. I'm hoping the quiet lasts, but I have a feeling we'll be facing off against the little guys next summer.








*I received permission to tell this story