Ants around bird cage...Help!
Rottwlrs2
fruit!
Did some research on ants, and it seems we have Pharoah ants. I've only seen
5-10 at a time, but I've been warned that more and more will be appearing.
This is our rental house that we just moved back into, so who knows how long
they've been living here & multiplying. They are the type of ants that
actually live within your subflooring or walls, and can have quite sizeable as
well as multiple nests, so putting stuff outside only chases them in the house
more. Putting anything other than the little traps inside the house is out of
the question with the birds and dogs. "Max Force" ant baits are suggested as
best, but the ants are ignoring them and going for the fruit I give my birds.
Has anyone successfully nipped this problem in the bud, with an animal/bird
friendly method? Please share!!
noyz...@my-dejanews.com
rott...@aol.com (Rottwlrs2) wrote:
> It's not even Spring yet, and I've noticed some ants going after my bird's
> fruit!
> Has anyone successfully nipped this problem in the bud, with an animal/bird
> friendly method? Please share!!
>
Yes...I've dealt with ants before. They sure love pet food! What I have done
in the past is trace the line of ants to where they come into the room.
Usually that's through a crack in the wall. Then, I put a pile of laundry
detergent or some other powder in and around the crack.
Ants (and other insects) don't really have lungs like we do. They breathe
through pores in their skin. If the pores get clogged with fine powder, the
ant can't breathe and it dies. If you are worried about fragrances and
surfactants in detergent, you can use a different powder like baking soda. I
use detergent because it does triple duty. If for some reason the powder
doesn't kill the ant, the coating of surfactant will. When it gets moist, the
soap will turn to a goo that will serve the same purpose as the powder,
clogging the pores and suffocating the ant. And, if they ingest the soap,
they'll will end up pooping themselves to death.
Give it a try! It works!
Jen in SLC
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Michael S. Jessop
your walls...
Mike
<noyz...@my-dejanews.com> wrote in message
news:7b42kk$7f0$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com...
:In article <19990225111053...@ng21.aol.com>,
Jdsporty
to find a way to prevent the spring onslaught without hurting me. There was no
where to stay with birds, cats, dogs, gerbils and children for a professional
to do the job (usually takes 2 or 3 days for the fumes to stop bothering me).
The gentleman from the "bug" place recommended boric acid because the animals
wouldn't try to eat it and if they did it wouldn't hurt them in small amounts.
It tastes terrible and doesn't have a noticeable smell. Laundry detergent is a
very good idea!
Jennifer, CoCo and Oliver
Somebody Else
area where the pets can't get to it, just sprinkle a small amount across the
area the ants move through.
Amdro is some sort of relatively slow acting poison, and it is actually
packaged as some sort of small granules (?wood chips) that have some of the
poison on them. The ants carry it back to the nest where it kills the ants,
the larvae, and the queen. Takes about 5-7 days to see its effects, but
after that the entire nest is GONE! Amdro doesn't emit any noxious fumes,
but I do believe it is toxic to pets if ingested, so you could only use it
in areas the pets couldn't get to.
Amdro was initially developed to control fire ants, but it works well on
most other species. Although I can't detect any odor from the granules, the
ants take it avidly and scurry back to the nest with it where it does its
job.
Buy the smallest container you can find, unless you need to eradicate a
BUNCH of nests in your yard. A little of this stuff goes a long ways.
If the ants are bypassing the bait in favor of the fruit, you might consider
with-holding the fruit for a day or two while you interest the ants in the
bait.
Bob
Rottwlrs2 wrote in message <19990225111053...@ng21.aol.com>...
>It's not even Spring yet, and I've noticed some ants going after my bird's
>fruit!
>Did some research on ants, and it seems we have Pharoah ants. I've only
seen
>5-10 at a time, but I've been warned that more and more will be appearing.
>This is our rental house that we just moved back into, so who knows how
long
>they've been living here & multiplying. They are the type of ants that
>actually live within your subflooring or walls, and can have quite sizeable
as
>well as multiple nests, so putting stuff outside only chases them in the
house
>more. Putting anything other than the little traps inside the house is out
of
>the question with the birds and dogs. "Max Force" ant baits are suggested
as
>best, but the ants are ignoring them and going for the fruit I give my
birds.
Rottwlrs2
Too funny!! You know, I would if I could, though! Thanks for making me laugh,
but I think the ants are having the last laugh - I ran the dishwasher last
night, and I just went to unload the dishes and ants are in there!!! How did
they get in there with it still closed? If you know where I can get an
anteater...
Bye, Lisa
Rottwlrs2
Thanks! I'll look into it. There are areas where dogs and birds can't get to
it. I just need to find out for sure if there are any odors or fumes that it
can give off. The ants seem to really be drawn to grapes and apples, so I
could just give the birds oranges for a bit.
Thanks.
Lisa
Rottwlrs2
At this point I've got some laundry detergent by a particularly busy "ant
entrance". I found those pests in my dishwasher, though, with clean dishes!!
I'm going to try boric acid, too. They are really coming out in droves all of
a sudden today!
Bye, Lisa
Michael S. Jessop
Mike
Rottwlrs2 <rott...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990225143720...@ng-fc1.aol.com...
:Thanks Jennifer,
Mapman
> Did some research on ants, and it seems we have Pharoah ants.
Lisa,
Had a problem w/ Pharoah ants in an apartment I lived in during grad
school days. Mine LOVED Poptarts. Kept them under control w/ a mix of
mint jelly and boric acid. No odor, save mint. Put it anywhere your
pets can't reach. Put in a cabinet near dishwasher - they'll find it.
