Help! Fire ant infestation in outside enclosure.

[EmmyLu239]

I've built a large box enclosure for my back porch. Oogway, my 1 in half year old Sulcata has been living in it comfortablyfor about a year now. I have cypress mulch and coconut fibers on one side and sod on the other with a hibiscus planted inside and a cactus too, which both are thriving, along with the sod. Also, he has a nice watering hole that gets cleaned out daily. My problem is, it's rainy season in Florida and we have big fire ant problems. Well now the fire ants have made their way into oogways enclosure. I'm afraid to pesticides or Bug Killers because it could be harmful to Oogway. So now I've removed everything out of the box and going to start over. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should use as his bedding?

 

[EmmyLu239]

This picture is a year old. He's a little bigger now but still vulnerable to the fire ants

 

[Yvonne G]

Since he lives in a box, you can move the box aside, spray the cement under it with some sort of residual ant poison spray, like Raid, put the box back in place then spray around the bottom outside of the box.

 

[EmmyLu239]

That is an excellent idea. Thanks

 

[turdle yerdle]

You can also take boiling water and pour it in the source; the ant hole. It will stop any new coming ants.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I spray and use granules anywhere in my yard that the tortoises don't go and use glass jars that have holes in the lids containing ant bait and poison scattered, hidden throughout my pens. The jars make them water proof (ish) and keep tortoises safe from encountering poison.
Over the years I'm proud to say that I have 100% eliminated fire ants from my property and am down to a light colony of the less harmful variety.

 

[EmmyLu239]

Awesome. I will definitely try this using small containers.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

In your case....baby food jars?

 

[EmmyLu239]

Yes! Baby food jars would be perfect. Thank you so much.

 

[Tortoise_Nerd]

Hi my name is Nathan scott. I have also had this problem to.the way I solved it was,I emptied his substrate and I took his pen inside and I fogged my house with the pen in there.and a better substrate is zoomeds repti soil.it's really good for tortoise's skin.thank you