From time to time the question comes up about what to do about ants in and around our tortoise enclosures. I have found a terrific solution that really really works and is based on Borax, so its "non-toxic". Supposedly safe for pets and children, although it says right on the package to keep it away from pets and children. At least its not toxic chemicals or pesticides. Here it is:
We have always had ant problems here. Those little black ants. They tend to come in during weather extremes. In the past I have resorted to pesticidal sprays outside and spot spraying inside, as well has mechanically plugging all entry holes. They are obviously living in our walls, but I can't get to them and they keep finding new cracks to invade from. A friend of my wife's told her about this stuff and I figured it would fail like everything else does. Happily, I was dead wrong. We put several out in areas where we continually see ant "scouts". With in an hour all of the "traps" we put out were swarming with the little buggers. My wife wanted to spray them and vacuum them up, but we left them alone. When we got up the next morning there were tens of thousands of ants all over the bait traps. More than we had ever seen and the traps were drained of their contents. By the end of that night there was not an ant to be seen anywhere. They carried out their invasion, carted away their booty, and returned to their dark nests in my walls. They cleaned out 6 traps all over the house. That was three days ago and we have not seen one ant since then. It was really weird. They were swarming for a day and a half and now, its like an ant ghost town here. I expect to see tumble weeds when I open the cupboards where they once were.
We picked it up at OSH for a few bucks and now we no longer have an ant problem OR a toxic chemical problem.
We have always had ant problems here. Those little black ants. They tend to come in during weather extremes. In the past I have resorted to pesticidal sprays outside and spot spraying inside, as well has mechanically plugging all entry holes. They are obviously living in our walls, but I can't get to them and they keep finding new cracks to invade from. A friend of my wife's told her about this stuff and I figured it would fail like everything else does. Happily, I was dead wrong. We put several out in areas where we continually see ant "scouts". With in an hour all of the "traps" we put out were swarming with the little buggers. My wife wanted to spray them and vacuum them up, but we left them alone. When we got up the next morning there were tens of thousands of ants all over the bait traps. More than we had ever seen and the traps were drained of their contents. By the end of that night there was not an ant to be seen anywhere. They carried out their invasion, carted away their booty, and returned to their dark nests in my walls. They cleaned out 6 traps all over the house. That was three days ago and we have not seen one ant since then. It was really weird. They were swarming for a day and a half and now, its like an ant ghost town here. I expect to see tumble weeds when I open the cupboards where they once were.
We picked it up at OSH for a few bucks and now we no longer have an ant problem OR a toxic chemical problem.