Ants!!!!!

[LaManuka]

Like many of you I’m sure, ants drive me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS!!! I live in Brisbane and this town is notorious for ant issues. Before I had the current stainless steel cages I was able to keep them out by plastering petroleum jelly around the cage legs which worked perfectly. Something seems to have changed since getting the steel cages cos now the ants are quite happy to wade through it and head straight for Lilly’s fruit dish in particular. Several other “old husband’s tales” I’ve tried to keep them out are sticking the cage legs in bowls of water (they learned to swim!) double-sided sticky tape (a few got stuck and their nestmates used the dead bodies as a bridge!!) chalk, talcum powder and (eeek!) oil of cloves (ok yell at me, I know it’s smelly and probably bad for birds but it actually kinda worked & birds are still alive!)

The other remedy I know is to go outside and find the place where they get in and put a stop to it there, oh if only it was that easy! I would have to hack away at about 6 square metres or more of shrubs that back on to the house, and believe you me when you got an ugly little post-war home like mine you NEED some shrubbery to soften the look! Plus I’m fairly sure the crawl space under the house would be awash with ant nests requiring thermo-nuclear detonation the likes of which would make my home unliveable for birds and humans.

So my question is this. Does anyone know of any non-toxic ant deterrents other than those listed above? I will try just about any old wives and/or husbands tales, home brews, witchcraft (white or black I don’t care!) which will rid me of these relentless pests!

Thank you all in advance

PS MrLaurieKeats (hubby, God love him!) suggested something about a moat of flaming petrol but I didn’t think would be very practical...

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I don't have a clear non-toxic recommendation, but I do highly recommend Terro-PCO. It's a liquid form, so you just put one tiny drop where the path of ants commonly go. They'll pick it up and bring it back.

I feel safe using it around Cairo because we do make sure to put it in places he can't access (but the ants can). And it just takes one drop for one bedroom

 

[ChristaNL]

Ehm (I just let a bunch of feeder-crickets escape in my livingroom yesterday, so not sure I should be giving advice at all ;P), why not up the swimming challenge and lower surface-tension by adding a few drops of washing-up liquid to the bowls of water?
(You probably already did that, right?)
Let's see how well they swimm underneath the surface


Grandma's way (old folks around here)
used to put copper(ish) one and five cent-pieces on windowsills and underneath the gaps of doors to the outside. Not sure if it is in any way effective (coppergreen/oxide is toxic to everything, but since those coins did not corrode much...not sure about the effects).
Just like lavender, chives etc. are supposed to scare them off (not ideal when you have birds around) but they are usefull and pretty in the garden .


Coffeegrinds is also one of the ways (you can even have coffee first, use the leftovers) to disrupt their scented highways into your house... just plunk it down on the trodden/preferred paths for a day or two, that is all you need -> to the ants it is like you've changed all the roadsigns to their destination.

 

[Betrisher]

Try Vicks Vaporub. It works a treat for keeping ants off roses (they bring aphids to feed on the shoots), so it should work to keep ants off your parrot.

What kind of ants do you get? Sometimes, sugar ants will come into my cages, which is disturbing. (Sugar ants can be 2cm long with biggish jaws on them). Worse, though, are meat ants, which have walloping great bitey jaws. They're *huge* and hoboy do they sting! I worry about those in my cages because I don't know how much harm a sting from one of those could do to my precious parrots. Thankfully, the dog eats them whenever she can find them, so I rely on her.

PS. You could make your own el cheapo Vicks by asking your local pharamacist to mix some menthol flakes (get him to pulverise them) and/or eucalyptus oil into a pot of petroleum jelly. You could even go the step farther and add some borax or boric acid to make the mix poisonous to the insects (taking every precaution not to let parrots anywhere near it). This is good for cockroaches too.

 

[LaManuka]

Thanx for the suggestions so far, keep ‘em coming!

