Ants : (

[Scythemantis]

Literally overnight, I suddenly lost ALL of my insects (four species of roach, a colony of silverfish and a colony of earwigs) to millions of little flea-sized ants, and have to start from scratch.

How can I prevent this in the future? What will kill or halt ants and not kill my inverts?

 

[ZergFront]

They despise chalk. If you had them on like a table, maybe you can put some chalk around the legs. Maybe even a barrier around the containers below the lowest ventilation holes.

I know spiders dislike perfumes and will avoid them but no sure about insects yet.

 

[Vfox]

If they are on a stand with legs you can sit those legs in old cut in half soda bottles and fill them with water. The ants cant get across the water well and would likely avoid it. Either that or line your enclosures with sticky traps.

 

[myrmecophile]

Would need to know the species of ant, however pesticide laced baits generally work well without being harmful to your other critters.

 

[TalonAWD]

I had that happen to me twice. I had 1000+ baby crickets and they were wiped out and half of my dubia babies were killed.
What worked for me is Vaseline. They will not cross it. When they get near it they turn around. Till this day I have not had another ant incident.

 

[Vulgaris]

Acrobat ants wiped out one of my indoor wasp colonies two years ago. I had to move all my insects out of that room and spray it with insecticide (raid ant spray) to get rid of the darn things. They got into everything anywhere, no matter where in the room it was. They haven't returned since then, so I think the colony moved away

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

Judging from his location, I'd have to say he's dealing with Monomoruim pharaonis. (Or argentines) Living in Florida too, I have had serious trouble with this species in the past. I've lost many of my captive ant colonies, mantids, other insects, etc. Boric acid mixed with honey water (Half and Half) usually shoots down colony activity...for maybe a month. But a bottle cap size of the liquid isn't too hard for me to place out. They always find a way if your enclosure isn't ant proof.

 

[Obelisk]

Ugh, those were frustrating. I had a Sphrodomantis which lost the tips of all its legs from ants (whole groups of crickets were consumed too). After that happened, I placed the enclosures on wide, shallow containers with water in them. It worked of course, but I'll try the vaseline if I ever have that problem again.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Judging from his location, I'd have to say he's dealing with Monomoruim pharaonis. (Or argentines) Living in Florida too, I have had serious trouble with this species in the past. I've lost many of my captive ant colonies, mantids, other insects, etc. Boric acid mixed with honey water (Half and Half) usually shoots down colony activity...for maybe a month. But a bottle cap size of the liquid isn't too hard for me to place out. They always find a way if your enclosure isn't ant proof.

I've had a lot of luck with the rectangular liquid traps that contain boric acid. I feed diluted honey to a velvet ant in the collection and during the summer, ants come calling. I found that placing honey right next to the boric acid containers keeps them away from the enclosure, although I know that ants, in general, can be much more persistent in your climate. I dig the table legs in water suggestion, as long as it's not Grandma's prized antique, LOL.

 

[codykrr]

I just bait them. I bought some borax and mixed with maple syrup.

I havent seen an ant in over a year now. seriously.

 

[Vespula]

Bait does seem to work well around my house, as well.

 

[crashergs]

Yes there is a way to prevent them to entering your enclosures, just put baby powder around your enclosures and they will not walk on it, vacuum the powder when the season comes where they do not appear. Baby powder is the way to go....

 

[Tremors]

There is this stuff I just found and it's called Terro. It comes in a orange and blue container. It wiped all the ants out of my house, but they may still come back after a couple of months. It comes in all different forms; powder, liquid, traps. I bought the liquid because it was the cheapest.

It contained the usual stuff life borax and some type of attractant. You apply it in drops. The stuff looks just like corn syrup except it doesn't run. The ants will literally converge on it while you are setting the stuff down and then they seem to hang around the traps for days and then suddenly disappear...every single one of them.