Help, Ants In Inside Enclosure!!

[sissyofone]

I was soaking my little cherryhead, And I always after I get her in her soak go clean her food slate. So I moved the slate I feed her on, and thousands of these little black ants
running from under a log with it looks to be ant eggs in there mouths. Wth
I'm not sure how they got in there, but they did. I'm wondering what I can do with it being so late and I'm out of coir and topsoil until the am. Im not sure what I can do to help the situation until the stores open. Anybody have any ideas?

She's been acting a little off the past few days, I'm wondering if the ants freaked her out. Usually she eats from the front of the slate the ants were living towards the front of it but I've noticed she's been eating from the side of it , lately. Its weird , But thinking about it she must've known they were there. I will change it completely out in am but in the meantime , What should I do?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hopefully they are a type of ant that will not harm the tortoise. (Most types don't.) Churn up the soil and remove as many as you can. Make sure that they are NOT the biting kind. If you get bitten, don't return the tortoise. However, if they in fact don't bite, you should be O.K.

 

[Jabuticaba]

She'll be ok. Ant eggs are ok, too. But if you're worried about ant infestation in your home, you can buy those non-tox ant traps that have sticky paper inside.


May
THBs: Darwin & Merlin
Aussies: Dax, Vegas, & Cricket
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[sissyofone]

Hopefully they are a type of ant that will not harm the tortoise. (Most types don't.) Churn up the soil and remove as many as you can. Make sure that they are NOT the biting kind. If you get bitten, don't return the tortoise. However, if they in fact don't bite, you should be O.K.

They are the biting kind. I built her a temporary enclosure at 2:30am early this morning Those darn ants could have eaten my poor little Lucy up. I'm so Thankful I noticed them when I did I just can't believe how many of them were in there. I'm not even sure, how they got in there in the first place. So I'm off to clean enclosures and eradicate those darn pesky ants.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'm glad that you both made out O.K. I have resorted to back up enclosures with both my indoor and outdoor pens in case of emergencies and maintenance. Like I said, churn up the substrate often to keep them from establishing colonies. Ant bait inside the house and spray outside, away from the pens. I still haven't given DIATOMACIOUS EARTH a try. It's supposed to do a great job of keeping ants away.

 

[ascott]

Food grade diatomaceous earth is awesome....the ants will walk through it and in a short time just die....this is something that you can use in the enclosure..

http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

Just adding this link to offer an overview...there are likely other, more scientific sources out there.... I used some this last week in the house (I was an idiot and forgot to pick up the dog food bowl that had a few pieces left in it---uggghhh)...and within the same day, all gone --and no bodies left behind which is the best....I can not stand the dead bodies that are left behind with poisons....eww.

 

[AmRoKo]

I use DE food grade with excellent results. Just make sure you wear eye and mouth/nose protection when using it, it's bad when airborne, safe once settled. I have also heard of some people using used coffee grinds, I haven't tried that yet.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I've just ordered four of the 4.4 pound bags of "food grade" diatomacious earth powder from Home Depot online. $46 dollars for four 4.4 pound bags with free shipping. I have high hopes....

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It seems to work, but it's not the mystery cure I hoped it would be. It has to be laid down EVERYWHERE or the ants will just walk around it. Also, it disappears once wet.... Must be re applied. It has been added to my ant fighting arsenal. I had hopes that it would have replaced it all together.