Attack of the Microscopic Millions!

Black specks, that is what I first registered when I pulled the cereal bowl from the rack above the sink. It was when those specks started to bite and crawl over my fingers I realized a whole battalion of ants had become enraged I'd disturbed there morning stroll.

Horrified, that is the only thing that my mind registered and I'm sad to say that foul thoughts sprang up about how my boyfriend's mother goes about her cleaning routines.

That is until I realized something that everyone has been nagging me about since I arrived.

Every time I had thrown something into the trash, washed a dish or left a dirty bowl sitting in the sink, everyone had been warning me to wash it clean as quickly as possible or tie it up in a plastic bag. That includes even stuff you're throwing into the trash itself. Ants in Singapore always find food... ALWAYS!

They are tenacious little things, leave any bit of food out and they swarm the area like the TSA does when a grandma flies with more than two bottles of shampoo.

Just yesterday I made myself a cup of coffee, though I'm a bit odd and actually like my cup of Joe to be cold, so after dropping a few ice cubes into it, I went off to a shower. Upon my return my desk was covered in these multi-legged invaders, scurrying around my mug, over my notebook, hell they were creeping out from under the keys of my laptop.

Seriously, I was dancing around the bedroom, shaking my computer upside down, getting a odd look of concern from the boyfriend's mother.

Now before you say anything about this being a tropical country and anytime you open a window in hot weather, you're inviting in bugs remember that this is in a fifth story apartment in Tampines, an otherwise developed area of Singapore know for its shopping malls, in an air-conditioned bedroom, all the windows and doors closed. These tiny creepers had to have made an almost titanic journey into an largely hostile environment and they showed up in regiment strength.

Singaporeans deal with this by trying to eliminating any items that could attract them. When you finish a container of yogurt, you just don't toss it. Instead you're going to have to wash it thoroughly, replace the top and then you toss it. If you're throwing out leftovers, you tie them in a plastic grocery bag. Don't expect to use the garbage disposal in the sink to get rid of your chewed on food bits, those are a rarity in Singapore.

There are some very simple ways to deter ants from using your home as a food court without having to call an exterminator:

• Cleaning: Clean counters with a mixture of half vinegar, half water. 
• Repellent: Add one tablespoon of a herbal oils like Peppermint, Lavender, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree Oil, Witch Hazel Extract into a spray bottle full of water. Don't use scented chemicals, soaps or cleaners made to smell like them, they almost never contain the real thing!
• Traps: Make ant taps by combining a two cups of sugar, one cup of water and two table spoons of boric acid (Borax). Borax can be found in most grocery stores as a cleaning product but the pure form is preferred  Spread it on a plate or something flat, then put it where you the ants most commonly appear. The result, the ants collect the Borax thinking its food, bring it home, where the nest consumes the poison and dies.
• Lock-down: Seal any holes or cracks in the kitchen/trash area, if you can't afford that or its impossible, rub cinnamon, ground black pepper, bay leaves, salt, chili powder or coffee grounds on the holes. Make it into a paste by mixing in water. (F.Y.I. this can cause mold if repeated too often so watch it!)
• Containment: Buy a trash can with a lid on it. Not a plastic one that comes with a little button on top of it to make it pop open but a real metal one, with a food pedal on it to make it open. If you have to put your weight into opening it, an ant is not going to break through this barrier easily. Get one that can also be easily washed, in case you spill food on it and the ants swarm, you can bathe it in chemicals to drive them away without fear of poisoning your whole family. 
• Beautify: Plant mint, lavender or sage in pots and place near normal points of entry, from vents to windows to sink drains. They look and smell nice, while driving ants away. 

For more examples, check out this site on WikiHow, they have a ton of tips. 

DISCLAIMER: Now remember every ant species is different (seriously, there are 22,000 species!) and while some of these remedies can work to deter some, it can attract others. The easiest way to avoid this is to use the first method I noted, just remove the sources of food that attracts them and be vigilant not to leave scraps.

You will quickly latch onto this form of religious cleaning very quickly once you pluck a bowl from the cleaning rack and find a black swarming puddle go scurrying across the counter!