# Outdoor enclosure (fire ants)



## 81SHOVELHEAD (Feb 6, 2011)

Hello 
Well i bought the wood now i am ready to start my summertime 
outdoor enclosure .
My plans are to build a box enclosure inside a 6x12 x6 chainlink dog run that my dog refuses to use .
The sides are going to be 8 " tall near the front gate(easy to walk & step over) 8 inch side's approx 4 feet back from front gate . The rear 8 ft will be 16 inch sides to allow for hills & moinds & landscaping & hides .
The substrate will be cypress mulch ,top soil .
Now the question is FIRE ANTS how do you control them ?
Here in South Texas we have a problem with fire ants & i need to Know how do you experienced outdoor keepers deal with fire ants?
Also in the sring, summer here it rarely gets below 60 at night .would any of you think leaving a couple of torts with 6" scl be ok to leave outdoors overnight ?
Mike D


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## Yvonne G (Feb 6, 2011)

Hi Mike:

Try to place your habitat in an area where there are not ant hills. You can put a line of boric acid or diatomaceous earth around the outside of the pen. And if any pop up inside the habitat, you can treat those on an individual basis. You can either pour poison down the hole then cover it with something heavy that the tortoise can't move, or you can treat with boric acid bait:

Several Home-made Ant Remedies

1 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Boric Acid
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon of Boric Acid, 1 tsp of Sugar, 4 oz water, Cotton Balls.
Mix Boric Acid and Sugar in a bowl. This can be poured over a cotton wad in 
a small dish or bottle cap. Keep this from drying out for continued 
effectiveness. Place Cotton balls in path of Ants. If the ants are drawn to sugar, if you make a solution of boric acid and sugar, not too much boric acid initially, the ants will eat it up take it to their young and feed it to them. This method will kill the entire nest in about two weeks. The solution should initially be weak because you don't want them to taste the boric acid and you don't want to kill the ants before they feed the rest of the nest. If they are protein eating ants mix the boric acid in broth. 

2 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Another Boric Acid

>> 1 teaspoon boric acid (available at any drug store,, $2.99 for 4 oz) 6 tablespoons sugar
>> 2 cups water
>> mix together in a jar till all dissolved,, label and store safely.
>>Soak a few cotton balls with it, then put them in a small, covered plastic >container (margarine or <?>) with a few small openings in it for the ants to >get in, (I also put a brick on top so other curious creatures could not get >in)and then freshen it 1-2 times a week.
>> This is a slow acting 1 percent solution to get them to take some back to
>> the nest and even feed the queen :> 
>>after a few weeks changing to a 1/2 percent solution should keep them gone.

3 - bacon grease
....in a margarine tub which is sunk into the ground level. The ants here can smell animal fat from what seems like a mile away...Around the outside of the margarine tub I place a big circle of boric acid...and cover it with a rock. The ants have to walk through the boric acid to get to the bacon grease, then back through it on the way out. If they get back to the nest carrying it on their legs, it kills whatever it comes into contact with. We have 4or 5 species of ants here...two of which are lethal! 

4 - Found this in Jerry Bakers stuff
Ant Ambrosia
4-5 tbsp. of cornmeal
3 tbsp. of bacon grease
3 tbsp. of baking powder
3 packages of baker's yeast

Mix the cornmeal and bacon grease into a paste, then add the baking powder and yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the sides of jar lids, and set them near the anthills. The pesky critters will love it to death!!""


5 - If you can't find Everclear, liquefy orange peels and pour it around the ant hills. You may get fruit flies, but you won't have any trouble with ants!

6 - I have a friend that put a circle of diatomaceous earth around her aviaries and
effectively kept the ants out that way. She also uses it to directly attack any hills in the area.

7 - I believe that the "new age chalk" is a combination of diatomaceous earth and boric acid. Boric acid is the major component in "Roach Proof" and is a fairly benign and very effective means of insect control.

8 - Amdro is another effective treatment, but it is an actual poison, but safer than others. Both Amdro and Logic are baits that the ants pick up and take into the mound so that the queen eats it.


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## Angi (Feb 6, 2011)

I wanted to print out Yvonne recieps and had to print 4 pages to get them. There has got to be a better way. HEEEEELLLLPPPPP!


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## jackrat (Feb 6, 2011)

I have a problem with fire ants here in Southern Arkansas.I've had good results with diatomacious earth,indoors and outdoors.It's non toxic and works well.Boric acid is good too.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Feb 12, 2011)

I use a hose and feed it down into the ant pile as far as I can with the water is running strong. I can get up to six+ feet down in the ground. All the ants, eggs, etc. are forced up and out. The ants then relocate, usually away and hopefully out of the tortoise field. This always works down south, however all sugar sand and no obstructions. I have also used boiling hot water on small ant piles.


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