Fast and easy way to rid the house of ants and fruitflies.

I found the best way - at least for me - to successfully get rid of these buggers. And the solution is... tra-rah... the vacuum!

It started with a recent invasion by giant ants. No matter how well I cleaned the kitchen, they kept coming. Eventually they got so bold that they tried to climb up to the counter via my leg. In my frustration I grabbed the recently used vacuum hose still lying at my legs and sucked the bold warrior off my shin. And then the idea stuck. I started to vacuum up the other ants, too. The strategy proved to be successful. It seems that there were less ants then I first estimated, I must have kept seeing the same few returning again and again. Well, the bunch is gone now! Apparently they suffocate very quickly inside the bag.

And then it occurred to me that this may work for fruit flies, also. This actually turned out to be an easier task than the hunt for the ants. Ants are fast and smart. Fruit flies are slow and dumb. They like to perch on the wall just above the garbage can in a crowd. When I vacuum them, they just sit and wait for their turn. They can also be sucked up in mid flight.

Not only did I manage to reduce the pesky cloud of fruit flies in the kitchen, I also reduced the number of those that infest our compost can in the back of the house. There obviously was a connection...!