Help please! (ants)

[Evy]

I have ants inside of the inside enclosure today. Why do they got inside? How can I get rid of them without hurting my tortoises? I need as much help I can get.

We live in San Diego CA




My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

 

[Yvonne G]

Up at the top of the page, right under "Forums, Portal, Search, Guidelines, etc..." is a box next to a "search tortoise forum" button. Just type in "Ants" in that box, and hit the "search tortoise forum" button. It gives you many, many threads where we've talked here on the Forum about ants and how to handle them.

 

[Evy]

Thank you so much :0))


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

 

[thereptileenthusiast]

What kind of ants are they? Some can sting and some can only try to bite with their jaws. You may have to agitate one to see if it is a stinging variety. My big sulcatas seem oblivious even to stinging fire ants, which are about as bad as they come, but I still get rid of any new nests I find within the enclosure by pouring boiling water on the mound. Usually this will penetrate deep enough to kill the queen. There are a couple other species of non stinging ants that pop up within my enclosures as well. I leave them alone since they don't even hurt ME when I agitate them and make them bite, so I doubt they bother larger sulcatas. They also seem to help fight off the horrible fire ants by competing for food and possibly killing any new queens that land within the enclosure.

 

[Evy]

My sulcatas are babies 3 and 31/4 " the ants are new at my inside enclosure I just don't want them there. They seem regular kind of ants by that I mean small


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

 

[Puckles🐢]

My sulcatas are babies 3 and 31/4 " the ants are new at my inside enclosure I just don't want them there. They seem regular kind of ants by that I mean small


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.

Do you leave any food around? Besides your tortoises I mean. I heard cinnamon and lemon grass gets rid of ants, maybe a trail of cinnamon or a couple cinnamon stick or two? And lemon grass in a jar. See if that works, and clean out your enclosure too! I hope they go away

 

[ra94131]

Up at the top of the page, right under "Forums, Portal, Search, Guidelines, etc..." is a box next to a "search tortoise forum" button. Just type in "Ants" in that box, and hit the "search tortoise forum" button. It gives you many, many threads where we've talked here on the Forum about ants and how to handle them.

Diatomaceous earth works wonders for dissuading ants from entering an area or to knock out an existing ant trail. (Water/moisture renders this essentially inert so you would need to reapply during wet weather or after watering, if outside.)

Ant traps are easy to find and can be placed around the enclosure. Might want to use non-toxic, but since the traps would be out of reach of your tortoises it isn't strictly necessary.

Also, be sure to clean up excess food each night.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I use DE regularly for ants. Love it!

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Evy]

I got corn meal and grits yesterday and I spread it around my house to prevent them to come inside looking for food. Ants usually come inside after a water the yard. I saw them for the first time yesterday. I did left some mazuri since was the first time I offered to my sullies.
I'm being more careful now.

Thank you all for your help.


My loves:
Husband
2 dogs Blue and Baxter
3 sulcatas Donatello, Penny, and Charlie.