Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When checking on my young redfoot in their baby pen I see their food is covered in fire ants. Good grief. Hmmmmm. Not a good thing and want to rid their area of these terrible pests. There is no mound that I can find. I guess these are just marauders sending signals to the others. I surely don't want to poison my torts but I'm wandering if I can use the granules around the outside of this pen in hopes of preventing entry. Anyone have a successful nonpesticide recommendation?

Well this works best if you can find their mound or hole. A big pot of boiling water will wipe out an ant colony very effectively. I was dubious myself when I heard this but it works. I battle constantly with black ants and wood ants for my garden and my RT's food. If I can't find the source, then I boil the gatherers if I catch them swarming the tort's food and at least reduce the ant population density. Good luck.

Beorn

don't use poisons at all. The ants could make it into your pen before death and thus be bringing in small amounts of poison.

Diatomacious earth can be spread around the pen and in areas where you see ants. It is harmless to anything but tiny insects and is not toxic (it's basically dust of fossilized single celled creatures). It has to be re-applied after a rain, but if you use this, and you find anthills and apply boiling water, you can win the battle. You can also put out small citrus oil traps around your yard. These are nontoxic and dissolve the ants to death when they come to see what smells so nice.