Ants at the Port?

[dthogue]

I read somewhere that you should not leave food in your parked vehicle at the ports because of ants? Is this really a problem? We will be driving down and will have a cooler and snack type foods for the ride. If I keep the food inside the cooler while we are on the cruise, will this still attract ants? Any suggetions?

Merry Christmas!
Tammy

 

[LisaGoeke]

Yes, they do have a sign about ants and not to leave any open food. We tried pitching all of our open food items; however, our car was still full of crumbs, etc. and food that wasn't open. One week later, no Ants!

 

[kcashner]

We've never had a problem...although as above, we've not kept open packages of food in the car. Have kids, will have crumbs...and never any ant problem. Still, I toss everything that's open, and put anything unopened in the cooler.

 

[rae519]

Relatives and friends warned me - "Florida=bugs" - hey, they are everywhere. Oh my, after 10 days in the van, I can relate to the crumbs!!! But we didn't leave anything open and cleaned it up as much as possible - so no ants.

Just remember bring some ant spray if you are concerned!

Funny but I can remember as a kid when ants were pretty harmless, now with these red biting kind - who wants to lie down on the cool green grass anymore?!

Rae

 

[professorandmom]

Two day drive to my parents, then several days at disney - crumbs is an understatement....so that I wouldn't have to go nuts, I picked up some ant traps at the dollar store. Put them under the seats in the car as we left the car in the port parking lot. Now it was July so I would think any ant making it inside would be cooked, but we didn't find any. It was a great $1 insurance policy for an ant-free two day ride back to Indy.
Barbara

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by professorandmom
It was a great $1 insurance policy for an ant-free two day ride back to Indy.
Barbara

We must be traveling the same roads - we drive from Peru!
Small world.

Are you native or transplant?


Great idea about the ant traps - yes, precaution is better than remedy!

Rae

 

[ThreeCircles]

These pictures were taken from a recent article in the St. Petersburg Times about the ant problem at Port Canaveral.

 

[Debbie H]

We were on a 3 day in November, and low and behold when we got in the car to drive home, we had lots of passengers!! It took me forever and freezing in the Northeast to get rid of them.
By the way, we had no crumbs in the car that I am aware of.

 

[floridaminnie]

Three Circles....funny! I'll need to make sure to bring my extra large can of bug spray.

 

[dzneprincess]

silly boy Jason

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

LOL@have kids=will have crumbs! So true...

 

[professorandmom]

"We must be traveling the same roads - we drive from Peru!
Small world.

Are you native or transplant?


Great idea about the ant traps - yes, precaution is better than remedy!

Rae"

Ah, the drive I think I can do in my sleep! My kids and I have been in Indy for about 6 years - orginally from New England...my parents are in Venice FL so we veer off the standard roads to Disney. We go to Disney every summer trip to Grandma and Grandpa's but last summer was out first cruise. Amazing, of course. Humerously, my daughter was just asking about what my favorite restaurant was - she explained that hers was Tritons. I was so pleased...

Anyway, I can't take credit for the ant traps from the dollar store - all boards' help! Also got the picture frames, over the door hanger and a few other incidentals there!

Barbara

 

[cjsmith]

I've left pretzels in the car without any ant problems. My husbands car is outside all the time here at home in our driveway and even though there are the dreaded fire ants all over the place, we never have a problem with them entering the cars. Just make sure you throw away as much as possible prior to leaving the car and you should be just fine.

 

[ThreeCircles]

I agree with Cjsmith. The whole "ant problem" just doesn't add up. After having lived in Florida for 18 years, I don't think I've ever seen or heard of anyone, including myself, having ants invade their car. This includes the four times I've personally parked at the port.

From what I remember, almost 100% of the parking lot at Port Canaveral is paved thus making it even more unlikely.

Sure, ants, especially fire ants, are abundant in Florida. We sometimes have huge mounds right in our front yard just feet from our cars. Never once have we had a problem with them in the car.

 

[Debbie H]

OK, then why did I have ants in my Escalade? We don't have ants in Pennsylvania at this time of year so I know we didn't bring them with us. Perhaps we got them at OKW before we went to the port. We also got ants one time in Vero Beach. Any ideas?????????? From now on, I will take ant traps with us.

 

[debm]

Yes, we had extra passengers too last May when we left our van in the parking lot for the 4 day. I was stressed enough getting all 7 of us back into the car with all the luggage and then my husband says, "Oh honey, by the way...." The worst part is they were crawling in the 9 month old baby's car seat. Then one would crawl across a seat or across a head rest. There weren't a lot of them but we would see 1 or 2 at a time, kill those, and then 10 minutes later we would see another one. But yes, we had crumbs around!

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by ThreeCircles
We sometimes have huge mounds right in our front yard just feet from our cars. Never once have we had a problem with them in the car.

Why should you have a problem with Ants???? They know who your Momma Rae is and are frightened, VERY FRIGHTENED. (Hormonal swings, you know!)

Okay, sons, we come down Easter week - where are you going to be? PM me!!!

Love,
Momma Rae

 

[fred ferdlap]

We had ants in our van from the ajacent parking lot at NCL a few years back. So bad we stopped and vacumed them out and had to put ant traps in the car.

I read somewhere to sprinkle Comet on parking spot.