pretty embarrassing stuff

[John33871]

this is pretty embarrassing to say but i think i need some help. i live in texas, we have ants very bad down here. my house and room are very clean, dont eat in my room, but somehow ants found there way into my chameleons enclosure eating his crickets. im afraid to put poison around his cage because what if he eats an ant with poison on it, not good. i would relocate him out of my room until i got rid of the ants but my room is the quietest and the dogs dont come in here, so i dont want to move him out. so does anyone have any advise, ive been taking the crickets out at night so they dont come at night, and i feed him in the morning before i go to school. so i need some help on this, i really cant move him out of my room it is the safest place for him besides the ants, and i think they would get him anywhere else i put him. so any comments please would be very helpful to me and my chameleon

 

[Chris Anderson]

Get a stand for his cage and put the legs of the stand in plant pot bottoms with water in them.

Chris

 

[John33871]

that sounds like it would work very good, but they sometimes come up the wires of the lights for the cage, these bastards are smart, but ill try the water but only thing is that its a reptitarium cages, and i got a live plant inside that may cause some issues with rasing it but ill try it, thanks for the advice!

 

[scooter4n]

put little bit of grease on the wire just in one spot, they won't get trough it, just like bearing grease or something like it, cover one inch of the wire, and put stand in the water Chris says.

 

[Jordan]

They sell some garage shelving that has "holey" shelves. I have used these with reptariums with success. That would give you some legs and a good solid bottom for the plants. I just place a motar tub below to catch the mistings.

 

[John33871]

great idea!!! ill try that today, nice

 

[TylerStewart]

that sounds like it would work very good, but they sometimes come up the wires of the lights for the cage, these bastards are smart, but ill try the water but only thing is that its a reptitarium cages, and i got a live plant inside that may cause some issues with rasing it but ill try it, thanks for the advice!

You could set the light in a bowl of water, just try to keep the electric stuff at least 1/2" away from the water.... Kidding....

 

[roo_71]

Are the ants pestering the cham?
Do you know what kind of ants they are / how big are they?

Ok, here is where I am going to catch some heat …

I have very tiny ants living all three of my true cham cages and some living in the pygmy tanks. From my observations, they are only interested in dead feeders – and I am pretty much ok with them living in the enclosures since they eat dead feeders – especially the ones that get caught in tough spots in the reptariums. I always get amused to see a line of ants dismembering a banana roach that died in a crevice of a reptarium.

The ants in the screen cages travel from cage to cage via the mist tubes and they are nesting within the plants – these are VERY tiny ants. I catch around 20 off them carrying off a dead cricket, roach etc. but never seen them on the chams. Of course there is going to be the occasion where they do crawl on the chams but most likely to get from point A to B. On the occasion I will kill a few crix, put them on a plate in the enclosure, and then come back 20 minutes and collect the plate along with the ants and flush them. This is to widdle down the ant colony a bit.

I think you will run into problems if they are an aggressive ant species that will attack living things or if the cham has an injury/infection that will attract the ants to the injured area. I’m betting that the ants came in on plants – so trying to prevent them from getting into the enclosure may be a moot point. You may have to throw out the plants to get rid of them. Trying to drown the ants is pointless too. I have some ants living in one of my showering plants and they continue to live despite getting absolutely soaked three times a week.

To be on the safe side, you should somehow get rid of the ants, I am just pointing out how I personally live with them in my enclosures and the ants have been in there for over a year without any problems.

-roo

 

[John33871]

yea i wouldnt mind either, but they kill all my crickets, mealworms, and waxworms and they are not attacking the chameleon, just eating all his food! i got a the cage on this shelf no with legs, and the legs are in water. the*cage is now also a foot or so higher, so the cham is loving that because he does seem more happier. i hope this will work, thanks for all the advice

 

[nalbar]

put little bit of grease on the wire just in one spot, they won't get trough it, just like bearing grease or something like it, cover one inch of the wire, and put stand in the water Chris says.

I prefer Vaseline. It does not stain or kill every animal that touches it.



nalbar

 

[John33871]

so it does work? the vasiline? well anyways the table with the legs in water seems to be working, but a few ants have gotten in the cage, but the funny thing is that they still try to get in. they climb the bowls with water, and die in the water! its funny looking, there are like 20 or so dead ants in the water of the bowls, but only like 10 or so got in some how.

