Help Ants trying to eat my snake!!!

[B-Rock]

Originally Posted by slim6y

Enjoy the green ant tea!

taa will do.

[Duke]

Originally Posted by Fennwick

i dont know what talc powder actually does to them, but they wont cross it.

Last I heard, walking on talc is like walking through broken glass for ants.

Another theory suggests they can't get a grip walking on it (not as likely)

Or talc, preferably scented, masks the scent trail left by ants and therefore no other ants can follow.

[The Devil]

Ants, ants and ants GONE
This may be of interest to anyone who has a problem around their house or yard with ants. You know the ones, black ants, green ants, meat ants, but sorry it doesn't work for white ants.
This works and is guaranteed............................

You will need 1 little can of cat food, seafood mix works best and 1/2 teaspoon of Frontline dog and cat spray.

Crush the cat food with a fork until a paste and mix in the Frontline, spoon small amounts around nests or tracks and hey presto a few days later, all gone.

Unfortunately Frontline 100ml is a touch expensive but it does keep almost forever.

[Hoppa1874]

thanx devil..

[B-Rock]

hmm interesting. cheers

[brentf]

Try pepperment oil added to floor wash apparently ants hate the smell. We also use Ant Kill from Bunnings it has permethrin in it as active ingredient This is not harmful to snakes,dragons birds and all the other critters we have I had a real ant problem and this was suggested to me It works great. Hope that helps.

[thesilverbeast]

im pretty sure its that they follow a scent trail and can't pass if it gets interrupted. (run your finger through their tracks and they freak out for a minute until one of them crosses and lays down the scent again)



another idea is that if your tank has 4 legs, put each in a tray of water, they wont be able to get to the legs to climb into the enclosure if theres water blocking their way.

[bredli84]

would T.O.D. be any good?

[learning snake man]

Hello i had problem with some ants in the kicthen and was told apple cloves so i brought some placed them behind the micowave oven, cuborads, kichen bench near wall, where you can,t see them or no one eles can and not in the way when you wipe down and have found that most of them are not going their where their use to be hundreds every day i payed 2.00 for 150.grams whole cloves and thay are good as i hate sprays because of my birds and snakes so give that a go it works cheers Rob

[learning snake man]

Also i don,t want to kill them because when you have ant,s you don,t have termites which are a lot worst i need my home to keep my snakes and birds dog and me cheers

[B-Rock]

Originally Posted by bredli84

would T.O.D. be any good?

Whats TOD? also what is an apple clove?

[Wrasse]

I have a timber built in cupboard and the black ants have got into the wall behind it, they were tracking back and forth doing their daily foraging, right through a snake home built into the cupboard. I sprinkled talcum powder through the base of the snake enclosure, up into the cracks and haven't seen another ant in there since.

They are still in the wall, they have other tracks back there (rental property and the landlords don't want to bother about it), but I haven't had to worry about them in my snakes home since the talc went in.

Don't know why it works, but it does. Harmless to reps too.

[Wrasse]

Originally Posted by B-Rock

Whats TOD? also what is an apple clove?

TOD = Top Of Descent

It is an aerosol spray designed for use in aircraft and adapted well to reptiles. With reptiles it is used for killing mites.

Check out the online Herp Shops, most all of them sell it.

Apple cloves.... ? No idea. Unless he (she?) means normal cloves that they may use when cooking apples ?

[slim6y]

Firstly - does anyone in the world actually like cloves? they're good for toothache - put a raw clove on your sore tooth and bingo - numb. Or in my case you're more worried about the vomitting because of the clove than the actual pain.

Never heard of an apple clove before - so I googled it - it appears to be something you need to make!

http://tipnut.com/how-to-make-a-clove-apple/

The talc... My only real concern is that you're using scented talc - which may be a problem. Otherwise the fine particles of talc (the real stuff) can get lodged in the lungs and does not get removed easily. Just something to be aware of.

Unsure why ants don't like it - but my guess is something along the lines of what was said earlier. Ants leave a pheromone trail that they follow. It's like a road map with GPS. If the GPS can't be followed the ants give up and try to find new ways. If they can't find a new way (the circle of talc in some demonic shape) then I guess they give up and find something better to do.

And finally - ants = no termites - that's interesting, i don't knwo how much truth there is in that - considering termites and ants are very closely related. But that should be a good study!

[Wrasse]

Originally Posted by slim6y

Firstly - does anyone in the world actually like cloves?

I don't mind a couple for a small hint of flavour in various foods. With baked apples you push a couple in, then discard once cooked. Yummy. Or with silverside, boil with cloves, vinegar and brown sugar. The hint of flavour is nice. Too many though and your tongue tingles in quite an odd way...

Originally Posted by slim6y

The talc... My only real concern is that you're using scented talc - which may be a problem. Otherwise the fine particles of talc (the real stuff) can get lodged in the lungs and does not get removed easily. Just something to be aware of.

Use the pure baby talc, unscented, and make sure when you use it you don't have it in a fog type situation. When I use it in my wooden enclosure, I puff it into the cracks, and then use a dry chux to wipe the excess out. When I use it around other enclosures, I sprinkle it around the outside where the snakes don't go anyway.

Anyway, if it happened, I doubt that a small amount of talc in the lungs would do any more damage than the residual TOD chemical would.

Originally Posted by slim6y

And finally - ants = no termites - that's interesting, i don't knwo how much truth there is in that - considering termites and ants are very closely related. But that should be a good study!

There is a modicum of truth to this, however, it is very overplayed. Daily I hear people tell me this and I have to smile. (Yes, I work in the Termite Industry)

Termites and ants, if their paths cross, will fight and the black ant does have a small advantage being better suited to our external conditions and not requiring the safety of the warmth and humidity that the termite does. However, the termite has a nasty pair of 'nippers' at the front that will dispatch a black ant pretty quickly.

Black ants will raid a termite nest for the tender young as they make a tasty snack.

However, black ants and termites have been found, often, to cohabit a single dwelling, passing within millimetres of each other, fighting occassionally and getting over the spats, and travelling around, with only thin wall of timber between, without eliminating one of the other species.

So, black ants about, your chances of termites might be marginally lessened (depending on circumstances, black ants might repel a termite foray party for example), but not enough to warrant the damage and inconvenience caused by black ants in your home.

Incidently, black ants can cause significant amounts of timber damage too. They tunnel it for access to other areas, and live happily within it. They dispose of the sawdust, rather than going munchity crunch, so those little piles of fine sawdust you see about was the result of black ants.

(Edit note: Couldn't spell sugar )