Fire Ants!!!

Christyk

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Living in southeast Texas, fire ants can be a real issue. I've been using a permethrin liquid to spot treat but the ants are getting out of hand in the turtle habitat. What really works that is safe for the turtle habitat? I mean REALLY works. These things are a total menace.
 

Yvonne G

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I don't know how well they work, but I've accumulated these over the years:

Several Home-made Ant Remedies


1 – 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 – 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.


9 - (this one's from Tortoise Forum Member, Loni: I had a yard that was half fire ant hill because there were a lot of fruit trees. I used the "erupting volcano" recipe from the kids science fairs. Sprinkle the ant hill liberally with baking soda and then pour concentrated white vinegar (from Home Depot, etc not food grade) on it. The resulting foam is acidic and follows their tunnels into the nest itself and kills them. Then water heavily to disperse the residue when it is done. Didn't have tortoises at the time but was safe for dogs and cats.
 

mark1

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I use boric acid around here , I find it works really well …… I use it right in the turtle enclosures , near where I feed them …… i just put it under something they get under , I don't believe it would harm them anyway , as long as they can't eat whatever container it's in …….
 

Rex1718

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My method is boiling water and pouring in on the nest. I use my stove and a few outdoor burners with large pots.
It’s a little bit of work, but it seems to work for me. That being said I have to do it 3 or 4 times a year.
 

Christyk

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So the ants are so bad that I'm going to bring my shell-babies in for the winter and exterminate the ants then. I'm still fighting them with no apparent end in sight. I have literally tried everything.

Come October/ November the turtles come in and the ants will be terminated. I'm going to use real chemicals and put them back out in February/ March.
 

Pastel Tortie

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This one isn't a method exactly, but more of a consideration. Let me know if I need to look up my reference source for this one, but there's research behind it...

Where fire ants are removed from an area and earwigs move in... The fire ants don't regain their previous foothold. There's something about the presence of the thriving earwig population that seems to keep the fire ants at bay.

Earwigs are not at all harmful to humans. And earwigs are good for box turtles to eat.:)
 

Christyk

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This one isn't a method exactly, but more of a consideration. Let me know if I need to look up my reference source for this one, but there's research behind it...

Where fire ants are removed from an area and earwigs move in... The fire ants don't regain their previous foothold. There's something about the presence of the thriving earwig population that seems to keep the fire ants at bay.

Earwigs are not at all harmful to humans. And earwigs are good for box turtles to eat.:)
Good to know. After I kill off the ants maybe I'll look I to buying some earwigs........
 

Pastel Tortie

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Christyk

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@Pastel Tortie That is incredibly helpful. Thanks. We live in a heavily wooded rural area. Looks likely be starting an earwig colony soon.
In addition to turtles, we also keep 5 different species of frog so we can feed them on earwigs too. Cant be any harder than crickets and mealworms. Lol
 

Pastel Tortie

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When my boxie was approaching a year old, I had been frustrated with the population of earwigs that had taken up in her indoor enclosure. I was almost ready to break down the entire enclosure and start over.

Then while my boxie was soaking one day, I dropped an earwig into her bath and said, "Do you eat these?"

Junior: CHOMP! Yeah, they're edible. :)

She doesn't like having to hunt them down on her own, mind you. For about a year there, whenever I had her out soaking, she'd keep sending me back to her "pantry" for more earwigs (and earthworms)... I guess the earwigs are kind of like "breadsticks" to go with her "salmon spaghetti" (red wigglers).
 

Pastel Tortie

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One minor caution with the earwigs... I've never had a problem with being pinched by earwigs until they get to be about an inch long and more heavily-bodied (relatively speaking). At that size, they can cause an unpleasant ouch... To you or your turtle. So by the time they hit that size, incapacitate the pinchers and/or the head of the earwig when you feed it to the turtle (if you feed the turtle during soaks, that is).
 

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