Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently adopted a rescued box turtle. We live in NE Florida and she lives in an outdoor pen. We are plagued with many, many aggressive ants in Florida and her pen has become a hot spot for them. As soon as I set her food out they come up from under the brick paver we use as a dish. I don't think she's in real danger, but she seems to avoid the feeding area now and I wonder if she's been bitten too many times by fire ants. Is there a way to control their population w/out harming her?

I am having a similar problem and although have searched the web for countless hours this afternoon ... came up with only one resource. Diatomaceous earth is a mined substance comprised of the exoskeletons of microscopic diatomes. This substance is non-toxic and food grade d.e. can be consumed safely. It, however spells death to insects. Akin to us walking through a room full of glass, the small diatome shells slice up the waxy outer skin of the insect, and then the d.e. absorbs their bodily fluids causing them to die of dehydration. If you eat bread, you eat food grade d.e. as it is put in grain silos to prevent infestations.

It is not recommended to put it in the pen ... but rather around the perimeter as there is some danger of inhalation. Thankfully, I have some d.e. on hand. Although you can find commercial d.e. at pool supply stores, food grade d.e. I have only found available on the web. You do not want to use commercial grade ... food grade diatomaceous earth is the product you are looking for.

To rid the pen of the ants currently in there, we are going to burn the pen. Afterwards, we will surround it with d.e. Hopefully this will prevent infestations in the future. I hope this helped you.

Emily Jones
King of Kings Reptiles
www.kingofkingsreptiles.com

Thanks, Emily. The external barrier definitely seems to be the best approach. As for burning the inside of the pen, I used boiling water to accomplish that. I dug up the best of the plants in the pen and used an outdoor LP gas burner to boil 3 gallons of water. Of course I removed the turtles first. It definitely did the job of removing ants from the pen!

Just simply sprinkle cayenne pepper on were the ants live. Then your ants will hopefully die.