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Came home to ants in my enclosures- talk about a fun evening.

Jenniferinfl

Active Member
Messages
113
Location
Florida
So, I sort of live bordering a state forest and there's a ton of wildlife and I don't treat for pests unless absolutely necessary. Needless to say, my yard is a bit 'buggy'. Spent the whole day at a reptile show, found out that during my absence a bunch of ants found a crack between the seals in a bedroom window and came in by the hundreds to invade the large display cabinet I'm using to keep my spiderlings safe from the felines. Two enclosures had dead cricket remains because I had to give a couple slings prekilled crickets as the shop only had large crickets instead of the smalls I usually buy. So, there were leftovers in there all day because I fed them at 7 am when I woke up. I siliconed the gap in the window, hit the trail of ants outside with diatomaceous earth and now I have the feet of the display cabinet sitting in little plates of diatomaceous earth. I took all my sling enclosures out, spent the evening squishing ants, most enclosures only had a couple, so it wasn't too bad. Except, who wants to squish ants in an H. maculata's enclosure? Oh yeah, nobody. I had to completely rehouse my T. violaceous and M. balfouri cause they had the cricket remains that attracted the ants in the first place.

Anyhow, that was a whole, brand-new issue for me. I've never had ants before. Is it likely the diatomaceous earth will do the trick? So far so good as they'll have to find another route in, but, I guess it still remains to be seen if they find another way in other than the window.
 

DustyD

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Yes, I have found that those little white square feeder poison traps work well, although I have only had a few ants exploring at a time. The ants take the poison bait back with them and feed the others, presumably the queen too. After several visitors to the death diner, they don't come back at all. It may affect different species differently.
 

WolfSpider

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Yes, I have found that those little white square feeder poison traps work well, although I have only had a few ants exploring at a time. The ants take the poison bait back with them and feed the others, presumably the queen too. After several visitors to the death diner, they don't come back at all. It may affect different species differently.
concur
 

Casey K.

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If it is the little black ants invading, I always use fine ground cinnamon. It is harmless to tarantulas, organic and it deters ants. :) Just line it around your tarantulas enclosures! :)
 

Jenniferinfl

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113
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Florida
If it is the little black ants invading, I always use fine ground cinnamon. It is harmless to tarantulas, organic and it deters ants. :) Just line it around your tarantulas enclosures! :)
They are really tiny light-colored ants and they seem to really like protein because they were all over the crickets. The fortunate thing is they were definitely coming in from outside, so at least I don't have a colony in the wall or something.. lol
The diatomaceous earth has completely stopped them from even coming into the house, I just lined the window in it. I'm going to keep an eye on it, but, I don't think they'll be able to cross the diatomaceous earth that I have the feet of the cabinet sitting in.
I have to say, makes me really glad that I didn't put any T's out in my sunroom. I was thinking that would be an awesome idea for summer to really grow some slings out quick. There's always random ants out there. I guess I could test it by putting the feet of my shelving out there in DE and a plate of sugar water up high and see if they make it to it.
But, yeah, if I wouldn't have had a giant bag of DE, I'd have gone ahead and tried cinnamon.
 

DustyD

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And cinnamon is supposed to help lower blood sugar levels, so I may lick some in passing, lol. Right now I don't have an ant problem. But alternative treatments are always welcome.
 

m0lsx

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And cinnamon is supposed to help lower blood sugar levels, so I may lick some in passing, lol. Right now I don't have an ant problem. But alternative treatments are always welcome.


Make some doughnuts for yourself & dip them in your share of the cinnamon.
 

Steve's Ts

New Member
Messages
23
Location
Illinois
So, I sort of live bordering a state forest and there's a ton of wildlife and I don't treat for pests unless absolutely necessary. Needless to say, my yard is a bit 'buggy'. Spent the whole day at a reptile show, found out that during my absence a bunch of ants found a crack between the seals in a bedroom window and came in by the hundreds to invade the large display cabinet I'm using to keep my spiderlings safe from the felines. Two enclosures had dead cricket remains because I had to give a couple slings prekilled crickets as the shop only had large crickets instead of the smalls I usually buy. So, there were leftovers in there all day because I fed them at 7 am when I woke up. I siliconed the gap in the window, hit the trail of ants outside with diatomaceous earth and now I have the feet of the display cabinet sitting in little plates of diatomaceous earth. I took all my sling enclosures out, spent the evening squishing ants, most enclosures only had a couple, so it wasn't too bad. Except, who wants to squish ants in an H. maculata's enclosure? Oh yeah, nobody. I had to completely rehouse my T. violaceous and M. balfouri cause they had the cricket remains that attracted the ants in the first place.

Anyhow, that was a whole, brand-new issue for me. I've never had ants before. Is it likely the diatomaceous earth will do the trick? So far so good as they'll have to find another route in, but, I guess it still remains to be seen if they find another way in other than the window.
I just got ants in my kitchen a couple days ago. Unfortunately th
So, I sort of live bordering a state forest and there's a ton of wildlife and I don't treat for pests unless absolutely necessary. Needless to say, my yard is a bit 'buggy'. Spent the whole day at a reptile show, found out that during my absence a bunch of ants found a crack between the seals in a bedroom window and came in by the hundreds to invade the large display cabinet I'm using to keep my spiderlings safe from the felines. Two enclosures had dead cricket remains because I had to give a couple slings prekilled crickets as the shop only had large crickets instead of the smalls I usually buy. So, there were leftovers in there all day because I fed them at 7 am when I woke up. I siliconed the gap in the window, hit the trail of ants outside with diatomaceous earth and now I have the feet of the display cabinet sitting in little plates of diatomaceous earth. I took all my sling enclosures out, spent the evening squishing ants, most enclosures only had a couple, so it wasn't too bad. Except, who wants to squish ants in an H. maculata's enclosure? Oh yeah, nobody. I had to completely rehouse my T. violaceous and M. balfouri cause they had the cricket remains that attracted the ants in the first place.

