Help with ants

[Angel Minkov]

I guess that makes it a no-no for cats. Then the only other, safe method is just keeping your house very clean. I wouldn't risk using insecticides, even if my Ts are in a different room. The chemicals can end up in my T room and that wouldn't be very pleasant.

 

[Blueandbluer]

Thanks, CB; I wasn't going to try that method anyway. As mentioned earlier, I have the diatomaceous earth coming, which I've heard only good things about and is harmless to my cats.

And as far as keeping my house "very clean," it's as clean as it can be with three slobby geriatric cats that drop their kibble everywhere. I sweep pretty much daily, but I'm at work all day long, so that's a lot of time for kibble to get knocked on the floor and for the ants to realize it's bonanza time.

 

[viper69]

You can just brag on about how you got rid of satellite colonies and how you "exterminate" them, but in reality the only way to get rid of them is either bombing your house in every spot with insecticides, which is unacceptable if you have Ts, or keep your house spotless, with not even a bread crumb on the floor. Even if you were to wipe out a hundred or two, most colonies consist of several thousand ants. And what's everyone's problem with ants? "Overrun" you? You must be joking. Ants are absolutely no issue to most if not all things. They're basically just scavenging for food like bread crumbs, maybe a piece of chocolate that fell on the ground. They're cleaning your house for free, that's why I don't let anyone kill them.

Just read they're over your cat's food. Salt should be able to stop them, so if you don't mind putting a little salt around your cat's food bowls and you keep your house very clean of food leftovers, they will drastically reduce in numbers.

Angel, you seem to be missing our point or perhaps how we say things here. When we say "get rid of ants", we are not speaking about destroying the colony typically. Most people on this side of the pond are referring to getting rid of the scouts, regardless of number, from their home.

Also, the reason you don't want ants in your house is because they can establish themselves if they think the insides of a person's home is a good source for food or water, and no one wants that.

 

[skippydude]

Mix 50/50 Borax & sugar, then water to turn it liquid. Place this in a plastic jar lid(Gatorade lids work well). Then place lid full of borax/sugar/water on the ant trail. The workers will take it back and feed it to the queen. She will die from intestinal damage and the entire colony will die off over the next few days because it can't survive without a queen.

When doing this treatment DO NOT kill the scouts, let them do the work for you. This method is very effective, cheap and I have seen zero harm to my tarantula or feeder colonies when using in the same room.

 

[shawno821]

Whenever i had problem with ants i had used,
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Terro-Li...ns-6-Pack-T300/202532940?N=5yc1vZbx4wZ1z0qemg
had gotten rid of the ants with no issues, no problems with the t's.

I second this! Terro is da bomb when it comes to getting rid of ants.You put some down,they carry it back to the colony,and the ants disappear.It's a clear fluid you put a drop on a piece of paper or cardboard and set it in their "line". Safe for T''s,couldn't recommend it more.It will wipe out the whole colony.Problem solved.Now it's available in these little traps,even better.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I can't help you.. but almost 7 years ago i had an infestation of ants attracted by my cats food dishes. I noticed they were climbing my house walls from the garden (i live in a independent house) so i solved throwing food in their holes on daily basis. End of ants in home, after few weeks, colony in the garden.
Lately ants were replaced by cockroaches (again, for cats food) but they aren't annoying like ants. I found them funny with their fear of the light, escaping in their safe havens everytime i turn the lights on.
I also love to free crickets (every size of crickets) in the garden every month, after T's feeding. I love their sound.
For mosquitos i solved with bats, i took 5 of them from a cave near a big church not so far from where i live where there's tons of bats. They are mosquitos terminators and live in my farmstead (don't know if it's the right word) I can spot them before dawn.
I want to create a sort of jungle in the garden.

 

[BobGrill]

Angel are you really this thick-headed? Come on, it's not that hard to understand why someone wouldn't want ants in their home, especially when they've got captive tarantulas. Doing nothing is not an option for the rest of us.

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[pyro fiend]

Angel, you seem to be missing our point or perhaps how we say things here. When we say "get rid of ants", we are not speaking about destroying the colony typically. Most people on this side of the pond are referring to getting rid of the scouts, regardless of number, from their home.

Also, the reason you don't want ants in your house is because they can establish themselves if they think the insides of a person's home is a good source for food or water, and no one wants that.

Ugh i had this happen a time or two... Infact. A yr or so ago i turned off a large fish filter ("50-70gal") and didnt give it any thought to compleatly remove it.. It was clean, no algea or anything.. I even rinsed it out and just put it back because it was a hang in back style and it stayed out of the way.... Well later in the summer i keep seeing ants near my snakes and this particular fishtank.. I thought they was coming in through the window right beside them. so i put tons of D.E. down and i kept seeing them..i was cleaning the tank it was on of some leftover food in bottom (axolotl tank) and i accidently hit the top of the filter.. And seen ants everywhere... I ripped it up and took it to the bathroom only to find out they had colonized in my filter and destroyed my filter media -.- there was thousands and thousands.. I learned my lesson... Neber give them any opertunity -.-

 

[Angel Minkov]

Angel, you seem to be missing our point or perhaps how we say things here. When we say "get rid of ants", we are not speaking about destroying the colony typically. Most people on this side of the pond are referring to getting rid of the scouts, regardless of number, from their home.

