[quote=gzz]Ucodegen, funny you mention an infested fridge.
Twice in the past ten years I discovered hundreds of frozen dead or nearly dead ants in my freezer. Not a single one in the fridge side which was full of meat and sweet fruit. But hundreds of dead ones in the freezer.
Both times I never figured out how they got in, and the problem solved itself in one day. Everything in the freezer was bagged or wrapped in plastic, and they did not even appear to be going for anything in particular. Just hanging out and freezing to death on the bottom half of a side by size freezer.[/quote]
I had the exact same thing. More than once. I looked and saw a trail of black ants heading to the freezer.. looked inside and a significant pile of dead at the bottom (like a pile of black sand). A few were wandering around, but not very far in the freezer, but they seemed to never leave. In our freezer, everything was always bagged or wrapped as well. The only thing I could think of was that the freezer did not close all the way and the cool air had a higher ‘perceived’ moisture to the ants who considered going to that location for a water source. I wonder if none survived the excursion to the freezer to give the cancel scent (as in no food found at end of path) on the trail. That kind of makes it a one way trap. They sense the moisture on approach, reinforce the trail message but never report back once they get there.
Of course there is always that group suicide possibility.