Anyhow, that was a whole, brand-new issue for me. I've never had ants before. Is it likely the diatomaceous earth will do the trick? So far so good as they'll have to find another route in, but, I guess it still remains to be seen if they find another way in other than the window.
I just got ants in my kitchen a couple days ago. Unfortunately they are right next to the room I keep my T's in. I have every home remedy also traps, poison spray, but every morning they're still sticking around. I am so scared for my T's! I've had this happen once before, but I killed all the ants and they went away. I know that an ant infestation could kill Ts and luckily I haven't seen any near them or their enclosures. So I'm just hoping and spraying the rotten little ants when I see them. Die ants DIE!
 

augiemolly

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Indiana
I just got ants in my kitchen a couple days ago. Unfortunately th

I just got ants in my kitchen a couple days ago. Unfortunately they are right next to the room I keep my T's in. I have every home remedy also traps, poison spray, but every morning they're still sticking around. I am so scared for my T's! I've had this happen once before, but I killed all the ants and they went away. I know that an ant infestation could kill Ts and luckily I haven't seen any near them or their enclosures. So I'm just hoping and spraying the rotten little ants when I see them. Die ants DIE!
Be careful with the sprays tho. That stuff travels all over the house. Be sure no fans are running. Seal the bottom of the door if the T's are in their own room. If there are too many enclosures to move try covering them with a blanket or something. BTW, I have found that any kitchen surface cleaner kills them dead instantly. Works every bit as good as poison like Raid at least on ants. It's manually pumped (bet you knew that, eh?) instead of atomized under pressure from a can so doesn't float and travel thru the air. Seems much safer, anecdotally anyway.
 

DustyD

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Maine
Thanks all for the suggestions. Found lots of little black ants in my kitchen and a few in my bedroom ( usually clambering on me ) where my four tarantulas are. I may set up a ring of cinnamon around my Ts. Already got ant bait traps for the kitchen.
 

Jenniferinfl

Active Member
Messages
113
Location
Florida
Gotta LOVE all you guys who don't have pest control(Booo!) man come out...EVER!

I have it pretty easy, I'm in a concrete block house so don't have to have the termite guy. There'd be no avoiding that if my house was wood frame. Other than a brief carpet beetle infestation that was easily remedied by bagging up some wool items and extra vacuuming, I've had it pretty easy.

I have the occasional large wood roach or huntsman indoors, but, it's not like they can setup shop permanently in my home. I have had an issue with silverfish from time to time, but, now I just keep diatomaceous earth on the backs of all my book cases and closet shelves and that's taken care of that. I see the occasional one come in from outdoors, but, nothing crazy.

Sometimes there's no choice, I've know people unfortunate enough to end up with bedbugs and that you need the pest guy for. Same thing with German ****roaches. Just been lucky and never had either. My parents had German ****roaches they caught from a friends house. It pretty much took bug bombing the house weekly to clear them.
 

DustyD

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Maine
Yes, I just read up on them and Argentine tarantulas are nasty and can form super colonies. A very large colony estimated at one trillion ants inhabits an area from San Diego to beyond San Francisco.
 

Jenniferinfl

Active Member
Messages
113
Location
Florida
just be glad they werent argentine ants lol, your whole collection wouldve been decimated
My county does have Argentine ants, so, believe me I was really relieved when it was just the tiny little 'sugar ants'. At least, they were those itty bitty non-biting ants, but, they were eating a deceased cricket, so, maybe not really sugar ants. I don't know my ant species well enough.
 

Steve's Ts

New Member
Messages
23
Location
Illinois
Be careful with the sprays tho. That stuff travels all over the house. Be sure no fans are running. Seal the bottom of the door if the T's are in their own room. If there are too many enclosures to move try covering them with a blanket or something. BTW, I have found that any kitchen surface cleaner kills them dead instantly. Works every bit as good as poison like Raid at least on ants. It's manually pumped (bet you knew that, eh?) instead of atomized under pressure from a can so doesn't float and travel thru the air. Seems much safer, anecdotally anyway.
Everything that can be done to keep the ants from my Ts has been done, and I'm happy to report that only a few straggler ants are left and they haven't gotten to my room with Ts. Thanks everyone for the advice!
 

DustyD

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Maine
Found a small ant in an enclosure, close to a piece of superworm my tarantula had dragged out and seemed to be munching on earlier. Ant disappeared before I could get it. My G. pulchra (not the one from Casey) is usually skittish but hung around on top - although my late evening red lights were on- so not sure if it was the ant, leftover food or natural hunting time that kept my spider from hiding. I removed the drying up piece of superworm. Also I put a ring of cinnamon around each enclosure. I have not seen more than one or two ants in this room, but I will keep an eye out.
 

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