Ants and Chameleons

[Prism Chameleons]

In another thread it was mentioned about the weather warming and ants getting inside the house (I have seen a few now myself). I wish to warn all of you that ants WILL eat your chameleons. Especially baby chameleons. Please try to make sure your chameleon areas are ant free.

Just thought you all ought to know.

 

[Drake]

Thanks Jenna, good thing I don't have no Ants coming into my house. Now, I just gotta worry about those loose crickets from a few days ago, more and more keep showing up!

 

[LunaC]

Good warning Jenna....and not just inside the house, but outside as well. Here in GA (and elsewhere in the south and west) we have fire ants. They're ravenous, ruthless, quick to swarm and bite and could easily kill a cham. I always watch my chams like a hawk when they're outside.
Last year I mistakenly left my 300-crix order outside on the porch while packing in a bunch of other stuff. It wasn't till the next morning I remembered but by that time it was already too late. The ants had totally wiped them out.

 

[Jamie]

Ants are vicious little critters! I knew of someone who had some chams outside for sunning.. To make a long story short, it got too warm and a juvi panther passed away from the heat. Ants had completely devoured it within hours. If I remember correctly, only about 6 hours had passed from the time the animals were put outside until the awful discovery... Very sad... Couple lessons in that one I guess..

 

[pfal26]

thansk for the type, i never thought something as small as an ant kill a lizard like a cham. I'd think the cham would of step on them or lik eat them maybe....

 

[Frank Castle]

thansk for the type, i never thought something as small as an ant kill a lizard like a cham. I'd think the cham would of step on them or lik eat them maybe....

1 ant wil not kill a cham, however, a colony will. That is how they work 100's-1000's will attack.

Frank

 

[voxxom]

hmm yes, where i live, i have some biiig ant problems.

i found that if you get petrolium jelly, and raid ant killer, and mix it in the correct ratio, it makes an ant repelling paste jelly. (-hmm that was a thinker..)

so i make a "moat" around the cage with shoe laces that are covered in the jelly. the ants havent passed it and its been a few months already.

even though i havent seen any ants in my room yet, i just want to be safe for the future in case of an invasion while im at school

 

[PEPPERQUILL1]

1 ant wil not kill a cham, however, a colony will. That is how they work 100's-1000's will attack.

Frank

Hi,
1 fire ant will kill a chameleon.I have have had it happen before.They inject small amounts of venom into the chams that slowly kill them.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

wow, i never new that. are ants poisonous if eaten by a cham.?

 

[Will Hayward]

Ants are really acidic- which is why not many anicals eat them even though they are so abundant worldwide.

 

[Frank Castle]

Hi,
1 fire ant will kill a chameleon.I have have had it happen before.They inject small amounts of venom into the chams that slowly kill them.

Didnt think of that, Thanks for clearing that up. I was thinking along the lines of the regular black ants. This is good info to know.

Frank

 

[Jerm]

I hate fire ants...

Ants are bad here in Florida, especially fire ants. I didn't have to deal with them until I came here. I actually didn't even know that they existed until i made the mistake of standing on one of their hills in flip flops. My friends thought that it was pretty funny, but I quickly learned to watch were i'm standing. They leave serious bites that hurt and itch for days. I've had them in my outdoor enclosures. They are attracted by dead crickets usually. I've learned to put a pan of water under each leg of the enclosure to prevent them from climbing in. They are especially dangerous for babies like Jenna said. Even with the moat, I check the babies often, when they are outside, to make sure that they aren't under attack. Actually, my boss was attacked in his sleep recently by fire ants. He lives in a brand new house, but somehow they found their way in. He has a water bed, and his baby must have spilled something in one of the sides of the mattress to attract them or something. Well, he went out of town one weekend, and when he returned and went to bed, he woke up in the middle of the night with ants all over him, biting like crazy. He had to spray down his bed and room, and around the house, and had to find a place to sleep for the night. He was covered with bites and has some pretty severe scars from the whole thing. If they can make it into a brand new house, I'm sure that they can get into any house.

 

[kinyonga]

Fire flies are toxic too.

 

[sruli]

I live in New York. We have Big Black Ants, Little Black Ants, Little Red Ants. Could the chameleon eat the occasional ant?

And what about the harvester ants sold as feeders?

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

In southern california we're mostly got argentine ants replacing the native populations
They're attracted to protein with juicy crickets being topmost on their list
it doesn't take long for them to invade your cages and start harvesting up
all the living or dead inside the cage.
If time permits they'll start hauling their larvae into your potted plants
and setup a new home in there where you can bring the crickets to them.
(nice huh?)
I've had to nuke my home and cages several times over the last few years
to control their attempts to invade my "land of plenty".

It's best to stay on top of them and never let them have a chance to establish themselves.

 

[summoner12]

So is it bad for a cham to eat them? My boys like to eat the ones walking around the plant pot that I sun bath them on near the patio. They actually... either killed them all off.. or they stopped coming around.