Didn’t think to put detergent in the water which is a bit dopey of me since that’s what I do with my home-made fruitfly traps (duh!!) Will also try the lavender oil as it certainly smells nicer than cloves. Betrisher my Hubby did suggest the Vicks vaporub but I was paranoid about the fumes so will keep that in mind also We primarily get those little black ants about 2 or 3mm in length, i don’t know the species, sometimes I call them berserker ants because that’s how they make me feel!!!

Unfortunately I’m WAY too paranoid to use anything like the baits cos I have visions of one ant full of toxins finding it’s way into Lilly’s cage and her chomping on it and... well ... best not mentioned really ...

But I’m loving these ideas and looking forward to more suggestions, nothing is too crazy!

 

[ChristaNL]

There is always lemonjuice of course
very birdyfriendly and safe

You can use it pure on their highways, or just 'sour the pot' by scrubbing their favorite places with hot water & lemonjuice.
(or just pour boiling water in their nests / if you really want to p. them off you can even use cheap instant coffee with it. Not sure whate the deal is with ants and coffee, but they hate it)

Of course there is baking powder etc etc. (selfraising flour is reputed to be eaten/ brought back to the nest and make them 'explode from the inside' -> expanding foodstuff ruptures their gut, if it does not work add powdered suger -> only outside of course, you are not opening an ant-all-you-can-eat next to the cages, right?)

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Unfortunately I’m WAY too paranoid to use anything like the baits cos I have visions of one ant full of toxins finding it’s way into Lilly’s cage and her chomping on it and... well ... best not mentioned really ...

Good point! You guys always never fail to make me more paranoid

 

[LaManuka]

Unfortunately I’m WAY too paranoid to use anything like the baits cos I have visions of one ant full of toxins finding it’s way into Lilly’s cage and her chomping on it and... well ... best not mentioned really ...

Good point! You guys always never fail to make me more paranoid

Sorry didn’t mean to add to the paranoia load! I swear sometimes I get SO paranoid I’m too scared to do anything...

Gonna give the self raising flour a try though, I like the idea of the little suckers exploding from the inside I think I’ve exterminated so many ants in my time that their descendants know where I live and they’re coming for me!!

 

[SailBoat]

And, like it or not. It all starts out-side and removing the bushes. The first goal is to create a one meter open area around the home. This works to reduce the moisture in the ground and provide the Sun and air flow a chance to keep things a bit drier. It also creates a kill zone for those creatures that feed on ants and bugs to improve their access.

As part of creating that open area kill zone, you can remove any soil that has built-up against the foundation of the home. Once again for all the reasons provided above. Now target foundation windows, doorways into the home and cracks in the foundation. Repair /seal any openings between the building and the foundation, plus foundation cracks.

Once this area is complete, Create a chemical block by spraying along the base and side of the foundation and on to the soil area per the recommendations of the Bug Killer chemical you are using. Also include the framing for the basement windows and doorways and any stairways.

Craw spaces are a repeat of the outside of the home but also include all additional support structures under the home and all pipes that exist between the building the the ground under the house. Once all work is completed this area is ready for the Bug Killer chemical.

Be very mindful of any moist areas most commonly found around pipes and under kitchens and bathrooms. Replace /repair any leaking pipes or source products like toilets, sinks and the like. Look for any signs of rot and replace or repair as needed. Creating a dry craw area in and of itself will greatly reduce the inflow of bugs as moisture is a base requirement.

Note: Most people will avoid doing the above as it is hard dirty work! But it will greatly assure the long term value of your home and provide you a vast reduction in the invasion of unwanted bugs.

 

[Flboy]

For sure, bait! Poison only causes the colonies to split and expand! A nontoxic remedy is food grade(agricultural) DE! Spread the powder around the floor, and outside where you see them!
For a poison that is tracked back to the colonies, Demon WP, is amazing! BUT, you MUST follow the label! May not even be legal in your country!
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-WP-Ins...ocphy=9012393&hvtargid=pla-486225635650&psc=1

 

[noodles123]

Someone suggested vaseline on cage legs (I haven't tried it, but it is a good idea).

