My kitchen was recently
invaded by ants. There was no trail, they weren't going near any of the
food--they just sort of ran about aimlessly on the counter and floor. At first, my
solution was incredibly basic--
stomp the little bastards. That didn't really work too well in keeping them away. So we cleaned up a bit, making sure there was no food or anything they might be getting to. They kept coming.
So what were we to do? It was a bit of a dilemma. I called in my apartment complex's exterminator, and he swung by the next day and put out some bait or something. It killed all of maybe two ants, and, three days later, they just kept coming.
So, we stomped 'em for a few more days, and were utterly stumped as to what to do. They weren't actually going anywhere or eating anything, just crawling around in mindless, wobbly little circles. They were pretty harmless, but it was still a definite annoyance. What the hell were we supposed to do about it?
Now, I was poking through one of our cabinets (all of which were surprisingly ant-free... hm...) to get a paper towel when I noticed a couple chemical cleaners. Huh, maybe those could do something? Wait! Wait! I'd just seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding! And guess what: I had Windex. Windex is freaking great, by the way, you have to love it.
So, I tried a little experiment. I sprayed the Windex on a few of the ants who were kind of clumped together. they writhed for a bit, and then they died. No ants went near that area for a while, either. I went on a Windex-spraying frenzy, after that, and soon pretty much all the ants (except the ones hiding behind the microwve) were dead. There weren't any more coming out from their little entry spot by the washing machine, and those few stragglers that were left were killed easily.
So there you have it: if your house is ever infested with thiny black ants, spray them with Windex. They don't seem to like it much.