The ants have taken another....

[Nicholas Rothstein]

I took preventive measures, I thought they were safe... I woke up this morning to find them eaten, covered in red ants....

 

[Nicholas Rothstein]

Looks like one of my pedes also escaped... I have no idea how but he was not in his enclosure.

 

[Nicholas Rothstein]

Well update:
The pede that "escaped" was eaten. I found legs and a plate in the substrate.

 

[NYAN]

What preventative measures are you taking?

 

[Nicholas Rothstein]

What preventative measures are you taking?

I put ant traps in the corner of the rooms and killed a colony outside of my house.

They still got it, it has been raining heavily. I now put poison around all enclosures. I didn't wanna have to do this just incase the poison were to get to my pedes.

 

[chanda]

I sometimes have problems with ants, too. For the most part they stay outside where they belong - but sometimes (like when we get really heavy rain - or when it's especially hot and dry out) they decide to try their luck inside. So far I haven't had any eaten pets, but I have had to do a couple of emergency rehouses when the ants started invading the substrate.

What's been working for me is to spray the perimeter of my home (outside only, along the edge of the foundation, door sills, and entry points for pipes and vents) a few times a year with Ortho Home Defense, being sure to get it into all the little crevices and cracks in the stucco - and I use Terro liquid ant baits inside the house in areas that attract the ants - like my kitchen, bathroom, and bug room. The sprays only kill the ants that come into direct contact with them - but the baits are taken back to the colony, where the kill the colony.

 

[NYAN]

Make a most of water and put the legs of the shelf inside of it or put the enclosures inside of it. This can be done with a larger basin basically.

 

[Nicholas Rothstein]

Make a most of water and put the legs of the shelf inside of it or put the enclosures inside of it. This can be done with a larger basin basically.

I've actually done that when I was little. Some ants can create rafts and some can swim across water. Unfortunately 2 species in my area can do that.

I think poison will do but I need to be very careful.

 

[G. pulchra]

If the ants had time to eat an entire pede, I'm going to go out on a limb and say your husbandry needs improvement. How often are you checking on them???

 

[Nicholas Rothstein]

If the ants had time to eat an entire pede, I'm going to go out on a limb and say your husbandry needs improvement. How often are you checking on them???

It a a juvenile, only molted twice. I check on them once a day to once every two days.

 

[Bill S]

If the ants had time to eat an entire pede, I'm going to go out on a limb and say your husbandry needs improvement. How often are you checking on them???

Having had direct experience with ant invasions, I'm going to offer a different opinion. They hit hard and fast. In my case the cages were fine during the afternoon, although a few "scout ants" had been seen in the room. My wife and I went out for dinner and a movie - and came back to a full invasion. They had occupied a number of cages, attacked some of the occupants (tarantulas and centipedes), and killed some. I have no doubt that if I hadn't noticed them until morning I would have found the eaten remains of some of the animals. People who have not experienced such an invasion have a hard time understanding how quickly they can invade and overwhelm a collection. In my case it was maybe six hours, possibly less.

 

[NYAN]

I experienced the same thing as @Bill S. I had a period where I was getting absolutely invaded. What I did was seal their entrances, kill scouts when I saw them, make barriers for my enclosures, keep enclosures clean, and destroy trails as they emerged.

 

[G. pulchra]

Then I stand corrected

 

[Nicholas Rothstein]

I experienced the same thing as @Bill S. I had a period where I was getting absolutely invaded. What I did was seal their entrances, kill scouts when I saw them, make barriers for my enclosures, keep enclosures clean, and destroy trails as they emerged.

I do not have a lot of time on my hands but I have bought silicone cocking. My house is pretty old, I am going to try and cover up all the cracks

 

[mantisfan101]

I had a colony of ants literally wipe out my hisser roach colony in hours. Try coating the shelves with the enclosures with a mix of baby powder and rubbing alcohol. When dried it makes for an extremely slippery surface that they can't climb up. PTFE or fluon also works well.