Blog-IT-o ergo sum

	4/24/2005

A picture named equalization.jpg

Fake Sugar Kills Ants Dead

I suspected that it might be an urban legend, but my wife took the advice of our neighbor and sprinkled some "Equal" synthetic sweetner over the small mound of debris along the baseboard marking where ants have been sneaking into our kitchen.

The "cracked out" worker ants are supposed to carry their saccharine booty back to the queen thus ODing her along with the rest of the colony.

Time will tell if the queen took the bait, but a day later now, as you can see in the picture, the invading soldier ants have disappeared save for a partied out band of revelers scattered amongst the Equal crystals. (Note: As their contorted bodies might suggest, they are not just sleeping this one off.)

Death by sweetness does seem like a compassionate way to take these pests out, but I now recommend cutting back on your Diet Pepsi.

(editor's note: I do acknowledge that the biochemistry going on here is likely similar to what makes taking the blood thinners Coumadin and Warfarin safe for human use even though the active ingredient in those drugs doubles as rat poison.)

8:46:52 AM

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