I'd almost forgotten the sight of a trail of tiny ants moving across one
wall of my kitchen. At first I thought it was a LONG, thin crack in the
drywall.
Good luck.
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RobinSchin
boric acid to keep the ants away. I've used it to "draw a line" around where I
keep my birdcages. Seems to work... and smells really nice!
Jdsporty
>night, and I just went to unload the dishes and ants are in there!!! How did
>they get in there with it still closed?
Have you had a lot of rain or a very cold spell recently? Even construction
can chase them into the relative safety of a home when the nests are disturbed.
When my apartment complex had the parking lot repaved there were tons of ants
that went away on there own a couple days after the lot was finished.
Good luck,
Jennifer, CoCo and Oliver
Rottwlrs2
think they will just go away,though, as they live in my floors and walls (isn't
that a comforting thought, ugh!) They really seem to showing up everywhere all
of a sudden, in every room of the house! Last night, while sitting on the sofa
with my Blue Front, one was crawling up my arm. I'm going to go to Home Depot,
and see what they've got for ants today.
Rottwlrs2
buggers! They crawled right on through.
Thanks anyway.
Michael S. Jessop
take our Zoo camping with us... Thank God we don't have
scorpions in New England! All we have are copperheads and
black widows... neither of which tend to crawl into tents and
shoes...
Mike
PS - Has anyone out there taken their birds camping with them?
Anyone care to share that kind of experience?
Monte <NOSPAMP...@email.com> wrote in message
news:7b6bqh$v4m$1...@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net...
:I remember it.
:
:I was camping once in the Australian Alps. When I put my ear to the
:ground to sleep I could hear a buzzing sound. When I lifted my head
:there was no sound. When I put it back down I could hear the buzzing
:again - It was just like the guy in the nuthouse in the movie 'Them'.
:
:It must've just been a bug trapped under the tent - Anyway to make
:matters worse we had just killed a scorpion that was crawling into the
:tent earlier that same night.
:
:Monte.
:
:Michael S. Jessop <mi...@s-v.com> wrote in message
:news:7b4907$8...@dfw-ixnews5.ix.netcom.com...
::Does anyone else remember the movie "Them"?
:
:
:
Michael S. Jessop
Niko gets VERY angry whenever a fly buzzes him... he growls and
squawks and snaps!! It is kind of funny to watch, actually. :)
Mike
Rottwlrs2 <rott...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990225143146...@ng-fc1.aol.com...
:Mike,
:Too funny!! You know, I would if I could, though! Thanks for making me
laugh,
:but I think the ants are having the last laugh - I ran the dishwasher last
:night, and I just went to unload the dishes and ants are in there!!! How
did
:they get in there with it still closed? If you know where I can get an
:anteater...
:Bye, Lisa
Toucanldy
>buggers! They crawled right on through.
>Thanks anyway.
Cinnamon and Coffee, would make nice names for a pair of ringneck doves.
Regards.
noyz...@my-dejanews.com
I know a solution that is certain to rid any home of ants:
A big shoe and a lot of patience.
Monte
Toucanldy
>I know a solution that is certain to rid any home of ants:
>
>A big shoe and a lot of patience.
>
>Jen in SLC
It might be hard walking on the walls and ceiling, flying might be easier:)
Regards.
Dawn212
some other solution. Being that the ants can't swim, they can't climb up the
cage legs.
Now if they're flying ants, then I'm at a loss.
Hmmmm, maybe a little febreeze for the little buggers?? JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!
Do NOT use the febreeze!
Dawn, Baby, Izzy, Pierre, & Gabby
Human-MSC2- CAG- MOL - CAG
Parrotress
>buggers! They crawled right on through.
Someone had posted a while back that if you draw a line with a bar of soap -
they won't cross it...wonder if it works?
Take one of those stinkers and put it in a spot where you've drawn a soap
circle and see if it will cross it.
Fiona Ford
a brick hole in the birds home where the ants can crawl into the brick hole and
the birds can't reach the poison!
noyz...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> In article <19990226140514...@ng03.aol.com>,
> touc...@aol.com (Toucanldy) wrote:
> > >I tried the cinnamon and coffee first, but they didn't seem to affect these
> > >buggers! They crawled right on through.
> > >Thanks anyway.
> >
> > Cinnamon and Coffee, would make nice names for a pair of ringneck doves.
> > Regards.
> >
>
> I know a solution that is certain to rid any home of ants:
>
> A big shoe and a lot of patience.
>
> Jen in SLC
>
Toucanldy
>some other solution. Being that the ants can't swim, they can't climb up the
>cage legs.
Some people put vaseline around the legs of the cage. This causes them to get
stuck.
Regards.
Toni Kennedy
coming from. this has worked for me. hope this helps, toni
Liz
length of our ground floor flat. They even eat the mould around the taps in
the bathroom. Yesterday when I cleaned out the birdcage there were
literally hundreds of ants under the paper. YUKKO. The cage had been on
the floor overnight instead of on its stand. Our tiel used to freak out when
they got in the bottom of the cage. I have had nightmares about ants since
we lived here!
One of the things that I have found is a deterrent is wiping peppermint oil
over surfaces - they hate the smell. You may want to clarify is peppermint
oil is safe for birds (I use it on the benches) Also we have this stuff that
is basically honey and borax that I tip in large quantities down any holes.
Also we put little containers (softdrink lids) around the house. You can
put them in spots the birds won't get them. If we do this, then I only have
to clean the kitchen as soon as I prepare food to prevent 500million ants
appearing in my kitchen.
Hope this helps.
In article <19990225111053...@ng21.aol.com> , rott...@aol.com
(Rottwlrs2) wrote: