I’m visiting my dad in Florida and staying in his guest room. He’s spoken about have an ant problem (trails of them in his apartment on the wall corners when it’s hot outside) and sprays with Lowe’s pest control sprays. He hasn’t had an exterminator and thinks he’s solving it even though this has been a problem for years. They are small reddish ants for context.
In the guest room I’m in there were hundreds of dead ants on the floor near the walls, hundreds on the windowsill, and I’ve seen about 20-30 live ones tonight alone on the floor and walls. I use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea and am worried about them getting in the machine or my luggage.
WIBTAH for staying at a hotel or my brothers place tomorrow night (my last night here) as the ants are really freaking me out and I’m having trouble sleeping tonight?I know it will make my dad feel badly and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I can’t lie about the motivation as I’ve already made a few comments tonight (nothing mean spirited but just telling him how many i see) and he knows it’s bothering me.
I really don’t want to hurt his feelings as he doesn’t have a ton of cash and doesn’t accept help willingly, but what he’s doing as preventative care isn’t working. I don’t want him thinking I don’t feel comfortable or at home at his place.
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I’m visiting my dad in Florida and staying in his guest room. He’s spoken about have an ant problem (trails of them in his apartment on the wall corners when it’s hot outside) and sprays with Lowe’s pest control sprays. He hasn’t had an exterminator and thinks he’s solving it even though this has been a problem for years. They are small reddish ants for context.
In the guest room I’m in there were hundreds of dead ants on the floor near the walls, hundreds on the windowsill, and I’ve seen about 20-30 live ones tonight alone on the floor and walls. I use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea and am worried about them getting in the machine or my luggage.
WIBTAH for staying at a hotel or my brothers place tomorrow night (my last night here) as the ants are really freaking me out and I’m having trouble sleeping tonight?I know it will make my dad feel badly and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I can’t lie about the motivation as I’ve already made a few comments tonight (nothing mean spirited but just telling him how many i see) and he knows it’s bothering me.
I really don’t want to hurt his feelings as he doesn’t have a ton of cash and doesn’t accept help willingly, but what he’s doing as preventative care isn’t working. I don’t want him thinking I don’t feel comfortable or at home at his place.
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I may be the asshole for overreacting about only ants and maybe it really is something that can’t be controlled in hot climates. I don’t want to overreact over something minimal and making him feel like I don’t feel at home with him.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA.
NTA. That is a health hazard. Stay with your brother and offer the money (perhaps with your brother’s help) to have an exterminator come in. Explain about your CPAP if your dad makes a fuss, but you have a valid concern, and your CPAP machine is expensive. Also, tell him to use Terro for non-exterminator ant killer, it’s much better.
NTA. But maybe help him spray, or find the source? He may be embarrassed not being able to afford an exterminator.
You don’t want to lie to your father. You “don’t want him thinking I don’t feel comfortable or at home at his place.” These are clearly contradictory. You must either be honest with your father, risking him feeling hurt, or lie to him, protecting him and you from honest emotional connection, and protecting his ant farm.
Either choice is moral enough for me to say NAH, but you should really talk to him about it.
NTA. But there’s something you can do to help him. Find the Terro liquid ant baits at Walmart or Lowe’s or wherever. Place them around the room, at the baseboards. In my experience, you should see a big reduction in ants within 48 hours. Ants are a big problem in Florida. But there are solutions.