It's an Invasion

Tiny ants show up about once a year on my bathroom counter. This time they gained entry through an invisible gap between the aluminum molding around the Formica splash panel and the wall, last year it was through a gap behind the toilet. Dozens of foragers wander, seemingly aimlessly around on the horizontal surface of the counter, but hardly ever on the walls or other vertical surfaces. I put out drops of Terro Ant Bait and they seem to really like it and I assume they are carrying it back and sharing it with the main hive. Normally they just disappear over the next week or so, but this time they are in the second week and still going string.I also noticed a long ant column along the bottom of our garage door. These may not be the same species and they seem to be completely ignoring the Terro.I find these opportunities for experiments fascinating.

My wife has a love/hate relationship with nature. In her view, nature is wonderful when it's outdoors, but when it invades the indoors then it should be treated with immediate extermination, carried out not by her but by her underling operating under her orders. This year has been particularly tough because the annual stink bug incursion, usually a brief late fall phenomenon, lasted all winter, causing the rank and file to have to constantly whip into action.--Percy

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

That sounds like maybe the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug. Those suckers sure do stink!I feel the same way as your wife, but about spiders in the house!!!

I don't worry about the spiders. They at least keep the ants in check.

On the walking path to work where I get off the bus, it goes up to a viaduct and then down into the industry are. Usually, there's a few dozen ant colonies in between the tiles there that grow and grow larger and eventually, at the end of the summer get into great conflict with eachother.I call it the viaduct Antpocalypse even, because at some point, only a few big ants nests remaining, and a looooooot of ant bodies around all the varies nests that got raided and destroyed.I once made photos of it, I'll see if I can find them, it was impressive and a little morbid.