It's a Bugs Life

There hasn't been a whole lot of exciting things going on this week. We had some rain, had some work, and haven't been able to surf. We also have a small roach problem (we see one roach every 3 weeks on average) but decided enough was enough so we cleared out our cupboards and put everything in storage bins and put bait on 1"x 1" pieces of cardboard to hopefully kill the roaches. 

We were expecting a lot of roaches to be dead the next morning. We saw signs that some of the baits had been eaten but have not seen any dead roaches. Honestly, that is okay with me since I pretty much told Robert at the beginning I would not be able to be much help with him in this project. Since we have such infrequent roaches (but I swear I hear them, and yes, some roaches do chirp) we decided to put the bait in several different locations throughout the kitchen, all mostly in dark places and out of reach of the dogs.

Interestingly enough we found a group of Leafcutter Ants that also found the "food" appealing. We placed one of the baits in between the counter and stove, for no particular reason other than maybe a roach would like to be there. It turns out some of the ants found their way to the bait and began moving the cardboard. If I could have taken a picture, I would have, but it would not have shown up very well on camera. Robert moved the cardboard back to its original place, later to observe that pieces were cut out of the cardboard. 

For those of you who have no idea what kind of ants I'm talking about, Leafcutter Ants are ants that cut leaves and harvest them to produce fungus, which they then eat. They are native to Central America and are also becoming increasingly popular in Texas. They have been known to strip trees within 24 hours. They are fun to watch and see how they work as a team.

Some of the pieces of leaves can be up to the size of a $0.50 piece

Stripped leaves from a papaya tree

We occasionally get some in the house stuck by spider webs. We have to quickly get rid of the spider web since the ants that are caught send a distress signal for help, causing a cycle of trailing ants. While they do not go for any of our food, they are better off outside eating the plants. It is amazing how they even carry the dead webs of ants outside; I have seen ants attempt to carry three webbed ants (from the spider web) in one go. It is an animal version of Band of Brothers!

This week we will put all of our things back in our cupboards; it will not miss having to walk to and from the kitchen to the dining area every time I need or forgot a knife or spice. We are also hoping for good surf since it has been about four weeks since I have been able to go out and Robert hasn't been able to since he got back. And of course, we will stay busy with work.