# *rage* Ants and the battle against them



## Shadowrunner

I have one tank that is the subject of repeated assault by ants.
The mice can come and go, the food can be changed but I have a constant line of ants steadily marching in, and trying to build a colony in the bedding.
I clean it out daily now and I'm considering throwing out this cage for a new one. I don't get it.
I power washed it with straight water. 
I dumped bottles of rubbing alcohol in to try to wipe out any ant scent trails.
I rubbed garlic,spread peppermint oil, crushed hundreds *tears hair out*
None of the other cages have this problem, I mean...why?!
The mice will go to sleep bug free and I will wake up and the poor guys are sitting in dog piles avoiding the ants.

Is there any actual pesticide I can use to keep these ants out and still be safe for my mice?
If I never see another ant inn my lifetime it will still be too soon. >___>


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## jadeguppy

Your local pest control company should be able to answer that question. I'd suggest treating the building. We have to treat ours once a year and then everything is fine.


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## Shadowrunner

I'll have to look into that.
I've been trying for years to keep them out of the house in general, but they always find a way in.
It wasn't until they fond the tank that I *really* got annoyed.


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## moustress

If it's a wire cage, I'd suggest switching to a plexi tank. If you find the kind of lid with small screening that might work to keep the ants out.


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## tinyhartmouseries

*Hates ants...* I have ant every summer right after the one or two wild mice clear out. It's a neverending cycle of annoying pests. My husband has some granules that the ants eat but as far as I know, any ant poison is harmful to mice as well. You can poke an Osage Orange full of holes and leave them around the house to naturally ward ants, but again, I have no idea how this effects mice, especially if they get a nibble.


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## Shadowrunner

ARGG. It's a glass aquarium, with a screen lid. Oddly enough they leave the wire cage next to that one alone. They have to go around the wire cage to get to the aquarium. It makes no sense to me.
I have one window in my bedroom, and they aren't coming from there, but from behind the baseboards under my bed ?
I tried eliminated the trails but that didn't work. My mice are in cages so I put out the bait traps. The damn ants go around those and on to the tank.
I'm being outsmarted I tell you.


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## MoonfallTheFox

Tried Boric Acid? If you mix it with jelly, and smear it on wax paper, the ants will come and take it away and feed the queen, killing her, and the rest of the colony. I heard from a friend that it works great!

If they aren't sugar ants, try mixing it with peanut butter. They should take that, if they won't eat jam.

Boric acid isn't super-toxic but it still shouldn't be eaten by people or animals, but it seems a fair amount safer than some stuff!


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## Shadowrunner

*flail* why didn't I think of that ...*pulls out boric acid*

The stuff works great when the neighbors clean their house and send waves of nasties worse than ants.

xD big guns for tiny pests.
I'll let you know how it works.
thanks<3


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## NuttySian

No advice just wanted to say good luck!

I was being outsmarted by flies this year, they also ignored the wire cages and went for the tanks and tank style ones! Couldn't find where they were coming from and none of the usual traps etc would work, they were driving me mad. I'll be super ready for them next year that's for sure *wields fly swatter menacingly* :lol:


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## MoonfallTheFox

Nuttysian, you could go to a farm store and get hanging flypaper strips. They work well for us in the horse pasture and barn.

Shadow, hope it helps. :3 Ants are the worst. When I lived in california, they did the same damn thing in my frog terrarium. We went on a trip and one of the frogs had been eaten alive when we came home. I was only like 6, and I found him.  The other frog lived 11 years.


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## NuttySian

MoonfallTheFox said:


> Nuttysian, you could go to a farm store and get hanging flypaper strips. They work well for us in the horse pasture and barn.


Tried them as they were working in other rooms. The flies in my room however only ever landed on the base of them :evil: The only thing that got stuck was a moth which I didn't mind having in there!!
Also tried vinegar traps/food traps/other sticky traps. I had fly screen and one of those screens that are strips of plastic on the door (the windows weren't opened so they weren't getting in that way).

Evil ninja flies. I swear it. :lol:


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## kittygirl991

??? why is there ants in your house? and how are they getting in cage? they normaly do not try building new colonies... when the queen builds one she stays there... i know this because i love ants  i have a few ant farms, only 1 has a few ants and a queen in i think...


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## Autumn2005

I had an ant problem too a couple months back, not as bad as yours, but still annoying. What worked for us was a home defense poison guard thing. You're supposed to spray windows and around doors to create a solid line of poison the ants can't get through. I sprayed it directly on the carpet in my mouse room, making a complete circle around the shelves where my cages were. Overnight, the ants disappeared.


