Ants

[Italianlnm]

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?

 

[Yvonne G]

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

 

[tortoisenerd]

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

 

[dmmj]

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.

 

[ozwin]

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.

 

[Sudhira]

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!