生物觀察 creatures observation / 第三天 Day 3

第三天，7/18。天空時晴時陰，不確定是否午後會下雨。

Day 3, 7/18, the sky is partly cloudy, not sure about if it will rain in the afternoon.

從好幾天前開始，我們就一直被螞蟻困擾著，因為每當我們發現一個窩，我們將他用殺蟲劑撲滅，隔天或是一兩天後，就會看到牠們出現在其他地方。我們試著移除所有的糖果紙、未沖乾淨的便當盒、飲料罐等可能會引起螞蟻興趣的東西，好不容易情況似乎有所減緩，但就在我覺得我勝利的那一刻，也就是昨天晚上，我看到螞蟻在我的巧克力沖泡包附近活動。

Since a few days ago, we started bothering by ants because even though we wiped them out several times when we found their dens, one or two days afterwards, we will see them somewhere again in this house. The situation seemed to get controlled by leaving candy wrappings in the kitchen bin and spraying some repellent afterward, also rinsing all the food containers until no remains before they go to bins. However, when I am still enjoying the victory from those tricky fights, last night, I saw ants were around my Miss Swiss.

我心裡越想越不對，因為在附近爬行的螞蟻不只有一兩隻，而且似乎是有秩序的呈隊伍狀在行動，所以我把沖泡包一包包從紙盒子裡移出來，並且旁邊放了一個裝滿熱水的碗備用。箱子的右邊的沖泡包都沒事，左邊靠前後兩端的也都沒事，但是拿到中間靠左的時候，每包上面都有一兩隻螞蟻在爬。我心想，後面那包一定是最多的，於是當我把它拿出來的時候，我發現所有的螞蟻都集中在它靠紙箱的那個角落，並且從缺口忙進忙出。

This phenomenon really caught my attention, because there were not just one or two around, they were in line, in an order instead. So, I started removing every pack in that box one by one, and checking how bad was each one’s situation, and have a bowl of boiling water aside.

The total situation wasn’t too bad, the packs were at the right had no ants. The left front and backs were fine either. But when I closed to the middle, I saw each pack is having few on it, then I reckoned the one behind this one is the worst.

My sense was right, there were many ants around the corner to the paper box when I took it out. They were extremely busy with coming in and out from this pack.

我拿起來檢視了一下，發現沖泡包左邊最外層的上下各有兩個0.8公分左右的半圓弧缺口，而且經過測試，MISS SWISS的包裝是防水的(外層是有上模的紙，內層是鋁箔)，所以我覺得這簡直是不可思議。

I lifted it and checked it detailly, I found out there’re 2 0.8cm half-rounded notch on the left edge of the pack. One was on the top and another was on the bottom. It’s unbelievable that they ate? (Because I can’t find its remains) both the waterproof paper and foil.

我叫T出來看，T看了兩眼後問我說，你確定這不是蟑螂咬的嗎? 我說應該不會是，因為邊緣都太小了而且我只有看到螞蟻在進出。我們家最近沒有蟑螂。

I asked T to review, to make me believe in what I’d seen. He squinted and asked me, are you sure this not done by cockroach?  I answered, no, the zigzags are tiny, therefore, I only saw ants in this house so far.

於是乎我就把那包粉沖一沖，噴一點殺蟲劑後就丟掉了。

We ended up the conversation, and then rinsed that and sprayed a little repellent, and threw it away.

有了昨天的經驗，我今天早上再特別確認巧克力沖泡包跟之前噴過藥物的區域。我意外的發現因為之前房間的沙發後面噴過藥，所以螞蟻走到們緣的時候，一大堆聚集在那裏，無法前進。這大概是我最近最有趣的生物觀察之一。

Learned from last night, this morning, I checked again the rest of packs and area sprayed. I found ants wandered on the door frame of our bedroom but made no further moves get into our room, due to the wall behind sofa was sprayed 2 days ago.

This may be the most interesting biological observation I have recently.

之前還有一次是前幾週我在陽台上時，有一隻斑蚊試著要盯我，但是在牠分到我的手臂上時被我看到，所以我就一掌擊斃了。接著沒多久我就聽到背後傳來一陣冷笑，喀喀喀喀喀喀喀喀喀，我回頭看發現一隻壁虎在冰箱的角落看著我。

There was another time, I was on my balcony, and one stripe mosquito approached to my arm. I immediately killed it when I found it out. Then I heard “tokeh tokeh tokeh…..”  behind me. Then I saw a gecko was on the wall besides the fridge.

我想他可能想抱怨我毀了他的午餐。

I think he may be complaining about me ruining his lunch.

住在這個地方雖然環境清幽，附近多有花草樹叢，早上也有蟲鳴鳥叫，但是和大自然的相遇，卻也是從未預期的。

Where I lived now is full of nature, a quiet community which fills with trees and plants. Birds sing in the morning; cicadas continue in the afternoon. I never expected to have geckos and ants in this house.