Also, the reason you don't want ants in your house is because they can establish themselves if they think the insides of a person's home is a good source for food or water, and no one wants that.

That is unlikely. The ants in your houses, as stated, are satellite colonies. Workers harvest food and bring back to their colony, or go after the mites in your plants to "milk" them. Colonies which are already established will not risk exposing their queen and moving the brood such a vast distance, imo. If she can post a picture of the workers, we may at least be able to identify them to a genus level and determine what they're after.


Bob, I don't think you have enough knowledge about ants to talk with such a condescending tone. Ants are no harm to my collection. Haven't seen even 1 in my enclosures.

 

[louise f]

That is unlikely. The ants in your houses, as stated, are satellite colonies. Workers harvest food and bring back to their colony, or go after the mites in your plants to "milk" them. Colonies which are already established will not risk exposing their queen and moving the brood such a vast distance, imo. If she can post a picture of the workers, we may at least be able to identify them to a genus level and determine what they're after.


Bob, I don't think you have enough knowledge about ants to talk with such a condescending tone. Ants are no harm to my collection. Haven't seen even 1 in my enclosures.

Com'on Angel. Jesus christ. You sound just like my 17 year old son, he also wan'ts to argue everything, just like you.

This thread was made because blueandblur wanted help. :wink: And you are certaintly not helping at all.

 

[Angel Minkov]

I am. I'm not arguing with anyone. I couldn't give less of a damn about arguing about ants on a spider forum. I was just putting up some information there for viper69, because he's obviously someone who looks further than his nose, unlike most people around here. And I was wondering why so many old-timers stopped visiting. If you think this is arguing, you obviously lack comprehensive abilities.

 

[edgeofthefreak]

You're just wasting money on 5 minute solutions. The ants in your house are most likely a satellite colony - they're looking for food. You kill 50, another 50 hatch. It makes no difference whatsoever.

This was post #7, well before viper69 had joined, and people had issues with an argumentative tone just from this one. If you aren't so worried, why suggest that people are wasting money?
Ending anything with "It makes no difference whatsoever" doesn't come off as very friendly.

...just offering this, in case you weren't sure where the backlash might be coming from. Not asking you to sugarcoat, but if you don't care, don't post?

 

[Ellenantula]

First ant spotted -- I simply wipe the area to remove trails.
If I start seeing more -- I let enough enter home to see their line to locate where they are entering. I kill them all (just damp papertowel will do) and use a little Raid ant killer and spray the entrance well. Sometimes I even caulk it.
Sometimes they find another way in (rinse/repeat) but usually that fixes it.
So far - they haven't entered into T room -- so haven't had to deal with them sans the Raid.

Other than maybe a dozen (or less) scouts since Spring -- happily ant free right now.

 

[Nich]

if your in a house, you have to go underneath it and dig up the nests physically, sometimes 2ft+ down depending on sp.....then nuke em. you won't stop anything from inside your house, keeping them out is pointless. You have to find the sources and kill them. Probably 2 dozen colonies or so under a normal infestation site. Crawl space and in the yards is where you want to fight em, at least ime.

 

[Ellenantula]

if your in a house, you have to go underneath it and dig up the nests physically, sometimes 2ft+ down depending on sp.....then nuke em.

Go under my house? Are you crazy? -- there's spiders under there! lol

(Though I hear the crawlspace is an excellent place to store Ts for hibernation)

 

[Nich]

LOL! Well, some times its fun spelunking under homes!

 

[Ellenantula]

LOL! Well, some times its fun spelunking under homes!

You have an open invite to NC to de-antify under my home any time you wish! I am sure Bloo extends the same invitation.

I seriously do wipe down surfaces often to remove any trails even if I haven't seen an ant. And I do NOT eat food at my laptop or desktop keyboards either.
My mom uses Terro (sp) on cardboard on her kitchen counters -- she has an ant problem almost year round. So I skip the Terro stuff.

Ellen <----actually is afraid to venture into the under-house crawlspace (shudder) I prefer to SEE spiders, not just 'wonder' where they are.

 

[BobGrill]

I am. I'm not arguing with anyone. I couldn't give less of a damn about arguing about ants on a spider forum. I was just putting up some information there for viper69, because he's obviously someone who looks further than his nose, unlike most people around here. And I was wondering why so many old-timers stopped visiting. If you think this is arguing, you obviously lack comprehensive abilities.

Not arguing? What would you call it then?

Ants can be a threat to our spiders, regardless of your experiences. Not everyone wants to take that risk.

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[viper69]

I had some ants find there way into my apt, and they tracked right into a cabinet, by passed the food, and went straight to a piece of lettuce I left in the sink overnight. I removed the lettuce, and killed off the ants, and then used bleach among other things to wipe their path cleans (hoping to at least).

They never came back, gee I guess I wasted all that time.

 

[Angel Minkov]

They didn't come back because they didn't have a reason to, not because you bleached here and there and killed 20 ants. Depending on the species, ants may go for your plants to milk leaf mites, in which case I can tell you my grandmother tried everything and it had no effect.

Bob, what evidence do you have that ants can be a great threat to your spiders? Have you lost a spider to ants? Have they ripped off its leg or gotten into a sac and ruined it?