ants???

[rayneygirl]

tonight while watering plants, i noticed a trail of ants going into the outside enclosure, she left some bits of food on her feeding tray, is that why? i dumped her old bits, (i usually leave them because theyre always gone by the next morning (midnight snacking?)) i loathe ants so i washed the trail away with the hose. hoping once they realize the food is gone they'll march on out. also is a little picture of her after her warm soak today

 

[ascott]

Ants...uggghhhh....We have almost every kind of ant species here, so I feel your pain....well, you can use;

http://diatomaceousearth.net/produc...gclid=CPTb88HijbkCFQ9eQgodCDQAHw#.UhRLMWTXhk8

The food grade stuff won't harm your torts but it will kill off the ants...also, not leaving food around after the tort has eaten will also reduce them lining up for the morsels....

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I use the DE that Ascott linked for you. Works great!

Sent from my TFOapp

 

[rayneygirl]

excellent! thank you! would it be better to sprinkle this in the substrate through out the enclosure or use it as a barrier around it?

---

also, in the mean time while this is en route to my house, can ants harm my tortoise? will they annoy her? hmmmmm, ill just get her out of her burrow and bring her in, i don't want her to be stressed or anything.

 

[ascott]

What kind of ants are you talking about? You can sprinkle the d.earth all over the enclosure (I would hesitate starting out with barrier as this may trap the ants in and annoy them into a frenzy)....

 

[rayneygirl]

ah, smart. haha i should have thought about that. just the regular old tiny brownish ants

 

[ascott]

Those little suckers bite hard....while I don't think they would seek out the tort to harm it....I would make sure that if you feed your tort anything that is sweet, that you sit there while the tort eats and then wash his head/mouth/body off with water to assure to sweet sugary residue.....I will do this with the men folk outdoors...I let them get all gooey and then either gently rinse them with the hose or I will set them in a soak and swish water over them to give em a rinse off...also, when I offer sugary goods I do so outside of their yard ...and when they are done and put back into their yards I will pick up what ever is left over and huck it over the fence out into the open desert for the other critters that happen past....

 

[rayneygirl]

thankyou! i will definitely keep all this in mind.

 

[Susan W.]

Those little suckers bite hard....while I don't think they would seek out the tort to harm it....I would make sure that if you feed your tort anything that is sweet, that you sit there while the tort eats and then wash his head/mouth/body off with water to assure to sweet sugary residue.....I will do this with the men folk outdoors...I let them get all gooey and then either gently rinse them with the hose or I will set them in a soak and swish water over them to give em a rinse off...also, when I offer sugary goods I do so outside of their yard ...and when they are done and put back into their yards I will pick up what ever is left over and huck it over the fence out into the open desert for the other critters that happen past....

So many good ideas!! Thanks!