A Rant about Ants

I had no idea there were so many kinds of ants in the world. Apparently, they like the tropics. In addition to normal little black ants, we have giant ants (at least twice the size of the common ant in the States) that come out only at night, your typical red 'fire ants,' and wee tiny ants. The wee tiny ants like to crawl up my arms and bite me while I'm typing on the computer. And their bites sting!

These little insects are particularly annoying in the kitchen. If I don't keep my counters wiped off and my dishes rinsed out, they will invade in a matter of minutes. Sometimes I find them swarming my metal scrubber to look for crumbs! Fortunately, we can get (pricey) plastic containers with a tight seal to keep them out of things like sugar and powdered milk. After a day of baking, I usually have to rig up a contraption like this to keep them out of my yummy cookies and homemade bread.

Yes, that container is surrounded by a moat of water to keep the ants away. It works pretty well, as long as I keep the water level up. :)

**Update: I recently noticed a decrease in the ant population in my kitchen. Apparently, a cicak (pronounced "chee-chak", meaning lizard) has been eating them up. It is not unusual to see these little lizards running around on the walls, and I prefer them to ants. =)