[Guest]

I have big black ants trying and succeeding in getting into my dart tank. I have had these in the past. One morning I woke up and there was a black line across the floor to under the door and they carried off every cricket I had in a 10 gallon tank with a lid on it. And this was a brand new box of 1000.
I am going to go to WalMart and get poison, ant traps, whatever it takes, but I am afraid to leave the tank. I have taken about six out of there so far. These stupid things are big, they could hurt my frogs. Can anyone recommend anything to do while I am gone?
Their lights are due to go out in 15 minutes, I think I will leave it on until I get back. I just don't know what to do other than sit and watch for any and get them out of there.
Please, any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Rhonda

 

[Guest]

If the problem is urgent, I would say move the tank to the bathroom. Put the tank in the bathtub with about 2 inches of water in it.

****Or.....and this might be more practical. Put a 2 inch band of vaseline around the perimeter of the tank. Chances are the ants wont be able to cross the vaseline barrier. I used to do this for roaches and it never failed.

 

[Scott]

How are they getting in?

No insects can get out of my tanks... therefore none can get in.

And... if you're going to poison the ants, you better darn make sure NO INSECTS are getting in the tanks, otherwise you risk poisoning your frogs.

Now...

I've read that putting the "feet" of the tank stand in water... works.

Of course... this is dependant on what type of stand you have.

Another thing... tape is often too slick for an insect to get a grip on, so if you tape around the entry to the tank, they will fall off before getting in.

Good luck.

s

 

[kyle1745]

I would say your tank needs sealed better.

I have big black ants trying and succeeding in getting into my dart tank. I have had these in the past. One morning I woke up and there was a black line across the floor to under the door and they carried off every cricket I had in a 10 gallon tank with a lid on it. And this was a brand new box of 1000.
I am going to go to WalMart and get poison, ant traps, whatever it takes, but I am afraid to leave the tank. I have taken about six out of there so far. These stupid things are big, they could hurt my frogs. Can anyone recommend anything to do while I am gone?
Their lights are due to go out in 15 minutes, I think I will leave it on until I get back. I just don't know what to do other than sit and watch for any and get them out of there.
Please, any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Rhonda

 

[Guest]

I have been checking the entire outside of the tank. It seems the ants are crawling up the electrical cords. I have the area that the cords enter the tank and all the way across the back of the lid heavily duct taped and I have added some more. all sides of the lid (glass lid) have a layer of weather stripping to make a tight fit. I did watch two fall in when I opened the lid. I have been watching the tank for over an hour and have not seen anymore inside the tank. There was only one smaller one that I tried to get and it was in a hard to get spot and when I tried to get it I smooshed it done into the coco bedding. I never saw it come back up and I soaked the area with water.
Whenever I feed I will usually leave the lid open to let fresh air in and I am so intent on watching that the frogs don't get out that I was not paying attention to anything getting in!
I want to thank you very much for your advice. I can't carry the tank to water, it is a 58 gallon. I have taken your wonderful advice and used both double sided tape and vasoline all the way around the tank. I taped all of the electrical cords seperately and together.
I am hoping that when I had the lid open earlier getting a brom out that that is when they got in.
Thanks again.
Rhonda

 

[kyle1745]

If the tape does not work, pull the frogs out and silicon the back of the top, adn around the cords. I do this on my tanks and it works great. Worst case I have to pull one off and then silicon it again.

I have been checking the entire outside of the tank. It seems the ants are crawling up the electrical cords. I have the area that the cords enter the tank and all the way across the back of the lid heavily duct taped and I have added some more. all sides of the lid (glass lid) have a layer of weather stripping to make a tight fit. I did watch two fall in when I opened the lid. I have been watching the tank for over an hour and have not seen anymore inside the tank. There was only one smaller one that I tried to get and it was in a hard to get spot and when I tried to get it I smooshed it done into the coco bedding. I never saw it come back up and I soaked the area with water.
Whenever I feed I will usually leave the lid open to let fresh air in and I am so intent on watching that the frogs don't get out that I was not paying attention to anything getting in!
I want to thank you very much for your advice. I can't carry the tank to water, it is a 58 gallon. I have taken your wonderful advice and used both double sided tape and vasoline all the way around the tank. I taped all of the electrical cords seperately and together.
I am hoping that when I had the lid open earlier getting a brom out that that is when they got in.
Thanks again.
Rhonda

 

[MarkJ]

Last summer when I went to canada I guess I left half a sandwich or some food item laying on my desk, at this time I had firebellied toads and 7 green and black auratus. I walked into my room and freaked out! There were trails of ants everywhere, first thing I did was remove the food source and make sure none had gotten into my frogs, which none had. I used a vacuum every 3 minutes and sucked up as many ants as possible I had to do this for about 3 days. I used traps inside my room where once they go in they can't get out and that worked well, I figured some were getting in through a crack in in window framed so I sprayed and sealed it. I would recommend moving the tanks or any of the tape or vasalene ideas, but also vacuum the ants and get them out of the room. Good Luck!

 

[Guest]

I guess the tape I have is not strong enough. I watched one walk right over all of it. I am going to go get an entire arsenal to kill them. I am going to get those traps that Mark talked about.
This room is notorious for creepy crawly things. The people that lived here before us added this part and did not do a very good job of sealing things.
I have killed everyone I saw. It is so weird though because they are not trying to get into any of the other tanks. I also have quite a few fruitfly cutures that they are not going near.
Thanks again.
Rhonda

 

[Guest]

Well I have not seen any ants and I have strategically placed 18 ant traps. I also got some "Hot Shot Kitchen Bug Killer", it said that it was safe for kitchen pantries so I thought it would be safer here also. I am also in the process of making a framed screen top that will sit tightly on the lip of the tank top for when I have the lid open.
Thanks again for all of your help.
Now if I can just get that moss identified
Rhonda

 

[RSines]

I would get rid of all the traps ASAP!!

Hey,

As good as 18 traps sounds, its not. The traps actually attract ants. We once had fire ants invade our beach property. Our first response was load it up with ant traps. The problem persisted and we called the exterminator. He told us the traps actually killed the first colony but attracted a second and third because we had so many. His advice: Place the trap close to where the ants enter the house but no where else.

Good luck!
-Richard

 

[Guest]

Thanks Richard. I placed them all along the window sill where they were crawling, which is 6 wide windows across. I will be keeping a very close eye on them. I also sprayed the outside door frame and threshold (from outside with the door closed) with the kitchen bug killer. Hopefully I won't have this problem again. I will especially be watching when I open the lid.
Thanks again.
Rhonda