Ants in feeder enclosures

[Matt Kolmann]

Set up a tub to house my crickets. I live in Tallahassee, FL - and we have a real problem with sugar ants. I went out to grab some feeders for the chams, and the tub was overrun with ants. It was ironic to see the crickets being pestered by another insect (they were pestering me when 200 crickets escaped in my apartment 2 weeks ago) but its pretty inconvenient to say the least. Any suggestions for keeping the ants out? I was thinking about grabbing some stainless steel shelving and rubbing vaseline on the legs - heard that that discourages crickets and roaches from crawling out of containers. I'd really prefer not to house them inside (and the ants have no problem getting into my place).

 

[Cainschams]

Set up a tub to house my crickets. I live in Tallahassee, FL - and we have a real problem with sugar ants. I went out to grab some feeders for the chams, and the tub was overrun with ants. It was ironic to see the crickets being pestered by another insect (they were pestering me when 200 crickets escaped in my apartment 2 weeks ago) but its pretty inconvenient to say the least. Any suggestions for keeping the ants out? I was thinking about grabbing some stainless steel shelving and rubbing vaseline on the legs - heard that that discourages crickets and roaches from crawling out of containers. I'd really prefer not to house them inside (and the ants have no problem getting into my place).

I feel your pain. I have to keep my bugs in the kitchen closet because that is the only place the ants havent got to them. Its a shame to loose thousands of crickets in one night. Nothing like waking up in the morning to find only a few ants in your bin scrapping up what is left of your feeders

 

[Jonas]

Could you make any kind of water traps for the ants? I often find that to be a cheap and simple solution.
There is a substance used in the university lab that is painted on surfaces that insects should not climb on, it becoms almost like a chalk when dried. Cant remember the name now though, no help there...

Minimizing the area to climb (like your shelving idea) is probably going to make any solution you use simpler.

 

[Goggles]

Some other members on here will keep the cricket bin in a shallow tub with water in the tub. That way the ants would have to walk on water to get to your crickets. I haven't had an ant problem but this sounds like the easiest and cheapest solution.
Terry

 

[Lizardlover]

The water method is by far the best and easiest. Ants are stopped in their tracks.

 

[ballin]

I know how you feel, my mealworms and beetles were attacked by ants just the other day.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Matt, put the feeder bin on a rack and then put each of the legs of the rack into one of those dish-like bottoms you sit potted plants in to collect extra water. Fill those with water and you should be fine.

Chris

 

[dirrtybirdy]

Ive came to a conclusion that whatever i do, the ants will always be there. Eating all my crickets, roaches and super worms. I hate ants! theyre all over the place. I feel like i need to bomb my whole house to get rid of them. They suck.

 

[chameleon97]

Hmmm

What if you put double sided tape around the perimeter of the enclosure?

 

[cushcameleon]

I used raid ant baits to get rid of my ant problem. They exacerbated the numbers of ants around my enclosure for a few days, but after that I haven't seen any ants at all.

 

[Matt Kolmann]

Cool. Great suggestions! I have a long shallow sort of pan I can fill with water and put the shelving in. Maybe I'll post some pictures later. There's lots of cham-cage organization changes coming... What I really should do is grab some horny toads - they could eat the ants I catch ; )