Fire ants and other dangerous bugs.

[spikeD]

Ok being in Houston Texas summer has finally started and I have built a out door enclosure for my red foot. It has been a work in progress and was able to contain him. But when I take him out to let him graze and be a tort I always do a quick check and make sure no snakes, bugs or other dangers have gotten in. Well I am glad I checked because I found fire ants. And immediately stopped letting him out.

I treat my yard with insecticide but NOT the tort area or within 5 foot of the edges of it. How do I kill them without harming my tort koopa. I have looked for ant mounds and trails and can not find none but I do see ants scattered. Any tricks? I have worked hard to be able to give him lots of room to enjoy outside. And having this start the week weather permits him to stay outside sucks. How do I treat this issue?

 

[Yvonne G]

Some of these are mine and some are taken from other people's web sites:

Several Home-made Ant Remedies

1 – Boric Acid
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon of Boric Acid, 1 tsp of Sugar, 4 oz water, Cotton Balls.
Mix Boric Acid and Sugar in a bowl. This can be poured over a cotton wad in
a small dish or bottle cap. Keep this from drying out for continued
effectiveness. Place Cotton balls in path of Ants. If the ants are drawn to sugar, if you make a solution of boric acid and sugar, not too much boric acid initially, the ants will eat it up take it to their young and feed it to them. This method will kill the entire nest in about two weeks. The solution should initially be weak because you don't want them to taste the boric acid and you don't want to kill the ants before they feed the rest of the nest. If they are protein eating ants mix the boric acid in broth.

2 – Another Boric Acid

>> 1 teaspoon boric acid (available at any drug store,, $2.99 for 4 oz) 6 tablespoons sugar
>> 2 cups water
>> mix together in a jar till all dissolved,, label and store safely.
>>Soak a few cotton balls with it, then put them in a small, covered plastic >container (margarine or <?>) with a few small openings in it for the ants to >get in, (I also put a brick on top so other curious creatures could not get >in)and then freshen it 1-2 times a week.
>> This is a slow acting 1 percent solution to get them to take some back to
>> the nest and even feed the queen :>
>>after a few weeks changing to a 1/2 percent solution should keep them gone.

3 - bacon grease
....in a margarine tub which is sunk into the ground level. The ants here can smell animal fat from what seems like a mile away...Around the outside of the margarine tub I place a big circle of boric acid...and cover it with a rock. The ants have to walk through the boric acid to get to the bacon grease, then back through it on the way out. If they get back to the nest carrying it on their legs, it kills whatever it comes into contact with. We have 4or 5 species of ants here...two of which are lethal!

4 - Found this in Jerry Bakers stuff
Ant Ambrosia
4-5 tbsp. of cornmeal
3 tbsp. of bacon grease
3 tbsp. of baking powder
3 packages of baker's yeast

Mix the cornmeal and bacon grease into a paste, then add the baking powder and yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the sides of jar lids, and set them near the anthills. The pesky critters will love it to death!!""


5 - If you can't find Everclear, liquefy orange peels and pour it around the ant hills. You may get fruit flies, but you won't have any trouble with ants!

6 - I have a friend that put a circle of diatomaceous earth around her aviaries and
effectively kept the ants out that way. She also uses it to directly attack any hills in the area.

7 - I believe that the "new age chalk" is a combination of diatomaceous earth and boric acid. Boric acid is the major component in "Roach Proof" and is a fairly benign and very effective means of insect control.

8 - Amdro is another effective treatment, but it is an actual poison, but safer than others. Both Amdro and Logic are baits that the ants pick up and take into the mound so that the queen eats it.

 

[spikeD]

Some of these are mine and some are taken from other people's web sites:

Several Home-made Ant Remedies

1 – Boric Acid
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon of Boric Acid, 1 tsp of Sugar, 4 oz water, Cotton Balls.
Mix Boric Acid and Sugar in a bowl. This can be poured over a cotton wad in
a small dish or bottle cap. Keep this from drying out for continued
effectiveness. Place Cotton balls in path of Ants. If the ants are drawn to sugar, if you make a solution of boric acid and sugar, not too much boric acid initially, the ants will eat it up take it to their young and feed it to them. This method will kill the entire nest in about two weeks. The solution should initially be weak because you don't want them to taste the boric acid and you don't want to kill the ants before they feed the rest of the nest. If they are protein eating ants mix the boric acid in broth.

2 – Another Boric Acid

>> 1 teaspoon boric acid (available at any drug store,, $2.99 for 4 oz) 6 tablespoons sugar
>> 2 cups water
>> mix together in a jar till all dissolved,, label and store safely.
>>Soak a few cotton balls with it, then put them in a small, covered plastic >container (margarine or <?>) with a few small openings in it for the ants to >get in, (I also put a brick on top so other curious creatures could not get >in)and then freshen it 1-2 times a week.
>> This is a slow acting 1 percent solution to get them to take some back to
>> the nest and even feed the queen :>
>>after a few weeks changing to a 1/2 percent solution should keep them gone.

