There are many kinds of ants, too many to list. Ants live in colonies headed by queens and composed of worker ants. When a colony becomes quite large, the ants know they need to form new colonies. Special reproductive ants are formed. They have wings. There will be a few females and many males. In the spring, when there is a heavy rain followed by a bright sunny day, these special reproductive ants from several colonies will swarm looking for mates. After the ants copulate in the air, the males die. A female can mate with several males. The females then begin making their new nests which will eventually become new colonies. I have enough mind left to find all these facts which I learned on Monday evening fascinating.
In the bedroom of Apartment 101 in the Foreign Experts Building, The ants swarmed and formed at least 8 new nests before we started killing them. Late on Monday night (see previous post) we felt we could rest safely in our bed. On Tuesday there was more rain, and on Wednesday another glorious day of sun. The ants swarmed again but died before they could mate, since we had sprayed so heavily. We swept them up.
Apartment 201 is now vacant, and since we had been expecting a guest, we had the key for it. I hadn’t wanted to start cleaning it and suggested the guest could stay at a hotel. On Thursday the guest said she couldn’t come after all.
On Thursday, the ants swarmed again. We didn’t sweep up. We called the official. She brought the maintenance man who, when he saw the hundreds of dead ants on the floor and on the bed, called the head of his department. He said that the professional exterminators would be called and they could come Saturday. We thought about sleeping in 201, but it was so dirty, and we have such wonderful light blocking curtains which we provided for 101. I didn’t want to move.
On Friday afternoon, the so called professional team arrived and decided the ants are coming through the window screens and sprayed heavily around the windows.
On Saturday, the ants swarmed again, and the curtain rod fell off the wall. So, we began to clean 201, spending about 5 hours to do the bedroom and wash some curtains to put up there for the night. I emailed the official, not expecting any reply, but within an hour she came with the person immediately above her, and a person from the science department who has a PhD and studies insects. She also thinks they come through the windows, although on the first days, the windows were not open. She explained the mating process, the rain, the sun, all of which I already knew. She said, “We have to find the main nest.” I restrained myself from saying, “DUH.” Then she said it would be very difficult to do.
We had a conversation about cleaning in 201. I explained to the officials that I would clean the apartment to my standards and submit my bill to the department. I mentioned a figure I had paid in the USA several years ago for professional cleaning. Quick calculations were done and she called the cleaning service arranging for them to come Sunday.
We slept well in 201 and started Sunday with renewed spirits. The “professional” cleaning men have arrived on a scooter, two men who look straight from the countryside, straw hats and ill fitting clothing. They brought no equipment of their own. The official said that we should make sure they clean to our standards. This means constant supervision. Husband is doing this, I can’t bear to watch.
Last night the main official responded to Husband’s email by giving us a rundown of the sex life of ants, as if we weren’t aware. He said that this is common here in south China in the spring. It reminds me of an incident many years ago when I was invited with some other women to a luncheon. The hostess was not quite ready when we arrived, and had run upstairs for finishing touches to her dress. She had set a pitcher of iced tea on the counter. Her cat leaped to the counter and putting his head into the pitcher began to drink the tea. Alarmed, we called out to her, “The cat is in the tea.” “That’s ok,” she said, “He likes tea.”