Carnivorous Ants

If there were to be a horror movie about little insects, last night, we lived it.If you are someone who is going to visit us someday, don’t worry, this won’t happen to you. :)  I think I’ve mentioned before about the army ants here. Not mighty in size but in pincer strength, they do not lack! The first time I was bit by one, I shrieked, grabbed it and in the pulling off, it drew blood. Since then, I have had some big lessons on what to do if in a conflict with these little warriors that literally can eat animals down to the bone. 

Lesson 1: If it’s a random straggler, isolate it in your clothing. If you happened to step near a mound or in their path, get somewhere you can take off your clothes and do it immediately. (Thanks, Debbie)

Lesson 2: If your child starts to shriek inexplicably, without question, strip them down and find the ants (Thanks, J and A). 

Lesson 3: If you see them, get away, don’t stop to watch (Thanks, Life experience)

Lesson 4: Soap and water can stop their route but doesn’t harm them (Thanks to an Ethiopian friend in Addis)

Lesson 5: Fleet is sold in the country, a powerful insecticide, sprayed from an aerosol can, terrible for humans but kills ants, makes everything sprayed sticky (Thanks everyone)

When the babies are outside, I am very conscious about this threat and like to keep them off of the grass and on a blanket so a march of ants would be visible, the army ants also prefer the grass. Onto last night. Remember, we are living in a concrete house in rural Ethiopia and are in general, very comfortable. I share this because it’s a great story and I’m laughing about it now. This has never happened to us before and I don’t think will happen again. 

Miss T is still in our bedroom until she sleeps through the night. (The oldest three started to sleep through the night at 10 months, so she has 5 months left.) Her crib is at the foot of the bed and directly in front of our bathroom door. I was putting her back in her crib in the pitch dark when I felt a pain on my foot. I rubbed it off and suddenly really had to go to the bathroom. As I am going, I start feeling pinpricks on my feet and legs. I reach over and turn on the light switch.

ANTS. ARMY ANTS. So many in places the floor was not visible. I lifted my legs and called out, “Joooonnn. Get the fleet!” When I stood up, I realized I had been standing in the ants, so following my own lesson, ripped off my clothes, grabbed Miss T out of her bed and ran where we could sit on the couch. Miss T was clear, none on her and hanging out with Mama at night is what she wants to do anyway, so she was great, I was a bit cold. Jon started to spray Fleet and realized the ants were everywhere. Pouring out of the drains in the bathtub, sink, kitchen, behind outlets, tub. He checked the other bedrooms and the kids were sleeping peacefully with no ants.

He sprayed and sprayed but also ended up with ants in the pants, we were something to behold.

As we started to get a handle on the ants and I was trying to keep Miss T under a blanket tent because of fumes. And then came the SPIDERS.

They started coming out of the woodwork. Jon’s theory was they wanted to eat the thousands of dying ants, my theory was they were trying to escape the fumes. Mark, had a theory today that the spiders weren’t killed by the fumes but were trying to escape the ants. No matter which theory is correct, it doesn’t change the onslaught of spiders, not killed by the fumes but fully active. 

Because we had the lights on cleaning, it happened to be a night that these termite bugs, about 1/4 of an inch big but with propeller styled wings were dying and when they are dying, they are attracted to light and run into the windows, come in under doors and then spin to their death, losing their wings in the process. So, there were termites spinning to their deaths all over, losing their papery wings. They don’t gross me out, only add to the chaos. Then, other insects started to fall from the ceiling, crawl out from behind everywhere, because they were dying of the fumes. 

Jon went outside around the perimeter of the house and found multiple places the ants were climbing up the walls to get in (I need to research how the queen ant sets her course). He of course used Fleet again and I was still on the couch, trying to keep Miss T in a tent to not breathe the fumes. Over 2 hours later, we tried to go back to bed. I was on the couch for awhile with baby girl as the fumes were the worst in our bedroom. Jon had done a thorough search of her crib, blankets and mattress and did not find any ants. This is just the mercy of God I found them when I did, before they were in bed with Miss T. Then, we hear our dog. Barking, yelping ants, all over her. 

Jon went back outside, helped the dog.  He entered the house, not knowing the termites had used his exit as an entry into the house and were in his clothes. As soon as he laid back down in bed, he realized he was squishing “something big and juicy”. We shone a flashlight and realized he had termites on his clothes. And then the dog started yipping again.

We went back to sleep around 3:30 am. This morning, we woke up to a war zone. Bedding to wash, thousands of dead ants in a sea of squished spiders and other various insects, Fleet smell and stick everywhere.

So today has been a mop, sweep, scrub kind of Saturday.  I am totally fine to never have it happen again and statistically think we maybe got this out of the way for the rest of our lives. :)