Terro's active ingredient seems to be Borax. The company says you can use it outdoors (but I would make sure that you read the fine print about pets ingesting it first---I don't have a box to reference).

I would be very careful using DE indoors (I would spread it outdoors and wear a mask). DE is generally non-toxic if ingested, but inhalation is a different story. There are a few different types and both can cause respiratory irritation in human. The crystalline form can become airborne if disrupted and embed itself in your lugs like little bits of glass, causing cancer etc when inhaled... If you think about walking around/vacuuming/tearing up carpet, these could all disrupt in-house DE. Make sure you get the "food-grade" variety if you use it at all.

Last year, my vet told me to avoid baits after I caught Noodles eating an ant. There are some poisons that are worse than others. I remember when I called the office, the vet tech was like, "Uhh, yea baits are indirectly dangerous to birds if they eat the insect!" (I was expecting a more nonchalant/uncertain response...which made me feel stupid/worried (because I had only considered the risk of her eating the poison directly, until then)...

Anyway, when the vet returned my call, she said that, according to what she was able to find, the one I was using was safer than others, but there had been little research overall on birds and avermectin b1 (excluding one she referenced from Cornell- Abamectin). Either way, it is smart to opt for something else (in my opinion).

I made a similar post last year, if you are interested in that:
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/76342-poison-ants-my-bird.html

 

[Scott]

Dawn Liquid Dishwashing Soap is purportedly used to clean wild oil-soaked birds. I've used it with reasonable success against ants diluted and smeared on granite kitchen counters. Seems to keep ants away from playstands and cages with chop when smeared full strength on the lower legs.

Dawn makes a myriad of liquid products, some with fewer dyes. Not sure of availability globally.

 

[Inger]

This link has tons of ideas. I did the sugar/baking soda one last year and the ants were gone in a day.

https://pesthacks.com/homemade-ant-killer/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Flboy]

.....I would be very careful using DE indoors (I would spread it outdoors and wear a mask). DE is generally non-toxic if ingested, but inhalation is a different story. There are a few different types and both can cause respiratory irritation in human. The crystalline form can become airborne if disrupted and embed itself in your lugs like little bits of glass, causing cancer etc when inhaled... If you think about walking around/vacuuming/tearing up carpet, these could all disrupt in-house DE. Make sure you get the "food-grade" variety if you use it at all........

As I said, food grade! Perfectly safe!

https://richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp
https://www.mommypotamus.com/diatomaceous-earth-uses/

There is no wiggle room here! You must not use pool grade de!

 

[LaManuka]

Interesting suggestions everyone, thank you all!

I have a glorious 4 day break from work so will put them to the test and report back. I already tried Vaseline but the little beggars are SO keen to get to Lilly’s fruit dish they happily waded thru the stuff! Hubby suggested the VaporRub but I hesitated because of the smell - actually I ended up trying it on the one leg of Lilly’s cage they were climbing and it was pretty effective.

Like I said, Brisbane is an absolute shocker for ants particularly in summer, you’d just about have to go fully thermo-nuclear on their butts to even make a dent in their population but I’ll be doing my best to do just that ... nukes away!!

 

[Betrisher]

Re: Ants!!!!! (Warning: Off topic content in this one post)

selfraising flour is reputed to be eaten/ brought back to the nest and make them 'explode from the inside' -> expanding foodstuff ruptures their gut, if it does not work add powdered suger -> only outside of course, you are not opening an ant-all-you-can-eat next to the cages, right?

WARNING: This is off-topic, but I can't help myself. It reminds me of an incident that happened to me in the days of my youth. Stop reading if OT offends you, OK?

When I was young, I was horse-mad. My parents enrolled me at a riding academy run by an ex-officer of the Hungarian cavalry. He taught us (a mixture of female pupils) dressage and we called him 'Georghe Bacsi' (Uncle George).