3 - bacon grease
....in a margarine tub which is sunk into the ground level. The ants here can smell animal fat from what seems like a mile away...Around the outside of the margarine tub I place a big circle of boric acid...and cover it with a rock. The ants have to walk through the boric acid to get to the bacon grease, then back through it on the way out. If they get back to the nest carrying it on their legs, it kills whatever it comes into contact with. We have 4or 5 species of ants here...two of which are lethal!

4 - Found this in Jerry Bakers stuff
Ant Ambrosia
4-5 tbsp. of cornmeal
3 tbsp. of bacon grease
3 tbsp. of baking powder
3 packages of baker's yeast

Mix the cornmeal and bacon grease into a paste, then add the baking powder and yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the sides of jar lids, and set them near the anthills. The pesky critters will love it to death!!""


5 - If you can't find Everclear, liquefy orange peels and pour it around the ant hills. You may get fruit flies, but you won't have any trouble with ants!

6 - I have a friend that put a circle of diatomaceous earth around her aviaries and
effectively kept the ants out that way. She also uses it to directly attack any hills in the area.

7 - I believe that the "new age chalk" is a combination of diatomaceous earth and boric acid. Boric acid is the major component in "Roach Proof" and is a fairly benign and very effective means of insect control.

8 - Amdro is another effective treatment, but it is an actual poison, but safer than others. Both Amdro and Logic are baits that the ants pick up and take into the mound so that the queen eats it.

That is a lot of useful info and thank you, but like I said I do not see ant hills. Just random fire ants. Is there a bug killer that will not contaminate the grass and plants in his area? Any thing to spread / border his area to prevent pests or slow them down? Any bug killer that will not harm torts?

 

[mike taylor]

I had the same problem and I flooded my pen all the ants moved out. You got to flood it two or three times but it works. You will have to do some clean up to get your enclosure pretty again but no poisons by your torts. I forget who told me this but I know it was someone here on this forum .

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

 

[SpdTrtl]

Re: RE: Fire ants and other dangerous bugs.

I had the same problem and I flooded my pen all the ants moved out. You got to flood it two or three times but it works. You will have to do some clean up to get your enclosure pretty again but no poisons by your torts. I forget who told me this but I know it was someone here on this forum .

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

Sorry if this is a stupid question but how do you flood it? Do you have side walls?

Sent from my HTC One V using TortForum mobile app

 

[spikeD]

I will take a pic of it tomorrow. But I do not think flooding it will be an option. I can stand there with a water hose and soak the **** out of it tho. But yea I will post pics of it when I get home from work.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Ok being in Houston Texas summer has finally started and I have built a out door enclosure for my red foot. It has been a work in progress and was able to contain him. But when I take him out to let him graze and be a tort I always do a quick check and make sure no snakes, bugs or other dangers have gotten in. Well I am glad I checked because I found fire ants. And immediately stopped letting him out.

I treat my yard with insecticide but NOT the tort area or within 5 foot of the edges of it. How do I kill them without harming my tort koopa. I have looked for ant mounds and trails and can not find none but I do see ants scattered. Any tricks? I have worked hard to be able to give him lots of room to enjoy outside. And having this start the week weather permits him to stay outside sucks. How do I treat this issue?

Get some raw grits (Quaker Oats or 'house brand"...makes no difference, so long as they're not Instant Grits) and pour some on every mound you see...kills fireants like a charm, takes a few days to completely kill a mound, but won't poison the earth or your tort.

It really works! It has kept our property fire-ants-free for about 10 years, but you must be diligent, because you'll occasionally find new mounds coming up. Make a grits border around your tort's enclosure and he'll be safe.

 

[spikeD]

now thats a good idea. I will still throw up some pics when I get home.

 

[SpdTrtl]

Well Kiss my Grits! Who remembers that show...? LOL.
This is great idea, seems to be as safe as I could wish for. I'm going to try this.

 

[spikeD]

Sorry guys i have been away from home. I will be back in town soon. Then I will get the pics up. Unexpected trip out of town.

 

[Moozillion]

I have a friend who has used this method. He says it seems to work well in a DRY climate/area, but does NOT work in a wet or humid area.

---

The grits method, I mean.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

I have a friend who has used this method. He says it seems to work well in a DRY climate/area, but does NOT work in a wet or humid area.

---

The grits method, I mean.

---

Probably true, as the way it works is that the fireants take it to the queen(s), and when the queen dies (from the grits swelling up inside), the entire colony dies extremely fast afterwards.

OTOH, if the grits have already swollen, the queen doesn't die, presumably. Not sure if Houston is too humid or not.