ANTS EVERYWHERE – Santee, CA

After wintering here in Santee, the Spring brought a few ants to our rig. We seemed able to manage them with our eco-/dog-safe spray inside. As they seemed to continue to invade and multiply, we looked forward to our 2 weeks out of Santee. Sure enough the 2 weeks at the end of May in Temecula were ANT-FREE. That’s a good thing, too, as the ants we saw there were 3 times the size of our Santee visitors.

The California drought is really impacting the ants and they are looking for moisture anywhere they can find it (i.e., RVs, houses, offices, malls, etc etc etc). So, returning to a different site but still in Santee Lakes, we were quickly mobbed by the ants. Our Borax completely around the rig, indoor pet-safe chemical, and an official campground extermination effort (twice) did not make much of a dent in the infestation. They didn’t seem to be particularly interested in anything but they were just mobbing everywhere – floor, dog bowls, kitchen counters, Boots’ IKEA chair, bathroom counter/cabinets, kitchen table, computer desk, and finally our BED!

Well, only one side of the bed – Ruthi’s. She has always been a bug magnet – mosquitoes, spiders, flies, and now our ants. The final straw was ants on her pillow and therefore in her hair, ears, face, arms, legs, body, etc). Changing the linens and wiping the bug spray around the beds hard surfaces lessen the barrage but did not stop it entirely. Every night we inspected around the bed and ensured the pillow and bedding did not touch the headboard or back wall and that all visible ants were exterminated!

Finally, we broke down and bought the strongest bug poison we could get and began daily inspections outside and proceeded to annihilate every possible ant trail and home/nest within 50 feet of our rig. Directions said that it was safe for pets after the trail dried. (about 10-20 minutes) We waited a little longer than that and weren’t keeping Karma outside alone anyway. Even with turning our site into a “toxic dump” site, the ants continued the invasion.

Eight (8) weeks of constant vigil (and multiple bottles of bug spray) around the rig and associated vegetation (trees and rose planting) finally stopped the invasion. We kept up the daily inspections and sprayed indoors and outdoors as needed. Killing an occasional ant on the counter is bearable but seeing a “gang” of them running willy nilly everywhere is not. Just when we thought we had “won” the war, they showed up again. A trail of about 50 going from one point on the counter to another point at the other end OR circling the front door – some going up and over and others coming across and down. Weird pattern and nothing of interest (no water, Pepsi, sugar, or other food stuffs) in their pathways. The numbers were low but our response was “nuclear”! We have loss any possibility of being ZEN with the ants. We applied the bug sprays inside and out with speed and vigor - stopping the invasion at 50.