Anxiety about swarming ants (SoCal)

[SinLA]

Not fire ants, just the little black ones, but with the drought they are swarming any water bowl I put out. This photo is <1 day after I "diatomaceous earth-ed" their other swarm location. Its not much here, but only b/c I got to this quickly.

I know they are just coming after water sources (they aren't much interested in his food), but I am having anxiety dreams about looking in his enclosure and finding him swarmed.

Is there anything else I could/should do? How much do I need to worry?

I will say i have never, ever, ever seen him show any interest in his water bowls (tho he could use them when I'm not around), and he gets soaked a few times per week.

(deets: I'm in LA, Fezzik is a 5" Russian tort, 10' x 12' outdoor enclosure, though its in two parts and the "smaller" part is 4' x 10' which he's shut into at night and he tends to stay in that and that's where the ant swarms are)

 

[Yvonne G]

I have that same problem and same ants in my entryway around the dog's waterer. I open the door and sweep them out. There's a couple threads on getting rid of ants. I don't know how to copy/paste from this device I'm using, but you can find it by doing a 'search.'

 

[SinLA]

Yes Ive read them, and working on it, but more concerned about potential damage they can do if I'm not successful... so how "on this" I need to be...

 

[Yvonne G]

Far as I know the black ants aren't harmful. They're all over the place here, just goin' about their business, not bothering anything or anybody

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Yes Ive read them, and working on it, but more concerned about potential damage they can do if I'm not successful... so how "on this" I need to be...

When I lived outside of LA we called these “sugar ants”. Not sure why. I would see them swarm dead things from insects to critters that were dried out. I never saw them swarm living things.

 

[Tom]

Not fire ants, just the little black ones, but with the drought they are swarming any water bowl I put out. This photo is <1 day after I "diatomaceous earth-ed" their other swarm location. Its not much here, but only b/c I got to this quickly.

I know they are just coming after water sources (they aren't much interested in his food), but I am having anxiety dreams about looking in his enclosure and finding him swarmed.

Is there anything else I could/should do? How much do I need to worry?

I will say i have never, ever, ever seen him show any interest in his water bowls (tho he could use them when I'm not around), and he gets soaked a few times per week.

(deets: I'm in LA, Fezzik is a 5" Russian tort, 10' x 12' outdoor enclosure, though its in two parts and the "smaller" part is 4' x 10' which he's shut into at night and he tends to stay in that and that's where the ant swarms are)

Since they are coming for the water, remove the water and replace it with some Terro Ant Baits. These are sugar water and borax. They will take it back and feed it to the whole colony and queen. Put a brick over it or something so the tortoise can't access the little plastic trays, and leave the ants alone to swarm the bait. If you kill them off, they won't be able to carry the bait back to the colony. In about two days, they will simply disappear.

Soak the tortoise daily to make up for the lack of a water bowl for a few days.

 

[OliveW]

Not fire ants, just the little black ones, but with the drought they are swarming any water bowl I put out. This photo is <1 day after I "diatomaceous earth-ed" their other swarm location. Its not much here, but only b/c I got to this quickly.

I know they are just coming after water sources (they aren't much interested in his food), but I am having anxiety dreams about looking in his enclosure and finding him swarmed.

Is there anything else I could/should do? How much do I need to worry?

I will say i have never, ever, ever seen him show any interest in his water bowls (tho he could use them when I'm not around), and he gets soaked a few times per week.

(deets: I'm in LA, Fezzik is a 5" Russian tort, 10' x 12' outdoor enclosure, though its in two parts and the "smaller" part is 4' x 10' which he's shut into at night and he tends to stay in that and that's where the ant swarms are)

I have so much ant anxiety! I completely understand. Unfortunately, we do have fire ants and they are my biggest fear. There is no natural way to get rid of them and I can't use any poison since our tort grazes our entire property. I monitor the area around his enclosure daily and have been successful in getting fire ants to relocate by shoveling up their ugly piles, and the ground around it, and throwing it in the woods.

Of course I have to be quick because those suckers will cover a shovel and a person's body in a minute's time when disturbed. My worst fear is that my beautiful boy will burrow into a colony. He's got a very deep burrow now, and I really hope he's done! I haven't seen him adjust the entrance in awhile, which used to be an ongoing thing.

Right now we are fighting mud daubers near his enclosure. They make new holes every single day. Every night we have to cover them with landscaping fabric and squirt Dawn and water down the holes. I think Dawn is fairly safe, but just in case, we don't let Tortimer graze in the area we are fighting them.

 

[Lyn W]

I've never seen that problem even with our drought but would giving them their own large water source near their nest help?

 

[SinLA]

I have so much ant anxiety! I completely understand. Unfortunately, we do have fire ants and they are my biggest fear. There is no natural way to get rid of them and I can't use any poison since our tort grazes our entire property. I monitor the area around his enclosure daily and have been successful in getting fire ants to relocate by shoveling up their ugly piles, and the ground around it, and throwing it in the woods.

Of course I have to be quick because those suckers will cover a shovel and a person's body in a minute's time when disturbed. My worst fear is that my beautiful boy will burrow into a colony. He's got a very deep burrow now, and I really hope he's done! I haven't seen him adjust the entrance in awhile, which used to be an ongoing thing.

Right now we are fighting mud daubers near his enclosure. They make new holes every single day. Every night we have to cover them with landscaping fabric and squirt Dawn and water down the holes. I think Dawn is fairly safe, but just in case, we don't let Tortimer graze in the area we are fighting them.

Ugh, I would be in therapy, I feel your (anxiety) pain. Good luck

 

[SinLA]

I've never seen that problem even with our drought but would giving them their own large water source near their nest help?