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## jadeguppy

Many comercial ant sprays work by preventing growth and yoiu should be able to find a mouse safe one that will allow you to spray the building.

kittygirl, there are many different types of ants. Having them come into a home or shed is common in many places.

Do you know what type of ants they are? I don't think you have as many varieties up north as we do around here. My concern would be if they are carpenter ants and may be doing damage to your walls. thankfully the ones I get are driven in by the heat and rains and arrive in a predictable seasonal manner so I can treat once a year to control them.


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## Shadowrunner

That really sucks moonfall. I had little frogs as a kid and they are super fun to keep.
Finding one in a state I can easily imagine...would be traumatizing to say the least.
(btw, I'm going to be buying a year's membership soon so I can change the damn user-name, it's weird being called shadow anymore xD)
@Nuttysian-
Isn't newspaper lovely? you can read it, turn it into a fly swatter and then recycle it further into bedding >:3

*edit...total goober that I am I didn't see the second page.lol.

OMG. I was calling them wood ants, which turns out (thank you bing) are the same thing as carpenter ants. We have fire ants too but those are less bothersome because they never come inside. I tried flushing them out of the baseboards with WD40 and they swarmed both me and my son. poor Nikolai had already been swarmed by them last spring while gardening.You don't expect them to hurt, but they really do. (thank goodness for rivers and bathtubs to dive into.)

I don't get it. I mean..why? why this one tank?
They aren't eating anything, just setting up shop. I watched them truck in larvae. Idiot ants.
Seriously, I've demolished the trains as they come, you would think that they would figure out a tank is like a death pit. The mice were eating them a first, but then they started biting back xD.

The boric acid is cutting them down some (along with some other things I didn't know we had)
Just not completely yet. *crosses fingers* If this doesn't work I'm throwing the tank out. They keep crawling onto me as I sleep..I'm going to go insane if I can't get some rest ..>_> stupid ants.
Their out to get me..I swear it.


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## Shadowrunner

Shadowrunner said:


> That really sucks moonfall. I had little frogs as a kid and they are super fun to keep.
> Finding one in a state I can easily imagine...would be traumatizing to say the least.
> (btw, I'm going to be buying a year's membership soon so I can change the damn user-name, it's weird being called shadow anymore xD)
> @Nuttysian-
> Isn't newspaper lovely? you can read it, turn it into a fly swatter and then recycle it further into bedding >:3
> 
> *edit...total goober that I am I didn't see the second page.lol.
> 
> OMG. I was calling them wood ants, which turns out (thank you bing) are the same thing as carpenter ants. We have fire ants too but those are less bothersome because they never come inside. I tried flushing them out of the baseboards with WD40 and they swarmed both me and my son. poor Nikolai had already been swarmed by them last spring while gardening.You don't expect them to hurt, but they really do. (thank goodness for rivers and bathtubs to dive into.)
> 
> I don't get it. I mean..why? why this one tank?
> They aren't eating anything, just setting up shop. I watched them truck in larvae. Idiot ants.
> Seriously, I've demolished the trains as they come, you would think that they would figure out a tank is like a death pit. The mice were eating them a first, but then they started biting back xD.
> 
> The boric acid is cutting them down some (along with some other things I didn't know we had)
> Just not completely yet. *crosses fingers* If this doesn't work I'm throwing the tank out. They keep crawling onto me as I sleep..I'm going to go insane if I can't get some rest ..>_> stupid ants.
> Their out to get me..I swear it.


These guys just appear randomly. It's a pain...It's so weird to have someone say "up north" to me xD that's usually what I say to newyorkers. I have friends in California who swear I speak with a southern accent lol. Weird but neat.


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## jadeguppy

LOL, I can get away with saying up there" to nearly everyone in the US.


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## SarahY

> If this doesn't work I'm throwing the tank out. They keep crawling onto me as I sleep..I'm going to go insane if I can't get some rest ..>_> stupid ants.


Oh my goodness Shadowrunner, you have my complete sympathy! What an awful situation :shock: Throw the tank out if that's what they're coming in for!!


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## Shadowrunner

I didn't mean to re-post. I thought I had edited.

I'm really considering it. All they do is take up space anyway. 
I've tried my hand at converting stack-able tubs. The first one I made was a disaster xD
I'll try again though. At 2$ a piece versus 12$ for a tank? I can afford to loose a few in the process.

It's infuriating, mainly because I spend so much time in there.lol.


