My roommate is insane about not killing ants, even in the house. I'm in the "If I see an ant in my room, it's dead" majority of house dwellers. She's already started on me about all these natural ways to repel the ghost ants that take over this house every spring. I just bought some ant spray. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. The way I figure it, there are plenty more ants where those came from, and they are good communicators. Once they find out they're dying when they come inside, they'll stop -- or at least that's how it's always worked for me. I am not worried at all about ghost ants becoming extinct in FL.
This is also why the fleas have taken over the back yard so badly that I won't go out there. Unbeknownst to her, I have been killing fire ants and fleas in the front yard, and will continue to do so. I'm allergic to fire ants. My cat used to only need flea treatment twice a year, now she needs it once a month, even in the winter, because I can't use anything to control the fleas and ticks in the yard. It's insane!
Sorry, but fire ants and fleas are pestilence. They came right out of Pandora's box. I'm all for being kind to nature, but there are extremes which, IMHO, are unhealthy and harmful to me and my poor cat, who has to put up with all the worms and fleas around here (which she never had before). Giving her all these chemicals to kill them is completely unhealthy for her -- much unhealthier than a little Sevin dust on the lawn.
I can hardly wait to be free of this place so I can be free to keep my environment pest free without having to have an ecological diatribe aimed at me.