What if I have ants?
There are many different types of ants out there in this world. The type that may infest your bin depends on the area in which you live in. There are fire ants, sugar ants, carpenter ants, acrobat ants, harvester ants. I know I have left out a bunch, but you get my drift, right? Basically there are many, many types. I really, really, really don’t care for these creatures. When I lived in Dallas, I stupidly sat on a fire ant mound and was bitten a billion times. They are nasty little creatures! I know they were defending themselves, and I was unaware of my area but come on! I actually don’t care for fast moving insects like spiders, centipedes, millipedes, and ants. Their legs freak me out and send shivers all over my body! I don’t have this reaction to Red Wigglers because they are slow and calm. They don’t have appendages that move quickly. Occasionally, I find various creatures in my worm bin, including ants. Most of these are harmless and actually speed up the composting process. If you find a swarm of these, it’s a sign that things need to change. So, in my series “Creature Feature”, I will be sharing my knowledge of worm bin invaders and steps to take if there is a swarm. Today’s feature is the ANT If you find a few in your bin, that isn’t really a problem, but most likely there are more around that you don’t see. They eat food scraps, fungi, other ants (that’s mean) and wood. Depending on the ant you have in your bin will also tell you about the conditions of your bin. Most ants are attracted to dry areas with food so this might be a sign that the bin is too dry. The carpenter ant is an exception though. They are attracted to moist wood. Treatment Most ants don’t like moisture so you could add more moisture to the bin and bury the food scraps in the bedding. You could also have water traps around the bin, kind of like a moat. They won’t want to cross that and will look for food else where. If you have carpenter ants and have a wooden bin, check around the perimeter to see if there is a rotting log and remove it. Then relocate your bin and keep an eye out for the ants. I have a client who had a swarm of carpenter ants. I removed the bedding and worms. We moved the bin to a different area away from the logs and wood. So far so good and the ants have not returned. I don’t recommend spraying a chemical around the worm bin to get rid of the ants. Just sharing what I know! Please comment if there are methods that have worked for you!