Georghe Bacsi wore crisp white jodhpurs, tall shiny black boots a clipped pencil moustache and patent leather curly black hair. He carried a short riding crop with a long crack on the end. His stables, his school and his covered arena were *immaculate*, just like his person. The reason they were immaculate - except for Georghe Bacsi's person, of course - was that *we* tragic, horse-mad pupils swept, washed and polished them to within an inch of their sorry lives every single day.

One stinking hot summer morning, Georghe Bacsi announced that classes would be postponed until the late afternoon. He would go home and 'do some paperwork' (that was Hungarian for 'have a nap') and we would whitewash the fence on the main dressage arena and be finished by the time he returned. Georghe Bacsi departed in his little black Saab and we set to work prising open the big drums of whitewash and doling out paintbrushes. We ranged in age from Linny Masson, who was five, to myself, who was fourteen.

After a pleasant afternoon whitewashing the fences, the shed doors and each other, it grew far too hot to put on an extra coat of whitewash, so we cleaned our brushes, put the whitewash neatly away in the shed and sat down to eat our lunches. After lunch, we decided to tidy up the feed shed, so we emptied its contents out into the stableyard.

This was where my friend, Jenny, found a drum labelled 'Nutrequin: Vitamin supplement for shiny hair, strong hooves and good health'. She opened the drum and stuck in her finger to taste the beige powder.

'Yum!' said Jenny, 'Tastes like Vegemite!'

As any Australian would, we all tucked into the nice vegemite-flavoured powder, scooping it out in our hands and munching on it rather greedily. After a while, we heard the little black Saab approaching and put the stuff quickly away, presenting sparklingly whitewashed fences and a tidy feed shed to Georghe Bacsi.

We began our afternoon class, which consisted of sitting-trot without reins or stirrups. This is not an easy thing to do: it's rather like riding on an egg-beater and can be uncomfortable until you work out the way of doing it. Georghe Bacsi could see were not happy, so he called a break and, uncharacteristically, offered us all a drink of Coke, which he had in his Esky (cooler). Of course, being hot, we all guzzled our Coke and then remounted to resume sitting-trot.

Bleargh! One by one, twelve silly little girls dismounted abruptly and ran for the ladies' convenience at the top of the driveway. Our stomachs were exploding! The stuff we'd eaten was a concentrate, meant to be mixed to a paste with water and added to a warm bran mash. Drinking Coke on top of it added to its - ah - effervescent effect and the sensation that we were all about to collectively blow up.

Oh! The tears! The agony!

But Georghe Bacsi was no fool! He knew exactly what to do for a horse with colic (which was, essentially, what we all had). He whipped us all up with his little riding crop, cracking it on our respective bottoms and geed us up to run to the top of the hill and back down again. We did this repeatedly, amidst a great deal of - um - escaping gas. The pain was indescribable, but after a healthy half-hour of running uphill and down, each girl felt a lot better. We all agreed it would be quite a while before we would have Vegemite on our sandwiches after that little incident.

So, when you say 'ruptured gut' it reminds me severely of that dreadful day when my friends and I nearly did exactly that!

 

[Birds lover from Hawaii]

Like many of you I’m sure, ants drive me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS!!! I live in Brisbane and this town is notorious for ant issues. Before I had the current stainless steel cages I was able to keep them out by plastering petroleum jelly around the cage legs which worked perfectly. Something seems to have changed since getting the steel cages cos now the ants are quite happy to wade through it and head straight for Lilly’s fruit dish in particular. Several other “old husband’s tales” I’ve tried to keep them out are sticking the cage legs in bowls of water (they learned to swim!) double-sided sticky tape (a few got stuck and their nestmates used the dead bodies as a bridge!!) chalk, talcum powder and (eeek!) oil of cloves (ok yell at me, I know it’s smelly and probably bad for birds but it actually kinda worked & birds are still alive!)

The other remedy I know is to go outside and find the place where they get in and put a stop to it there, oh if only it was that easy! I would have to hack away at about 6 square metres or more of shrubs that back on to the house, and believe you me when you got an ugly little post-war home like mine you NEED some shrubbery to soften the look! Plus I’m fairly sure the crawl space under the house would be awash with ant nests requiring thermo-nuclear detonation the likes of which would make my home unliveable for birds and humans.

