Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The ants are out of control. They are all in my rack and wont stop coming.Anybody have this problem before? I get ants every summer in SOCAL but this is my first time with so many snakes.

I would definately call a pest control professional. I would imagine they are attracted by the scent of the snakes, feces, or a combo of the two. I live in Arizona where we have ants as well all over, but have never experienced this. I am not sure of the actual cause, but I can imagine it sucks.
I guess I would just say to make sure the cages are clean as can be, no dead rats/mice left too long to be eaten. I am sure you take these steps already, but just pointing out the obvious.
Good luck, hope you get rid of them soon.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

I would try Provent-A-Mite.

Steve

I agree with you, I am sure that will work. I was coming from the outlook of getting to the source of the ants.......their home/nest or whatever it is called.
That will definately help with them being around the snakes or at least I would think it will.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

You need to be very careful about using insecticides around your snakes. First off clean cages and room thoroughly.

Some all natural ant combatants are:

Baby powder
Vinegar in a squirt bottle
Pepper or Cinnamon or cayenne pepper
Mint or peppermint oil

Spray, sprinkle or apply it on any existing ants and around perimeter of the room especially if you can find where they are coming in.

The Provent A Mite may work on ants - although it works great on mites - I've tried it on some other bugs and it didn't really work.

Good luck!
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Tosha
JET Pythons

(CJBianco explaining the origins of the BP market.)
"In the beginning Bob created the Ball Python market. And the market was without morph, and wild traits were upon the industry. And Bob said, Let there be morph, and there was morph. And Bob saw the morph, that it was good; and Bob divided the morph from the wild trait. And Bob called the morph Albino, and the wild trait Normal. And the Albino and the Heterozygous Albino were the first investment.
-- Christopher 1:1-1:5"

Absolutely use caution with pesticides. I had a pest guy that I used for years. He was well aware of my collection I had and used a product that was 'pet' friendly. Never had a single problem.
I agree though, like I said, be careful. Let the experts do it, I would not just go to Home Depot and buy anything to spray.

Good info on the provent a mite. I never used it for ants so I was not sure. I guess he would have to use something else. I do back to the professional though when dealing with other live animals you do not want harmed.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

>>The ants are out of control. They are all in my rack and wont stop coming.Anybody have this problem before? I get ants every summer in SOCAL but this is my first time with so many snakes.

Get a bag of 5% sevin dust and spread it around out side and under your home..This might help knock their numbers down a bit.... I've also used this in REALLY close proximity to my snakes with no adverse side effects thus far(Its been over three years since.)...It's a really fine grain(like flour),so be cautious and do not let any get in their water bowls.

We use it on the food we grow..and some people were already treating birds with it too.
www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-48,GGLR:en&q=5%25+sevin+dust++chicks+
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Charles Glaspie

Thanks for the ideas.The ants are dead,I found the nest and hit it with raid.I then cleaned all the racks and put chalk around them.