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## NuttySian

Shadowrunner said:


> @Nuttysian-
> Isn't newspaper lovely? you can read it, turn it into a fly swatter and then recycle it further into bedding >:3


Nah, newspaper has to be saved for any accidents the dogs have lol, I have the basic plastic swatters instead. And now zappers... and fly screen everywhere :roll:


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## Frizzle

What about moving the mice to a different tank/cage but leaving the old one there, empty. There is this type of poison that you put out, and the workers take back to the colony, where it then kills the colony because they all share it. I would put that in the empty tank, and let the ants take it all back. Also, this could be interesting to see what they want from the cage. See if you can figure out whats different, or if its something ALL your cages have. In which case the ants might move down the line to the next cage, and the next.


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## Autumn2005

oh dear, that would be just terrible!

I checked and the stuff we use is called Ortho Home Defense Max:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_11983-446-0...l__0__s?Ntt=ortho+home+defense+max&facetInfo=

It works great, just put down a complete circle around your area that you want any free. I use it around my bed, around my mice, around the pantry, keeps them out for about a year.


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## Shadowrunner

That sounds amazing. 
I'm going to do what frizzle suggested first to see what they want.
Know your enemy right?
Then I'll use the ortho stuff.

thanks for all the suggestions guys. I really do appreciate it.


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## Frizzle

I win! lol, jk. Good luck figuring out your ants problem!


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## Shadowrunner

Ill let you guys know how it pans out > going to buy the stuff tomorrow.


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## jadeguppy

If they are capenter ants, you may want to see if they have done damage inside the walls. At the very least, be sure to get them out of there.


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## Shadowrunner

I found out what they wanted.They were eating the adhesive that holds the glass panes together 

I'm not playing with these guys,we have a man coming out on Monday to check for damage.
Marshy areas are not nice to weak wooden structures D:


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## Frizzle

Holey cow! Doesn't the same stuff get used in windows!??


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## jadeguppy

Yep, silicone sealant. The main difference is that window sealant usually has something added to retard mold growth while the sealant used in aquariums doesn't. You can buy the stuff at nearly any hardware store. GE I and GE II, I forget which has the mildew/mold retardant in it. I've resealed aquariums before.  Nearly all the tanks for my saltwater hobby were bought used.


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## Shadowrunner

Saltwater fish are hard to keep D: ..lol.

That would explain why the sealant on my brand new window is "cracked" as well wouldn't it.
Weird little things. It's not like silicone sealant just grows on trees in the wild. Why would they want that? I'm just going to give the tank away and invest in some more quail cages. Those are wire and better ventilated anyway.


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## Autumn2005

Wow that's crazy! I would have never guessed that! As a curiosity, could you post a picture of a quail cage? I've never seen one in used before, and I'm curious about your set up.


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## Shadowrunner

Yeah. One second while I take one xD


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## MoonfallTheFox

Where do you -get- quail cages? I always want to put my mice in cages but I'm never confident that they won't escape.


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## Shadowrunner

The email isn't working so I'll post one I find online.

The man I got mine from was in the bird club and made his own . I tried breeding button quail..and they just ran all over the eggs and ate them. No success at all. Stupid little birds xD. I've found them on ebay, but I'm not sure where to get them wholesale. The button quail are really tiny so the openings in the wire are smaller as well. I looked and looked for a good picture, but mine is much more sturdy and smaller than most of the ones I found. This was the closest I could find...I use a spring to hold the water bottle to the cage, and line it with shredded paper. The mice love walking around on the walls and ceiling.

http://www.gnoexpo.com/Vendor_Sales/Table Pic/Hukins_H.JPG

I'll ask a few of my bird friends where to get them. The man who had them before got really sick with cancer and had to move to Florida for regular treatment. I still have his boyfriend's number. He might be willing to share the instructions on how to build them ^ ^.


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## m137b

Those look like rabbit carriers. What is the spacing on the wire of the ones you have? I know Martins Cages up in PA sells similar cages.


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## Shadowrunner

The openings are square on mine and smaller..It's 1cmx1cm. 
I only use cages like that for the adults.
The mothers and babies are in fish tanks.

thanks for the tip by the way, I'll have to look into that.

The guy came out and sprayed around the perimeter of the house. I eliminated the ants from my room as well. So now the problem is gone. I'm so glad too because the mice seem happier as well.(even if I'm imagining it) * is relieved*


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## Frizzle

Glad to hear everything turned out okay, are you gonna have to replace your windows? You eluded that they were nibbled on by the ants, too.


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## Shadowrunner

No, we have to reseal them though. 
We just got them put in last year to save energy too *rolls eyes*

I just hope it works as well as he says it will.

I'm really surprised that they didn't keep coming after I removed the tank./ sometimes they will just keep following the pheromone trails back for weeks even when there isn't anything to eat there.(before he came out and sprayed)


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