I feel like they would just expand to both given water source and the new one…

 

[Wpagey]

We’ve had good luck with a dusting of First Saturday Lime. Around outside of house and in chicken coop too.

 

[SinLA]

I have so much ant anxiety! I completely understand. Unfortunately, we do have fire ants and they are my biggest fear. There is no natural way to get rid of them and I can't use any poison since our tort grazes our entire property. I monitor the area around his enclosure daily and have been successful in getting fire ants to relocate by shoveling up their ugly piles, and the ground around it, and throwing it in the woods.

Of course I have to be quick because those suckers will cover a shovel and a person's body in a minute's time when disturbed. My worst fear is that my beautiful boy will burrow into a colony. He's got a very deep burrow now, and I really hope he's done! I haven't seen him adjust the entrance in awhile, which used to be an ongoing thing.

Right now we are fighting mud daubers near his enclosure. They make new holes every single day. Every night we have to cover them with landscaping fabric and squirt Dawn and water down the holes. I think Dawn is fairly safe, but just in case, we don't let Tortimer graze in the area we are fighting them.

Can you create an artificial or lined burrow so he can’t accidentally get to them?

 

[Tom]

I have so much ant anxiety! I completely understand. Unfortunately, we do have fire ants and they are my biggest fear. There is no natural way to get rid of them and I can't use any poison since our tort grazes our entire property. I monitor the area around his enclosure daily and have been successful in getting fire ants to relocate by shoveling up their ugly piles, and the ground around it, and throwing it in the woods.

Of course I have to be quick because those suckers will cover a shovel and a person's body in a minute's time when disturbed. My worst fear is that my beautiful boy will burrow into a colony. He's got a very deep burrow now, and I really hope he's done! I haven't seen him adjust the entrance in awhile, which used to be an ongoing thing.

Right now we are fighting mud daubers near his enclosure. They make new holes every single day. Every night we have to cover them with landscaping fabric and squirt Dawn and water down the holes. I think Dawn is fairly safe, but just in case, we don't let Tortimer graze in the area we are fighting them.

Amdro ant granules. It worked on the fire ants in GA. Pour some right into the mound and then cover that area with a wire basket or something similar until the ants remove the poison granules and carry it underground to the colony. It only takes a few hours in most cases for the poison to completely disappear down underground into the colony. Just don't let the tortoise have access to the granules at any time.

 

[OliveW]

Can you create an artificial or lined burrow so he can’t accidentally get to them?

Unfortunately not. His current burrow goes for more than 16' and we have no way to access it. We've sent an endoscope camera down several times and it no longer reaches the end of it. Even if we made an artificial burrow, I doubt if it would stop him from digging more, or in a new place.

On the bright side, his burrow is headed towards the woods, where the ants don't go. They like the open areas.

I'm going to try individually treating hills with Amdro, as Tom suggested. About a decade ago, we would treat the entire yard with it, and it did work, we just haven't bothered with them in many years and just avoided them until we got Tortimer. It never dawned on me to treat the individual mound. We don't let him graze back there anymore anyway because of the mud daubers.

 

[SinLA]

Unfortunately not. His current burrow goes for more than 16' and we have no way to access it. We've sent an endoscope camera down several times and it no longer reaches the end of it. Even if we made an artificial burrow, I doubt if it would stop him from digging more, or in a new place.

On the bright side, his burrow is headed towards the woods, where the ants don't go. They like the open areas.

I'm going to try individually treating hills with Amdro, as Tom suggested. About a decade ago, we would treat the entire yard with it, and it did work, we just haven't bothered with them in many years and just avoided them until we got Tortimer. It never dawned on me to treat the individual mound. We don't let him graze back there anymore anyway because of the mud daubers.

16 feet!!! My guy hasn’t been able to dig anything deeper than covering his head (I don’t think he’s the brightest bulb in the tree). Is yours a Russian?

 

[BernieL]

We’ve had good luck with a dusting of First Saturday Lime. Around outside of house and in chicken coop too.

You may want to be careful using lime around small animals.

 

[Tom]

16 feet!!! My guy hasn’t been able to dig anything deeper than covering his head (I don’t think he’s the brightest bulb in the tree). Is yours a Russian?

Russians dig down into the dirt like a stingray or halibut dig into the sand. Sulcatas and Gopherus dig actual burrows that extend down into the earth. The deepest I measured was 22 feet long at a depth of approximately 12 feet from the surface. (Thank you Pythagorus...)

 

[Cathie G]

16 feet!!! My guy hasn’t been able to dig anything deeper than covering his head (I don’t think he’s the brightest bulb in the tree). Is yours a Russian?

What you have to watch out him for is how the little monkeys camouflage themselves in plants, hunker down in dirt,. That type of stuff and they climb walls too 😁 They're not dumb 🤣 I'm still trying to make sure I learn enough to outsmart mine.

 

[SinLA]

What you have to watch out him for is how the little monkeys camouflage themselves in plants, hunker down in dirt,. That type of stuff and they climb walls too 😁 They're not dumb 🤣 I'm still trying to make sure I learn enough to outsmart mine.

The number of times he has gone “invisible“ on me, only for me to see him right there, clear as day once I really notice is amazing. It’s like he’s part chameleon…

 

[Cathie G]

The number of times he has gone “invisible“ on me, only for me to see him right there, clear as day once I really notice is amazing. It’s like he’s part chameleon…

I always bring Sapphire in at night from his outdoor enclosure so it's a daily hide and seek game. More than a few times I've been scared even though I know he can't escape from it. It has a pad lockable lid and old red bricks with dirt and plants as the flooring. I have found him happily wedged sideways in a good sized plantain 😁 I guess he thought he found a soft little spot for the night and well I don't give up. I started feeling through the plants and lo and behold 😁 I finally found the turdess 🐢