Old Candy?

[jbynum1]

I have an interesting question for those who know far more about ants than I do.

A bit of backstory: I am currently an intern at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, working under their collections manager. Part of my weekly tasks include checking the collections' pest traps, and lately, we have been getting quite a few generic "sugar ants". We thought there was no food in collections, but my supervisor remembered there is a puppet made of candy! This puppet was made by Jim Henson (yes, THE Jim Henson!) in the early 1970s. So far no ants have gotten into this box, but it made us wonder...

Would ants even be attracted to candy from the 1970s?! The candy is fairly well preserved for being almost 50 years old since it's currently in the care of museum professionals, but of course isn't fresh, and I'm not about to taste and see if it's still sweet!

[AM1C39]

Considering it is very old I would asume it does not produce any smell so the ants will most likely never find it.

[AntsLuxembourg]

That is a good question. I would try and follow the ants to see where they are going. If they are just a few they may just explore for a warm spot. If they run trails then you know that you are going to have a lot of ants around soon. Cleaning the floor with vinegar to remove the smell might help here.

Also are you sure nobody is "smuggling" in small snacks?

Let me know if you have more questions.

[jbynum1]

That is a good question. I would try and follow the ants to see where they are going. If they are just a few they may just explore for a warm spot. If they run trails then you know that you are going to have a lot of ants around soon. Cleaning the floor with vinegar to remove the smell might help here.

Also are you sure nobody is "smuggling" in small snacks?

Let me know if you have more questions.

They've been caught in sticky traps all throughout the collections area, as that is standard museum protocol, so I'm not sure exactly where they're headed except more have been found on the candy puppet side of collections. It's only myself and my supervisor, and as museum professionals we both know better than to bring food around the objects, so no snacks or crumbs anywhere! It seems like your suggestion of finding a warm spot might be what is happening since its been getting colder here. I just thought it would be an interesting question to pose to everyone!

[jbynum1]

Considering it is very old I would asume it does not produce any smell so the ants will most likely never find it.

Would one way to tell be if we touched the candy and it was still sticky? I didn't have archival gloves on last time and therefore couldn't touch it, and also didn't think to touch it.

[AntsLuxembourg]

I would say that if it was sticky that would mean the puppet is melting / soaking up humidity. Which would mean the candy is getting soft or even starts to turn into some kind of liquid. I don't suppose that it is in an air tight box for better protection / preservation against humidity & moisture. It also would mean that it is in fact giving off some smell which might attract ants. The question now is. What is the density of ants caught in your museum? Is it closer to the puppet or just generally spread out and somewhat equally balanced?
If there are more ants arround that puppet than that means that the ants are smelling it or at least something else.

Btw I don't doubt that you would not bring snacks into the sacret halls of a museum, but I doubt that "Karens" would care since their poor little angles might be "starving" while visiting. I guess you can see where I am going with this sugguestion / idea.

[jbynum1]

I would say that if it was sticky that would mean the puppet is melting / soaking up humidity. Which would mean the candy is getting soft or even starts to turn into some kind of liquid. I don't suppose that it is in an air tight box for better protection / preservation against humidity & moisture. It also would mean that it is in fact giving off some smell which might attract ants. The question now is. What is the density of ants caught in your museum? Is it closer to the puppet or just generally spread out and somewhat equally balanced?
If there are more ants arround that puppet than that means that the ants are smelling it or at least something else.

Btw I don't doubt that you would not bring snacks into the sacret halls of a museum, but I doubt that "Karens" would care since their poor little angles might be "starving" while visiting. I guess you can see where I am going with this sugguestion / idea.

I'm not sure if they've been found throughout the museum, we only have traps set in the collections area. Based on your Karen comment, I'm assuming you thought I meant the part of the museum that's open to the public; sorry! I work in the collections where the puppets that aren't on display are housed. It's under lock and key (even I don't know the passcode to disable the alarm and my supervisor definitely trusts me) so I know there isn't anyone bringing any food in. I can ask around and see if anyone else has had an issue with ants in any other part of the museum; if so, then I'm guessing they're trying to get away from the cold and the rain we've been having lately. Thanks for your response! I'll make sure to keep an eye on the traps near the puppet and give an update in case anyone else is curious

[jbynum1]

I would say that if it was sticky that would mean the puppet is melting / soaking up humidity. Which would mean the candy is getting soft or even starts to turn into some kind of liquid. I don't suppose that it is in an air tight box for better protection / preservation against humidity & moisture. It also would mean that it is in fact giving off some smell which might attract ants. The question now is. What is the density of ants caught in your museum? Is it closer to the puppet or just generally spread out and somewhat equally balanced?
If there are more ants arround that puppet than that means that the ants are smelling it or at least something else.

Btw I don't doubt that you would not bring snacks into the sacret halls of a museum, but I doubt that "Karens" would care since their poor little angles might be "starving" while visiting. I guess you can see where I am going with this sugguestion / idea.

But yes, I'm assuming there are tons of spoiled kids who get snacks snuck into the main area for them

[AntsLuxembourg]

I'm not sure if they've been found throughout the museum, we only have traps set in the collections area. Based on your Karen comment, I'm assuming you thought I meant the part of the museum that's open to the public; sorry! I work in the collections where the puppets that aren't on display are housed. It's under lock and key (even I don't know the passcode to disable the alarm and my supervisor definitely trusts me) so I know there isn't anyone bringing any food in. I can ask around and see if anyone else has had an issue with ants in any other part of the museum; if so, then I'm guessing they're trying to get away from the cold and the rain we've been having lately. Thanks for your response! I'll make sure to keep an eye on the traps near the puppet and give an update in case anyone else is curious

Now I got a much better picture of the situation. I thought the puppet was publicly visible and imagined how those traps would look like around all the other pieces that are out for public viewing. Since it's inside the storages it's not that easy for the Karens to sneak in food.

I would say it will be worth to keep an eye on this. I have however one more idea to protect the puppet but it depends on the setup. Is the puppet hanging from strings or is it positioned on some kind of pole without touching the floor.

Like this kind of stand.


It might be interesting to put either a baby powder barrier or a teflon / an anti outbreak barrier around the puppet.
https://www.antstore.net/shop/de/Bauteile/Ausbruchsschutz/Ameisen-Ausbruchsschutz-Lack-10ml-397.html
They describe it as Anti Outbreak Paint / Varnish however in this case it would function as an Anti Break In barrier.

It should however not be put on the puppet itself since that might ruin the puppet depending on the material.