I am a great admirer of the nature and it's creations, big and small alike. And the untiring Ants are one of my favourites, but certainly not something to keep them in my fridge. But I have them, in hundreds! Though they are not a permanent resident of it, but surely they are treating it as a great source of delicious eatables! The continuous two way traffic of the Ants to and fro from the fridge carrying bits of their loot, but in a disciplined way like a soldier has truly impressed me and humbled me like never before!
It all started when I got commissioned an old fridge kept in the bachelor accommodation allotted to me recently at my new place of posting. After thorough cleaning with liquid detergent and sanitising it with antiseptic Dettol, I started using it. Initial two days were incident free as I was busy in stocking the fridge with ready-made namkin, biscuits and certainly some green vegetables. The next morning I opened a biscuit packet and had one or two with morning tea. The remaining packet was duly kept secured in the fridge. In the evening upon returning from office I opened the fridge to have something and I picked up the same biscuit packet. Suddenly I found a few Ants on the back of my palm and then I realised that the packet had many many more Ants, little agitated as I disturbed them by moving the packet. Seeing them in the biscuit packet shocked me and I felt a bit frustrated too! My immediate mental response was like – Oh My God! How come they are here? And the next moment I pulled open the fridge door to find if any more Ants are there? And to my surprise , they were there and in big numbers lined up in a queue and moving freely in and out of the fridge from the small gaps between the rubber seal on the door and the fridge!
And then begins my struggle to keep them away from the fridge. That evening, I left them for the night to continue their feast, I also put back the biscuit packet in the fridge for them to gorge on. In the night itself I had my strategy chalked out in my mind, to seal the gap with tissue paper and cello tape. The next morning I woke up with one point agenda, to keep them away from my fridge. Like an sculptor, I felt the contour of the rubber seal on the inner side of the door and fashioned a shape from soft tissue paper of appropriate thickness just suitable to seal the entry of the Ants. Satisfied with my work, I wiped the fridge clean to remove every single ant and secured the tissue paper seal with cello tape. All done, I opened a namkin packet to have with tea and put the packet back in fridge, assured of my successful attempt. However, in the evening I again found a thin wavy line of the Ants entering and exiting the fridge as freely as they had been doing it!
What more could I do! I traced their path and found that they were climbing the fridge from one of the legs of the fridge stand. How can I stop them from climbing? I asked myself. And then the next thing I wanted to do was the technique adopted commonly in the roadside sweets shops, wherein the shopkeepers put the legs of the sweets display units in steel bowls which is then filled with water. You know, the Ants can’t jump the water to reach the sweets. Next day, while returning from office I went straight to buy the bowls and placed the legs of the fridge stand in the four bowls. Filled them up to the brim to avoid early evaporation of the water. Once done, I was confident that now the Ants won’t have their way. I slept well.
The next day I found the technique to be working well. After all, human beings have dominated the world with their mental acumen! I once again took a fresh packet of biscuit , tore open and took out a piece and kept back the packet. Went to office with a sense of accomplishment, by keeping the Ants away . During office hours, my thoughts often drifted to my fridge and I kept visualising the army of ants trying to cross the water barrier, upon climbing the bowl! Ants are not quitters, so I was just imagining about the efforts they must have been putting the whole day in around the water bowl. But I was wrong. They were not anywhere around the bowls. I felt triumphant!
I opened the fridge. My heart sank. There was movement inside the fridge, lot of movement of the Ants, as energetic and enthusiastic as ever! But how come? From where? Again!
I try to trace their movement . After coming out of the fridge, they moved down - underside of the fridge and after travelling back they climbed over the power cable, to the power point, to the wall and to their place – and it never occurred to me that the power cable too might be one point of access! Ants outsmarted me, they demonstrated it. I felt humbled by their persistence, their team work, their spirit to overcome the challenges in such a simple fashion and to keep looking for alternate solutions.
I know that I can resolve my problem by simply changing the rubber seal. But I want to do without it, just to see whether I can outsmart the tiny creatures! I am yet looking for a workable idea, to beat the tiny Ants in their game.
Do you have an idea! I have Ants in my fridge!
madhukarmohan@gmail.com
It all started when I got commissioned an old fridge kept in the bachelor accommodation allotted to me recently at my new place of posting. After thorough cleaning with liquid detergent and sanitising it with antiseptic Dettol, I started using it. Initial two days were incident free as I was busy in stocking the fridge with ready-made namkin, biscuits and certainly some green vegetables. The next morning I opened a biscuit packet and had one or two with morning tea. The remaining packet was duly kept secured in the fridge. In the evening upon returning from office I opened the fridge to have something and I picked up the same biscuit packet. Suddenly I found a few Ants on the back of my palm and then I realised that the packet had many many more Ants, little agitated as I disturbed them by moving the packet. Seeing them in the biscuit packet shocked me and I felt a bit frustrated too! My immediate mental response was like – Oh My God! How come they are here? And the next moment I pulled open the fridge door to find if any more Ants are there? And to my surprise , they were there and in big numbers lined up in a queue and moving freely in and out of the fridge from the small gaps between the rubber seal on the door and the fridge!
And then begins my struggle to keep them away from the fridge. That evening, I left them for the night to continue their feast, I also put back the biscuit packet in the fridge for them to gorge on. In the night itself I had my strategy chalked out in my mind, to seal the gap with tissue paper and cello tape. The next morning I woke up with one point agenda, to keep them away from my fridge. Like an sculptor, I felt the contour of the rubber seal on the inner side of the door and fashioned a shape from soft tissue paper of appropriate thickness just suitable to seal the entry of the Ants. Satisfied with my work, I wiped the fridge clean to remove every single ant and secured the tissue paper seal with cello tape. All done, I opened a namkin packet to have with tea and put the packet back in fridge, assured of my successful attempt. However, in the evening I again found a thin wavy line of the Ants entering and exiting the fridge as freely as they had been doing it!
What more could I do! I traced their path and found that they were climbing the fridge from one of the legs of the fridge stand. How can I stop them from climbing? I asked myself. And then the next thing I wanted to do was the technique adopted commonly in the roadside sweets shops, wherein the shopkeepers put the legs of the sweets display units in steel bowls which is then filled with water. You know, the Ants can’t jump the water to reach the sweets. Next day, while returning from office I went straight to buy the bowls and placed the legs of the fridge stand in the four bowls. Filled them up to the brim to avoid early evaporation of the water. Once done, I was confident that now the Ants won’t have their way. I slept well.
The next day I found the technique to be working well. After all, human beings have dominated the world with their mental acumen! I once again took a fresh packet of biscuit , tore open and took out a piece and kept back the packet. Went to office with a sense of accomplishment, by keeping the Ants away . During office hours, my thoughts often drifted to my fridge and I kept visualising the army of ants trying to cross the water barrier, upon climbing the bowl! Ants are not quitters, so I was just imagining about the efforts they must have been putting the whole day in around the water bowl. But I was wrong. They were not anywhere around the bowls. I felt triumphant!
I opened the fridge. My heart sank. There was movement inside the fridge, lot of movement of the Ants, as energetic and enthusiastic as ever! But how come? From where? Again!
I try to trace their movement . After coming out of the fridge, they moved down - underside of the fridge and after travelling back they climbed over the power cable, to the power point, to the wall and to their place – and it never occurred to me that the power cable too might be one point of access! Ants outsmarted me, they demonstrated it. I felt humbled by their persistence, their team work, their spirit to overcome the challenges in such a simple fashion and to keep looking for alternate solutions.
I know that I can resolve my problem by simply changing the rubber seal. But I want to do without it, just to see whether I can outsmart the tiny creatures! I am yet looking for a workable idea, to beat the tiny Ants in their game.
Do you have an idea! I have Ants in my fridge!
madhukarmohan@gmail.com
