Dealing with Ants

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Brewster320

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This summer my back yard has suddenly gotten a large population of tiny dark red/ almost black ants that have made little hills all over my yard. Yesterday they left my dog covered in bites and she has bumps all over her. She's doing better now, she has very sensitive skin though so it probably looked worse than it really was. However this got me concerned about Lucy, my russian so I went out and looked closely around her pen and sure enough I found a little hill with ants everywhere so I've brought her inside which is sad because we've had a lot of severely wet weather this summer so she hasn't been able to really stay outside much this summer and now I want to figure out how to get rid of these ants so she can go back outside. Any tortoise (and by default, dog safe) tricks for exterminating ants outside?
 

Levi the Leopard

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Buy food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) from your local feed store. A 50lb bag will cost less than $20.

It looks like cooking flour. Poor it on the ant hill, along the ant trails and as a border anywhere you don't want ants.

Its organic, completely safe for people and "non bug" pets.

A quick google search about this stuff will give you tons of testimonies about its effectiveness.

I use it and love it.

Heather
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ra94131

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Brewster320 said:
This summer my back yard has suddenly gotten a large population of tiny dark red/ almost black ants that have made little hills all over my yard. Yesterday they left my dog covered in bites and she has bumps all over her. She's doing better now, she has very sensitive skin though so it probably looked worse than it really was. However this got me concerned about Lucy, my russian so I went out and looked closely around her pen and sure enough I found a little hill with ants everywhere so I've brought her inside which is sad because we've had a lot of severely wet weather this summer so she hasn't been able to really stay outside much this summer and now I want to figure out how to get rid of these ants so she can go back outside. Any tortoise (and by default, dog safe) tricks for exterminating ants outside?

With my Sulcata I never worry unless there is an actual nest he could stumble into. (Correction: I never worry anymore. I used to be neurotic about it, but I've calmed down.)

In your situation though it sounds like there are a number of nests. In my experience a combination of boiling water and diatomaceous earth (food grade) has proven very effective. (Not at the same time. Wet diatomaceous earth is either useless or very near useless.) If it's a smaller nest, I'll dig it out a little and give it a hearty dusting of diatomaceous earth. For the bigger nests, I'll do the same, but follow up later with a pot of boiling water right into the center and an additional dusting of diatomaceous earth once dry. (Beware, this will kill any grass/plants that are in contact with the boiling water.)

Of course, I know plenty of people that'd just use some "real" pesticides and keep the tortoise out of the area for a while. As long as you give it enough time and a good rinsing, this is probably fine, too.

Let me know how it goes for you. I've been lucky so far this summer (only a couple nests), but the ants around here can potentially be a real pain in the ***.


Team Gomberg said:
Buy food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) from your local feed store. A 50lb bag will cost less than $20.

You can also get a pretty decent deal online (even sites like Amazon). Not as good a deal as a feed store, but it should be easy to find. Just depends on where you are.
 

CourtneyG

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Team Gomberg said:
Buy food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) from your local feed store. A 50lb bag will cost less than $20.

It looks like cooking flour. Poor it on the ant hill, along the ant trails and as a border anywhere you don't want ants.

Its organic, completely safe for people and "non bug" pets.

A quick google search about this stuff will give you tons of testimonies about its effectiveness.

I use it and love it.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

The stuff is amazing at deworming reptiles. Another one is to get baking soda and irritate the nest and pour the stuff on them, they explode when they eat the stuff.
 

Brewster320

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Thanks for the advice guys! That's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. I'll head to the local feed store tomorrow and see if they have some!
 

Chinque

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If you're still looking for suggestions, bay leaves beep bugs at bay (hehe, bad joke...). I'm not sure if its safe for tortoises, but I'm pretty sure it'll work (I think the aroma keeps the bugs away... But I'm not an entomologist, so that might not be the reason)...
 

Brewster320

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Well I got some food grade DE and spread it over all the ant hills I could find as well as around and throughout her outdoor pen. Now I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it does the trick. Again thanks for the advice everyone!
 

Momof4

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I also use the DE and love it. I use it around my pool and trees that the ants love. I also add it to my coffee, shakes and sauces. Make sure to reapply to the ant hill or trails when it gets wet because it won't work after is gets wet.
 

Yellow Turtle

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We don't have any DE sold here. Is there other alternative to deal with red ants? They are everywhere now in my tortoise enclosure :(
 

Brewster320

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I have finally effective removed them from her outdoor pen using this stuff. I haven't rid them from my yard but there are more ant hills within 15feet of her pen and those that are in the area are few and far between so they seem to be slowly moving away. Thanks again guys!
 

Terry Allan Hall

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Yellow Turtle said:
We don't have any DE sold here. Is there other alternative to deal with red ants? They are everywhere now in my tortoise enclosure :(

This stuff works AMAZINGLY well:

images

I've used grits to control various ant species for about 20 years...just don't buy "instant" grits.
 

lynnedit

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Terry, do you sprinkle the grits in clumps around the edge? That is, how do you apply them?
And do you think that they only work because you are (sort of) in the South? ;)
 

Terry Allan Hall

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lynnedit said:
Terry, do you sprinkle the grits in clumps around the edge? That is, how do you apply them?
And do you think that they only work because you are (sort of) in the South? ;)

Just spread 'em dry out of the canister.

They work because the workers take the grits to the queen, who obligingly eats them, and explodes as the grits swell up from the moisture in the queen's body.

Then the mound dies in a day or so. :cool:

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSv5ufkFIU[/video]
 

lynnedit

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I would work on the plywood sight block asap.
I can't imagine living in my home, having a predator staring at me constantly.
I imagine the tortoise is afraid, so he is showing aggression to the dog to try to save his hide and his turf.
 

Jessicapinkie1

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So glad I found this post! I was about to ask the same question there's ants in all my enclosures.

Also while I'm here will the bees hurt the torts? They hang out and swarm around all there water dishes :( it's really concerning me how can I get rid of them without nasty spray?
 

Terry Allan Hall

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Jessicapinkie1 said:
So glad I found this post! I was about to ask the same question there's ants in all my enclosures.

Also while I'm here will the bees hurt the torts? They hang out and swarm around all there water dishes :( it's really concerning me how can I get rid of them without nasty spray?

I have 4 hives, set up about 20' feet from the tortoisariums...they (torts and bees) just ignore one another.
 

AnnV

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Thanks for all the ideas for ant elimination.
We are moving to FL in the next year or so. The house we just bought apparently has fire ants in the back pastures. I have horses, dogs, cats, and the torts to worry about. My sister swears coffee grounds drive them away, but I am looking for a "kill" method.
Btw, while my husband was down there in the process of house shopping, he called me while waiting in someones driveway to look at a particular house in the Sarasota area. A turtle was in the yard and was covered in fire ants. It was struggling to get them off, but seemed confused and frozen in place, writhing. Hubby was upset but felt helpless. So he called me of course. Finally the agents all came and he told them and they were able to hose it off and send it on its way. It was a snapper. There are ponds on most horse properties in FL.

Ann from CT
 

SANDRA_MEISSNEST

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Hi.
Welcome to Fl .i live here we have fireants....we bought all the killers out there....u let me know when u find something what really works,not just for a few days....its a shame but them are real f* ers ...lol

Sent from my ZTE N9120 using TortForum mobile app
 
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