 

[Chris Anderson]

You could try putting a ring of vaseline around the legs of the stand in addition to the water and see if that stops the few that manage to cross the water.

Chris

 

[John33871]

yea the water is doing a great job, i dont remeber if i said or not but the ants try to swim and die in the water, lol. i think thats funny, but everything is good so far! he also seems to be doing alot better and more happier being up so much higher. i have to stand on a chair to turn his lights off, so its pritty high up now! but no ants! and thats good!

 

[Jordan]

You can get a timer that plugs in the wall to turn the lights on and off. They cost $5-10. You can find them at WalMart, Lowes...etc.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Ants I know ...

John,
I can appreciate everyone's concern about pesticides, etc. I will make one observation though, that being that most have not used pesticides to fix a problem such as yours, but rather are recommending against their use so as to err on the side of caution.

What I say is just my opinion, based on years of dealing with ants .... fire ants in particular, which are about as harmful as they come.

You concern with pesticides used outside the cage is whether or not transfer via ant to chameleon will occur. Direct transfer will not happen. A more legitimate concern is whether or not there are other feeder bugs outside the cage that may pick up the insecticide and carry it into the cage, such as crickets. In a very open cage, with larger bugs able to come and go freely, this might have merit. Most cages are not so. If you have a pretty high level of confidence that this essentially does not happen, then you can use insecticides.

I do recommend that you use either a spray or powder, but not a bait. The sprays in particular are fast acting, although powders create pretty good turmoil as well. You will need to be sure your room is well ventilated when you spray, and for several hours after, as you do not want the chemicals lingering in the air, only where you spray or dust. Start with every point of entry into the room for the ants. You may also want to spray along their routes, and I would deem it safe to within 2 feet of the cage. Use a cardboard barrier when you spray to insure no mist wafts to the cage itself when closer to the cage. One favorable reaction to ants once affected by the spray is that they abandon their mission, and any sprayed will no longer be heading to your chameleon's cage to plunder. Baits are trickier, and to use a different pest as an example, but rat bait is very problematic, as it can take 3-5 days to kill the animal, during which time it may fall prey to a different predator, such as a snake.

All of the other methods mentioned are good, but as you mention, ants are persistent and crafty. You will have to decide when to employ pesticides based on your desire or success using other methods. Hope this helps.

 

[scooter4n]

you can use what ever you have under your hand.
and if they learn how to build boats and cross water, you can replace water with gasoline and set it on fire, let's see them building fire Prof boats

 

[Jordan]

Good one Scooter4n, LoL.

You live in Texas. I would propose something a little different. Find a horny toad. Their diets are 80-99% ants. Set-up like a little back yard habitat (they are threatened due to fire ants). They will tear up an ant population in no time. I use to live in Odessa. Them suckers would be running around everywhere. The horny toad and you could make very good friends. The colony is probably based outside. The horny toad can get them where it hurts. Not sure how easy it would be to find one in the Houston area though.

Pesticides will work as Chameleon Company said. Just thought I would throw out a possible natural solution.

 

[John33871]

you can use what ever you have under your hand.
and if they learn how to build boats and cross water, you can replace water with gasoline and set it on fire, let's see them building fire Prof boats

nice man, i think that would work a little to good. maybe i can traine some crickets to build warships with cannons and just fight the ants, now that would be entertaining to watch! LOL

 

[John33871]

Good one Scooter4n, LoL.

The colony is probably based outside.

yea that would work if they were fire ants, but the ants are in the house. they are carpender ants that live in the wood frame of the house. a bitch i know. i would get rid of them, but that would cost around 5gs, and i dont got that kind of money, lol. i wish i did and get them out of my house, but we got some traps around the house, its this blue stuff (forgot the name of it). well anyways its some kind of acid that will take away the air inside the nest, and we put some food in the middle of a circle of the blue stuff. then they will carry the blue stiff on their feet to the nest, which will take out the air and somehow sufficate the ants and kills them all. this process takes a long ass time, but its cheap! LOL!! so thats what we are in the process of doing and it seems to be working, dont know how it works but it does, lol! thanks for any help or advise tho!

 

[Lunatic913]

im glad to hear that u can use vaseline!.....i've been using this roach chalk that u find at chinatown. the ants do not cross the line. ive been using it for the summer.