The slow collapse of an Empire - Ants colony

99% of the time I leave ants alone. See one walking across my kitchen floor? Whatever. I’ll double check my cleanliness and remove the attractions. Usually an escaped piece of dog kibble. Or a tub of honey left out. I now keep my honey in a tub of water to create a moat.
COVID has me cleaning my kitchen copiously.

oddly enough that’s not the problem. My TV room and master bathroom ; I was seeing a lot of ants. I put out a few baits to Locate them. FAACK! I found them setting up camp in three places. My TV room, my bathroom and my garage. From my garage they would conga line into my kitchen to the cat bowl.

game on. I put down those Terro Baits. My friend who manages a pest control company told me to be careful of Terro because it could cause the colony to divide. He suggested a slower bait which I ordered from Amazon.

the colony in the garage crashed like a deck of cards. The other two? It took 3-4 weeks of watching them munch on the bait to finally see numbers diminish. Apparently they sometimes ignore “sweet” bait and go looking for fats/proteins. Who knew? I wasn’t about to buy a protein based poison so it was a waiting game. Eventually their sweet tooth kicked in and they were munching. I’m not sure if I had three separate colonies or they were spreading out.
It’s been super interesting to observe. I think the recent rains pushed them towards my home.
Now, I pick up the pet bowls and wash them daily. I look for their spilled kibble and police the remnants. No way I get everything. I hope the ants don’t discover my toaster. It would be a feast!