# Ants



## Italianlnm (Sep 16, 2009)

Do ants effect torts??

When I take my baby out to lounge and soak up some sunlight. Also eat some nice fresh grass, I will notice the occasional ant crawling on him.. And it freaks me out.. Because I don't want him to be bit. Can they go to the part in the shell?? And what if they get bit?


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## Yvonne G (Sep 16, 2009)

Depends upon the type of ant. The black ants usually don't bite unless threatened, they're just a nuisance, but not a problem. The red ants can kill a baby tortoise if they swarm him and bite him. They literally eat him alive.

Yvonne


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## tortoisenerd (Sep 16, 2009)

What kind of ants? Few ants bite (like fire ants). The "normal" household ants don't. There are some safe kinds of treatments for ants you can use around your tort. I did a search and came up with these posts:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-7343.html?highlight=ants
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-2475.html?highlight=ants
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-3320.html?highlight=ants
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-3062.html?highlight=ants
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-6822.html?highlight=ants
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-148.html?highlight=ants


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## dmmj (Sep 16, 2009)

I get bit by the little black ants all the time, I think they are checking to see if I am dead, so they can start the harvest. but I just smoosh them.


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## ozwin (Sep 19, 2009)

I live in Wales and one of my friends who had Ozwins older brother had his tortoise killed by ants  I spoke to him the other day to see how George was doing and he told me that ants got into his outdoor pen and killed him  I was so sad!
I remember when Ozwin was out last summer when there where a lot of ants about and she hated it, they where crawling all over her and she kept rubbing her head with her front legs trying to get them off so I brought her in for the rest of the day. Be carefull with ants, they can be very dangerous.


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## Sudhira (Sep 20, 2009)

ozwin said:


> I live in Wales and one of my friends who had Ozwins older brother had his tortoise killed by ants  I spoke to him the other day to see how George was doing and he told me that ants got into his outdoor pen and killed him  I was so sad!
> I remember when Ozwin was out last summer when there where a lot of ants about and she hated it, they where crawling all over her and she kept rubbing her head with her front legs trying to get them off so I brought her in for the rest of the day. Be carefull with ants, they can be very dangerous.



We have Argentinian ants here, the small black ones. I keep them at bay by sprinkling cinnamon where ever I don't want them...I sprinkle around the tort enclosure, smells good too!


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