Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I ahve had my male baby veiled chameleon for about a wek now and i'm keeping him in a custon made wooden with like hardware cloth screen on every side. The cage is approx 3 ft long, 2 ft wide, and about 5 ft tall. As a substrate i'm using something called Tan Mulch which i have used for other reptiles as well. Also in the cage is about a 4 and half foot ficus tree so he can get all the way up to the top and bask under the UV Bulb and Heat Lamp. Now my problem is, is that i feed using a dish and put all the crix into the clear bowl so they all stay in the same place and he can just sit there and eat them. But now i have these like really small ants that are making a trail into his cage and climb the ficus tree and into the crix bowl and they kill all my crix. I have tried moving the bowl all around the cage but the ants still find the crix bowl. The ants aren't fire ants for sure but like little small sugar ants. So anyone have any suggestions on how i can remedy this problem? Thanks.

Is this cage outdoors? Does it have legs or sit on something with legs like a table? First you will have to get rid of the ants in the cage, and that may mean changing the potting soil of your plants and changing the substrate (or cooking it to get rid of ants or eggs). Then, to keep ants from getting to the cage from outside you can put the feet or cage or table in dishes of water or vegetable oil so the ants can't cross over to the legs and climb up. Also if there are places on the cage frame where ants can get climb onto you can try putting a line of Vaseline or petroleum jelly across. Many insects won't cross this.

This cage is indoors in my room. It doesn't have any legs at all. It just sits on the carpet floor. Any other suggestions? What about maybe wiping the entire wooden frame at the bottom with vaseline. That way since you said they won't try and cross vaseline they can't climb up cause the entire bottom wood frome will be covered with it which should kepp out the ants. I think but you tell me since you all are the experts on this stuff. Thanks.

The vaseline needs to be thick enough to deter the ants so this would be messy. I'd suggest either putting the cage up on a simple table (you could make it from a piece of plywood and some 2x4s or maybe use tv tray tables from a thrift shop) to get it up off the carpet, and/or putting ant traps in your room near the cage. Hopefully the ant traps will be more interesting than the cham cage. You may have to keep the cage really clean so the ants don't have much reason to go there.

Just give the bottom bit of your cage a layer of 'Bug barricade'. Its a paint to not let bugs crawl past. Im not 100% you have that make in america but im sure you will have somthing like it.

>>This cage is indoors in my room. It doesn't have any legs at all. It just sits on the carpet floor. Any other suggestions? What about maybe wiping the entire wooden frame at the bottom with vaseline. That way since you said they won't try and cross vaseline they can't climb up cause the entire bottom wood frome will be covered with it which should kepp out the ants. I think but you tell me since you all are the experts on this stuff. Thanks.
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Jamie whitehouse

Hi - just a suggestion: go to a local natural food store or anywhere that sells herbs and spices in bulk. Buy a few cinnamon sticks and either crumble and put inside cage and/or just break slightly to release volatile oil (and scent) and put them around the base. I have a problem with sugar ants in my kitchen every June and since I have used this method only a few brave souls make it to my counter top - then they answer to my fist! LOL!!

Of course somehow do this so that the cham doesn't shoot and hit one....I doubt he'd like it much

Give it a try along with the other advise as well.

lele

>>I ahve had my male baby veiled chameleon for about a wek now and i'm keeping him in a custon made wooden with like hardware cloth screen on every side. The cage is approx 3 ft long, 2 ft wide, and about 5 ft tall. As a substrate i'm using something called Tan Mulch which i have used for other reptiles as well. Also in the cage is about a 4 and half foot ficus tree so he can get all the way up to the top and bask under the UV Bulb and Heat Lamp. Now my problem is, is that i feed using a dish and put all the crix into the clear bowl so they all stay in the same place and he can just sit there and eat them. But now i have these like really small ants that are making a trail into his cage and climb the ficus tree and into the crix bowl and they kill all my crix. I have tried moving the bowl all around the cage but the ants still find the crix bowl. The ants aren't fire ants for sure but like little small sugar ants. So anyone have any suggestions on how i can remedy this problem? Thanks.

Here's what was most successful to me when I had ants killing my crickets that were in a bucket in my porch. I put that bucket into a larger pot filled with some water. Ants just CANNOT cross the water.