So my question is this. Does anyone know of any non-toxic ant deterrents other than those listed above? I will try just about any old wives and/or husbands tales, home brews, witchcraft (white or black I don’t care!) which will rid me of these relentless pests!

Thank you all in advance

PS MrLaurieKeats (hubby, God love him!) suggested something about a moat of flaming petrol but I didn’t think would be very practical...

Hi LaManuka:

As you may be aware that I am a new member from Hawaii which means I have the same ant problems that you have. Have you already found a good solutions till now? If not, this is what we do and find it quite effective. It was the most horrifying scene to see the whole bird cage full of ants crawling around when I removed the cover in the morning. I could even see them in the water container which I couldn't figure why. Their favorite food is munching on my bird's poops as it must be sweet as he loves carrots. All different kinds of ants from medium to extremely small size can be seen on the floor, kitchen cupboards and even shown up on my cutting board in the middle of chopping food. So the formula is as follows:

3/4 cup white sugar + 1 cup water + 2-3 tbsp Boric Acid
(Use a small pot to boil the solution using low heat and stir till sugar dissolved. Let cool and store in a plastic container)

*Be careful when you boil the solution and not to inhale deeply. Also be sure to wash your hand thoroughly after using the dropper.

Use a dropper to apply some of the solution onto a plastic dish or lid. Try to look for where the ants traffic path is and put the dish there. It is best to put another slightly bigger lid loosely on top as the ants like to crawl inside some dark place to find food. I put one or two on the floor near the bird cage and some near the front door and sliding door to the patio. As soon as the ants started to gather on the dish, they will focus their attention on it and will be busy transporting them to their nest thus will kill the whole gang. We will have some peaceful and quiet days for a quite awhile. I have never seen them crawling on the bird food and cage once they found the "Real" food that I prepared for them.

Hope this helps if you still haven't found a way.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh wow, I almost forgot I even started this thread! I do remember the ants were particularly bad that summer as it was pretty dry here, and the little blighters were coming into the house en masse looking for water just about as much as anything else.

Thank you Birds lover from Hawaii for your most ingenious remedy. I have visited your beautiful State but did not get to see your ant colonies in action, though I imagine being a climate even more tropical than mine you would get some pretty ferocious species up there as well. And just like yours, ours like to go for my little Lilly's poop too, she being a nectar feeder they must find it quite irresistible!!

Happily I did actually stumble across an effective deterrent that worked with our local species, which was to smear canola oil on the legs of my bird cages. Canola oil is cheap to buy and the ants are unable to get a grip on it at all so it stops them in their tracks. Unfortunately my house is old and full of gaps and plugging them all is an impossibility so they're always going to find a way inside. My solution there is to squirt them at the entry point with avian mite and lice spray. I've never actually had to use that stuff on my birds but ants are just another insect so the mite spray kills them stone dead too.

Like most things, what works in one setting may not work in another, so it's good that we now have your contribution among this whole arsenal of weaponry that we can unleash upon these relentless hordes when they appear! Don't get me wrong, I would even avoid stepping on an ant if I saw one crossing the path in front of me but if they cross the line and come into my house I am gonna nuke the whole bally lot of 'em - with extreme prejudice!!!!

 

[Scott]

Two years later, want to reiterate my advice using Dawn dish soap! Smearing on cage legs before chop insertion does the trick entire day, does't mar powder coat paint finish.

 

[Birds lover from Hawaii]

Two years later, want to reiterate my advice using Dawn dish soap! Smearing on cage legs before chop insertion does the trick entire day, does't mar powder coat paint finish.

It may work for some but not my boy as sometimes I let the cage door open and enjoy watching him sliding down the cage leg like a fireman. He may need to use his beak to help him slide and the Dawn dish soap may get onto his little pinky tongue.