Dealing with Ants - 如何阻止蚂蚁的侵扰

Our kitchen has an ant infestation that started in mid-May and the colony has only just about to die off using our usual ant-killing liquid, trade-marked “RAID”. There are two reasons why this incident is worth mentioning. The first is the fact that this is the first time that the ant colony is taking so long to be totally eliminated. In previous similar ant raids, the “RAID” liquid works within six to ten days with the total absence of ants by then. This time, it took a month and still there are a few ants crawling around the liquid. The second reason is this. In the past, all ants returned to their colony and the surrounding area of the “RAID” liquid was totally cleaned with all the baits well-cleared off. This time however, there are dead and dying ants lying around within a bigger radius from the baits. It is strange too that dying ants have been observed to carry other dead ants to further away dropping the corpses to the water of the kitchen sink. The dying ants are also seen as crawling to darker areas (possibly cooler areas) of the kitchen bench. Interesting!!!

我们的厨房从 5 月中旬开始出现蚂蚁侵扰，而使用我们常用的杀蚂蚁液（商标为“RAID”），蚁群即将死去。这件事值得一提的原因有两个。首先，这是蚁群第一次需要这么长时间才能被完全消灭。在以前的类似蚂蚁袭击中，“RAID”液体在六到十天内起作用，届时完全没有蚂蚁。这一次，花了一个月的时间，仍然有几只蚂蚁在液体周围爬行。第二个原因就是这个。过去，所有的蚂蚁都回到了它们的栖息地，“RAID”液体的周围区域被彻底清洗干净，所有的诱饵都被清除干净。然而，这一次，在距离诱饵更大的半径范围内，有死去和垂死的蚂蚁。奇怪的是，我们观察到垂死的蚂蚁会把其他死去的蚂蚁带到更远的地方，把尸体扔到厨房水槽的水里。垂死的蚂蚁也被视为爬到厨房工作台的较暗区域（可能是较冷的区域）。这真是很有趣的！！！

On the left hand side photo, the ants are actively taking the liquid “RAID” baits. On the other photo (the right hand side) we see dead and dying ants. The dying ant on the left of the photo is carrying another dead ant further away possibly to a “cooler” place.

在左侧照片中，蚂蚁正在积极地采用液体“RAID”诱饵。在另一张照片（右侧）中，我们看到了死去和垂死的蚂蚁。照片左侧垂死的蚂蚁正在将另一只死蚂蚁抬到更远的地方，可能是“凉爽”的地方。

Another possible reason why those ants chose to die outside their colony dwelling may well be the fact that their Queen Ant has died very early when the first drop of the ant-killing liquid was carried into their nest. We know that thousands, even millions of ants in one colony are controlled by only one Queen Ant and the rest are worker-ants. Male Ants have wings and they die within a day or two soon after they have mated with the Queen.

这些蚂蚁选择死在蚁巢之外的另一个可能原因很可能是，当第一滴杀蚁液被带入它们的巢穴时，它们的蚁后很早就死了。我们知道，一个蚁群中成千上万甚至数百万只蚂蚁只被一只蚁后控制，其余的都是工蚁。雄性蚂蚁有翅膀，与女王交配后一两天内就会死亡。

Leah Reich wrote an article on ants entitled “Terro Liquid Ant Bait” promoting the use of Terro liquid ant bait. “RAID” is similar to “Terro” and we can read this article published by New York Times in December 2015 by clicking this link: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-terro-liquid-ant-bait.html

Leah Reich 写了一篇关于蚂蚁的文章，题为《Terro Liquid Ant Bait》，宣传使用 "Terro" 液体蚂蚁诱饵。 “RAID”类似于Terro，我们可以通过点击以下链接阅读《纽约时报》2015年12月发表的这篇文章：
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-terro-liquid-ant-bait.html

Leah likens ant infestation to an anxiety attack when our hands are tingling, our heads swimming and our skins crawling and we want to run away. This is of course an exaggeration. Her exaggeration goes further, describing an ant infestation in this story-like manner: “Picture this: It’s morning. You’ve wandered sleepily into your kitchen. You reach for the coffee maker next to the sink, and you see two ants cruising around on the counter to your right. You figure them to be scouts, so you dispatch them with a squish, and wipe down the counter, just in case. You reach again to fill the carafe when movement in the corner of your eye draws your attention to another few ants on the counter to your left. Ugh, you think, as you squish and wipe again, and that’s when you see it: the trail, stretching along the counter and down the wall, a superhighway of tiny soldiers marching inexorably onward in either direction. It’s coming from inside the damn wall, this seething black torrent of insects, who replenish their numbers faster than you can kill them. You squash and wipe and spray Windex and squash and wipe and spray, but with each purge, you can feel their compatriots crawling on your hands, arms, neck, face. They are everywhere. What if there is no end? Will you have to burn down your own home?”

当我们的手在发麻，我们的头在游泳，我们的皮肤在爬行并且我们想逃跑时，Leah 将蚂蚁侵扰比作焦虑症。这当然是夸张了。她更夸张地用故事般的方式描述蚂蚁出没：“想象一下：现在是早晨。你昏昏欲睡地走进厨房。你伸手去拿水槽旁边的咖啡机，你看到两只蚂蚁在周围游弋在你右边的柜台上。你认为他们是侦察兵，所以你用挤压把他们派出去，然后擦干净柜台，以防万一。当你眼角的动作引起你的注意时，你再次伸手去装满水瓶到你左边柜台上的另外几只蚂蚁。呃，你想，当你再次挤压和擦拭时，你就会看到它：沿着柜台延伸并沿着墙壁延伸的小径，一条小士兵无情地向前行进的高速公路朝任何一个方向。它来自该死的墙内，这股沸腾的黑色昆虫洪流，它们的数量比你杀死它们的速度还快。能感觉到他们的同伴手，手臂，脖子，脸上爬行。他们无处不在。如果没有尽头呢？你要烧掉你自己的家吗？”

“RAID” liquid ant killer usually works by the worker ants carrying in their abdomens extra of the liquid to be spitted out again at their next for consumption of the queen ant and the other younger ants. In this manner, the ‘RAID” liquid, which is a blend of boric acid with sugar or honey or both. This ant bait works well so far until the present set of ant tribe. Today is the second day where we find that there are still dying ants around, but fortunately no new ants are seen clustering around the ant liquid bait.

“RAID”液体蚂蚁杀手通常由工蚁在其腹部携带额外的液体，以便下次再次吐出，以供蚁后和其他年轻蚂蚁食用。以这种方式，“RAID”液体，它是硼酸与糖或蜂蜜或两者的混合物。这种蚂蚁诱饵到目前为止效果很好，直到现在的蚂蚁部落。今天是第二天我们发现有周围还有垂死的蚂蚁，但幸运的是没有看到新的蚂蚁聚集在蚂蚁液体诱饵周围。