Ants in the coir (outside) is it safe for my tort?

[Tech13]

So I finally get a 5 foot pool, poke in LOTS of small drainage holes, make an area of coco coir with a flowerpot hide and plant saucer water dish, another area for shade and test it on a rainy day to see if it drains well-it does, so I put our little Greek, Tech in a day later and... ANTS! They seem to love Tech's new outdoor fair-weather pad! *Will ants bite/hurt a tortoise? The ants are little and reddish (there's one on Tech's carapace in the pic with him eating) and Tech didn't seem bothered by them but I couldn't leave him in there without knowing if it was safe- I am in S. Central PA but I don't know what kind of ants they are.

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Also, I am going to put more substrate in, but now I'm not so sure about the coco coir. Any comments, criticisms, or ideas for improvements or changes are welcome here

 

[abclements]

Looks like a sweet pad! As for the ants, little and red suggest fire ants to me... not even sure if they exist in PA but still might be a good idea to get rid of them asap! They can kill torts if there is enough of them! If you search fire ants in the search bar, I'm sure lots of ways to get rid of them will show up.

Sent from my LG-P769 using TortForum mobile app

 

[Itort]

The ants are harmless. I get them in my outside enclosures and torts ignore them and they ignore the torts. Fire ants can't survive that far north.

 

[Tech13]

Looks like a sweet pad! As for the ants, little and red suggest fire ants to me... not even sure if they exist in PA but still might be a good idea to get rid of them asap! They can kill torts if there is enough of them! If you search fire ants in the search bar, I'm sure lots of ways to get rid of them will show up.

Sent from my LG-P769 using TortForum mobile app

Thanks for your comment on Tech's new outdoor pad, I was so glad to have it up and running! i have Zinnias growing to put in there soon, and some other plants and treats will be added as the budget will allow. I look forward to the day when I can expand, but all in good time. With neighbor dogs, our dog, foxes, hawks, turkey vultures and lots of neighborhood children, it will be a challenge and extra $ to come up with a tortoise garden enclosure that is safe, budget friendly, and escape proof for Tech. - our dear lab-mix is so sweet and probably wouldn't ever purposely hurt Tech, but I don't intend to find out the hard way

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Itort, thank you for your appraisal of my ant situation, I had a feeling they weren't fire ants, but needed to hear it from someone else. I guess the tough part now, is not bringing any hitch-hikers into the house when Tech is brought in from outside!