Ants, humidity, and live plants.

Crashbandit05

Crashbandit05

Avid Member
Good morning forum members.
I've come to a dilemma with my current enclosure. Where I live (mountains of NC around 3300ft) it is constantly humid during the summer with outside temps getting in the mid-high 80s. I've been battling these tiny, black ants since spring. We've always called them sugar ants because they are attracted to honey and other sweet foods. When you smash them, they smell very distinctive and are about the size of "__" take or give.
I've repotted my schefflera twice and they keep coming back and make a nest in the soil. They seem to ignore my chameleon and he ignores them as well. Not sure if he can see them, I'd like to think so. But I am worried about the ants potentially biting him and causing injury/stress.
Once fall comes around, they tend to disappear but this summer has been quite moist and humid so they are EVERYWHERE.
So that leaves me with a few options.
1. Let them be and possibly coexist in the enclosure (not a fan of this ideally)
2. Buy ant traps/poison (risk harming/poisoning my chameleon)
3. Get rid of the schefflera and only use fake plants (again not a fan of this for obvious reasons)
I will be buying his adult enclosure around Christmas time and hopefully will get something with solid walls to help hold mist and not get moisture on the carpet and walls. That way I could use fake plants if I absolutely need to.
What are everyone's opinions or experiences with this? I can get a picture of the ants when I get off work if needed.
 
Is your cage outside, or inside?

Sounds like it is outside, since you mentioned the outside temps and all. I just wanted to make sure.
 
Do the ants come back right away when you replant the schefflera? Reason I ask is because you'd need to figure out how they are coming back to figure out what solution you need. When you replant, are you ABSOLUTELY SURE that you are removing all of the ants and their eggs from the old soil? What kind of stand (if any) does your cage sit on? Can we get a picture?
 
trickedoutbiker said:
Do the ants come back right away when you replant the schefflera? Reason I ask is because you'd need to figure out how they are coming back to figure out what solution you need. When you replant, are you ABSOLUTELY SURE that you are removing all of the ants and their eggs from the old soil? What kind of stand (if any) does your cage sit on? Can we get a picture?
Click to expand...
They were back within hours. I rinsed all the soil and roots off, along with the leaves and stems. I wiped down the PVC bottom and my dowel rod frame too. The cage sits on a wire rack with a catch bucket underneath for water. I've sprayed thieves oil on the legs on the rack hoping it'll deter the ants and it seems to work til it dries then I can see them crawling around. I'll browse my pics and if I can find a pic of how it looks.
 
I'm assuming the stand has 4 separate legs on it? All baker's racks / wire racks I have ever seen had legs with wheels, but some people like to take the wheels off. That's why I asked....
 
Crashbandit05 said:
Yes, it has 4 legs. No wheels though.
Click to expand...

The wheels don't matter. As long as it has 4 legs suspending it in the air somehow and the very bottom-most rack isn't sitting on the actual ground, then that's all I was looking for.

I don't have a problem with ants (or at least I never have YET......... **knocks on wood** ) but I know a method I've read about on here that others have tried and they claim it works, so it might be worth a shot for you....

Somehow, find a small dish, or bowl, or plastic container, or SOMETHING that those legs of your rack can sit in. Whatever you use, make sure it can hold water as well. Put a dish/bowl/container or whatever it is, under all four legs. Like so:

mydrawing.jpg

Please excuse my drawing.... as that is a rough sketch. I didn't draw out the actual rack or anything, but you get the general idea. They are attracted to the plants in your cage because it is a good area to build a home, being nice and wet for water and there are plenty of food opportunities in your cage with chameleon feces and leftover insect carcasses scattered about. Placing water underneath all of the legs will prevent the ants from reaching the legs of the racks and climbing up the rack and into the cage. This is because they will climb the bowl of water, and stop because they can't swim through the water to get to the legs of the rack. You may have a random brave ant warrior attempt it, but this would stop the majority of them. You can add a diluted bleach solution to the water if you wish, which would almost instantly kill any ant that wanted to brave the waters. Just make sure there is always water in those dishes, and take care to clean them from time to time as you would want to do for ANY source of always-standing water to prevent the buildup of grime and bacteria.

Another step further, you could smear a very very light layer of Vaseline on the bottom parts of the rack's legs. This is a further repellant, as it's hard for most insects to walk across the Vaseline. There is also this stuff called Fluon you can buy that is way better than Vaseline. It's teflon based, dry to the touch, and it dries unaffected by heat or humidity. Google it. It's like an invisible barrier that you can put anywhere you want, and ants are unable to cross it. You can purchase the stuff on Amazon and other online stores. Lasts a really long time.

A different thing you could do is, get some Bug Barricade / Bug Stop powder that works on ants, and put it all around the base of the 4 legs. This powder is typically used to keep any insects from crossing into an area they are not wanted. You see this kind of stuff used a lot as mite control powder in fruit fly culture setups to prevent mites and other small insects from coming into contact with the fruit fly cultures.

Any one of these ideas may work for you. I'd personally do the legs-in-water and smear some Vaseline on the legs as an extra measure (or purchase the FLUON if you can afford the $20 or so), then I would add a bit of bleach or something to the water a bit just to kill anything that might get into that water so that it dies quickly and has no time to even attempt to climb the rack legs.

Hope this helps. I'm sure others will chime in with ideas as well. Good luck!
 
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Whatever you do, DON'T spray pesticides around your cage. That can get into the air and harm the chameleon. (y)

Actual ant sticky traps might work, but there's always that risk that an ant would carry some of that poison up into your chameleon cage. So if you can figure out how to deter them without actually poisoning them it would be best.
 
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@trickedoutbiker thanks for the tips. I'll get some small dishes with water to put the legs in. But I'm not sure if that'll keep the currents ants from coming back. I read somewhere on here that some species of ants can start sub colonies without a queen. I am also afraid to repot my schefflera again, I don't want it to die from shock. Part of me is tempted to just wait it out til winter comes and kills everything that isn't warm-blooded.
 
Crashbandit05 said:
Part of me is tempted to just wait it out til winter comes and kills everything that isn't warm-blooded.
Click to expand...

That would definitely work yea. And about the ants.... yea, it'd be hard telling what will happen though. Not sure what kind of ants they are. You'd have to find out for sure, then research them. Ants are always a problem..... thankfully one I've not had yet.

I do get these tiny little earwigs around my feeder bins from time to time though, but I only ever find but maybe a couple a month, if that. I think they can sense the fresh food in the bins.... I've found them IN containers a couple of times too. Not a big nuisance though, and hopefully it stays that way.
 
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