Snakes, Geckos and Ants - OH MY!

Well no pictures for this blog entry. Just a story to share about all "my critters" of late.

Pest #1 -ANTS: Two days ago, I found ants traveling around my pantry door.
I killed them, cause Doug said they are just sugar ants and they are probably coming in under the slab, around the baseboards. I did not see one ant on or near the floor.
Yesterday morning, I woke up and started making myself some breakfast and noticed a considerable amount of more ants traveling around my pantry door. Opening the pantry, they are now going across all the shelves....That's It!!! No more Ms Nice Gal! I emptied EVERYTHING out of the pantry and found the ants were most interested in the Andersen's Honey jar, Aunt Jemima's maple syrup and some white corn syrup. I cleaned everything in the pantry, including the shelves and the floor. I watched the ants, for what seemed to be about an hour, and found out they were not heading down to the floor but up to the ceiling. There was a small hole in the ceiling where the corner of the kitchen meets the narrow wine cabinet wall. Doug sprayed some bug spray into that hole ....wallah - no more ants.
But now the pantry was cleaned out and Doug painted all the shelves. He says the shelves need to dry for 2 weeks...so guess I will have to contend with all the clutter of all the food in the house being on the counter-tops and kitchen table. Two weeks is an aweful long time for clutter. I've decided to avoid the rooms as much as possible and not set my Type A personality into a tailspin.

Pest # 2 - Geckos: I've had a number of traps set up outdoors to catch the "quick" little critters.
Last night, I went out to pick up a phone book that was left on our front step. I should have known better than open that door after dark. One of those slimy little devils ran over my foot. I shook my leg and darted in the door, hoping to prevent him from entering my humble abode. Pest #2 as it relates to Pest #3

Pest #3 - Snake: This morning after Doug left for work, I was cleaning off the kitchen table from our morning coffee...remember, all the stuff that is piled on my table has to be moved everytime we want to sit at the table and eat. Anyways I digress! I looked out the back door to see one of my glue traps not sitting next to the house any longer. It was moved near one of the monkey grass by the pool patio. Hmmm, it must have been blown over there by the wind.....NOT! I went outside to move it back to the house wall, when I picked it up, there was this snake head with his mouth wide open hissing at me with his tongue sticking out...wishing to be put down I guess. His body was wrapped around one of the monkey grass mounds. Yikes! Back in the house I went to call Doug and tell him he was on SNAKE PATROL tonight. He told me I better get the hoe and cut the snake in two, so that it doesn't venture any farther. The snake had apparantly been lured into the glue trap, because there was a gecko in there. So now I've elminated two pests with one trap. Yea Me!

Now mind you, we've caught some baby snakes in our little glue traps, but this one was quite a bit bigger than those captured in the past. I went indoors and got my shoes on and then went to the garage and grabbed the hoe; snake choppin' here I come. Well one mighty swoop of the hoe and the snake had quite a gash in his skin. I didn't know snakes could bleed so much! The snake was still hissing at me, so gave him another whack! Hiss at me, why don't you! I used the hoe and dragged the snake out to the garbage can...Doug can pick it up when he gets home. Still don't know what kind of snake it is; most people tell me Texas Rat Snakes are very common to these parts. Ok fine, so Texas Rat Snakes are not poisonous...GOOD!... but they look like a copperhead which is quite poisonous! BAD! I'm no snake expert...so guess I'll treat all snakes like they are poisonous and stay indoors for the rest of the day. Enough Wild Kingdome for me for one day!