Ant massacre

[Bigboy]

I'll begin with a story. As it happens it is a very true one. In my house there once was a bit of a carpenter ant problem. Now I had always believed them to be strict eaters of wood, but I suppose the larvae prefer a juicer meal. I used to keep crickets in a ten gallon tank with egg crate. Well one night I came home and noticed a good deal of ants crawling around the room. I follwed their trails along the walls behind the fish tanks, and then... into my cricket tank. It was a massacre, the tank was crawling with ants and crickets being butchered by the dozens. If you watched the ant trails you could see individuals going away from the tank with wing bits, legs, and unidentifiable pieces. Amazing to be certain but a real inconvenience as well. It was both undeniably gruesome and equally fascinating. But the ants had intruded into my domain and for that they were swiftly punished. I haven't had a problem with them since, though they continue to make guest appearances every summer throughout the house.

So here is my problem. I will be going away for an extended period of time and my roach colony will be in its ten gallon tank with a vasoline lining at the top of the glass and a screen cover. It keeps the roaches in, but I won't be there to check on them daily anymore. That responsibility will fall on the kid brother. Scary, yes I know. No, that isn't fair, he does a good job. But I was wondering what else I might do to keep any possible ant forays into my feeders at bay?

 

[Stylopidae]

A table surrounded by a boric acid or diatomaceous earth moat with the four legs standing in pans of oil, vinegar, or soapy water (the first or third one would work best) with vasoline smeared up and down the legs on all sides (cover the legs in petroleum jelly from a couple inches from the top of the liquid to a couple inches from where the legs meet the plateau) and another boric acid/DE moat around the tank itself and another PJ barrier around the top inside AND out. Make sure the table isn't touching a wall. This solved my zoo's ant problem.

Maybe even hire a sniper or two.

 

[Bigboy]

I think I'll go with some boric acid bait stations... and a ring of fire.

 

[nepenthes]

thats horrible to hear. They don't live on wood, they live in it, but don't eat it. The Adults eat sugary sweet substances. And the Brood (larvae) need protien to develop.

Those are all good examples, while i don't mind ants in my yard i mind them in my house as soon as you get home set up traps.

 

[Ant Worker]

Carpenter ants do not eat away healthy wood. They nest in already rotted out wood, and even more commonly, soil. Just set the tank in a moat of water, will be fine with that as long as the water doesn't evaporate too quick.