It's turles vs. ants again! I need to keep the ants from winning!

[Mmathis]

Fire Ants!! I hate them with a passion! Every year there comes a time when the ants discover the turtles' food. When this happens, the turts can forget about eating as the ants will quickly attack -- did I say how much I dislike ants? The only viable solution so far has been to corral and hand-feed the turtles, but that is assuming they all want to be found [and this time of year, with the heat, they are good at digging in and hiding]. And it's very time consuming. I usually leave some veggies or pieces of apple scattered around for them to forage, but can't even do that once the ants show up! GRRRRR!!!!!

I have thought about making a special feeding station that is surrounded by a "moat" that I could fill with water. The turtles could cross over the "moat" onto the area with food, but the ants couldn't. But when I try to work that out in my head, it ends up being such a large area in the habitat that would be taking over. Plus, I would have to do this times 2 since I have the boys and girl in separate quarters.



And naturally, I can't use anything like AMDRO.....

My poor turtles look up at me with such sad, pouty eyes!

 

[Marshall]

Fire Ants!! I hate them with a passion! Every year there comes a time when the ants discover the turtles' food. When this happens, the turts can forget about eating as the ants will quickly attack -- did I say how much I dislike ants? The only viable solution so far has been to corral and hand-feed the turtles, but that is assuming they all want to be found [and this time of year, with the heat, they are good at digging in and hiding]. And it's very time consuming. I usually leave some veggies or pieces of apple scattered around for them to forage, but can't even do that once the ants show up! GRRRRR!!!!!

I have thought about making a special feeding station that is surrounded by a "moat" that I could fill with water. The turtles could cross over the "moat" onto the area with food, but the ants couldn't. But when I try to work that out in my head, it ends up being such a large area in the habitat that would be taking over. Plus, I would have to do this times 2 since I have the boys and girl in separate quarters.
View attachment 84938


And naturally, I can't use anything like AMDRO.....

My poor turtles look up at me with such sad, pouty eyes!
View attachment 84939

Oh do I know what you mean... I hate them too but thank God my turtles take their meals in the water so the ants are sorda screwed but I do get them going for the veggies I put on the bank but my turtles seem to be able to drag the food in the water and kills the ants LOL it is like they are doing it for me to watch too...

 

[Marshall]

Oh do I know what you mean... I hate them too but thank God my turtles take their meals in the water so the ants are sorda screwed but I do get them going for the veggies I put on the bank but my turtles seem to be able to drag the food in the water and kills the ants LOL it is like they are doing it for me to watch too...

Try finding their colony and nuke em there... Just a thought

 

[Marshall]

I will upload a video of them killing the ants and maybe you can let your turtles watch it to make them feel vindicated

 

[Mmathis]

Try finding their colony and nuke em there... Just a thought

Impossible to do with fire ants! Their subterranium lairs are massive.

 

[MitchM]

It may sound overly simple, but I spray water and vinegar (10 to 1 mixture) on the ground where I don't want ants.
The vinegar supposedly destroys the chemical trail the ants leave behind so other ants can't find the food.


.

 

[Marshall]

Impossible to do with fire ants! Their subterranium lairs are massive.

I have these things that go into the ground that kills them around the house and only underground ants can get to it so should be tortoise safe?

 

[brokensword]

MMathis; can't you just put a larger, shallow pan beneath the turtle 'bowl' such that the turtles can reach over and eat while the ants are stymied? Did something like this for my cats' food bowls once upon a time...

Michael

 

[Mmathis]

MMathis; can't you just put a larger, shallow pan beneath the turtle 'bowl' such that the turtles can reach over and eat while the ants are stymied? Did something like this for my cats' food bowls once upon a time...

Michael

I'm open to trying just about anything. Problem is that the way box turtles are made, there's not a lot of flexibility for their little bodies and heads to do much reaching.

 

[brokensword]

well, I wouldn't think you'd need much height on the 'turtle food bowl' and a small gap of water, all the way around it, ya know? Ants being short bodied and all...

 

[Mmathis]

Still pondering this......and have a few ideas, but also thought I would try diatomaceous earth. I ordered some food grade DE. Sounds like it's not a "colony killer" like AMDRO would be, but at least it's safe to use around animals.

And after watching these ants, I'm not positive they are fire ants afterall. They will attack, but they aren't as viscious and they don't swarm to attack the way FA's seem to. Maybe these are just the standard old red ants, but still potentially danderous to the turtles.

 

[Mmathis]

May have a solution, as long as I can convince the turtles that it's OK for them to cross the moat, LOL! Turbo isn't very happy (in pic), but another turt settled in for a snack. And not minutes after I set this, the ants were already showing up! (Ant pics are terrible). One ant did try to go across the water.....

I found a large plant saucer, about 2" deep, and this round paver was a perfect fit inside. I'll check later to see what the ants are up to.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Maybe you just need to add an additional pet to your compound.