Poison, ants and my bird

[noodles123]

I have some ants invading near my picture window where the bird-stand is. Before responding, I do vacuum obsessively. This has happened every summer (even before I had a bird).


Anyway, I bought some of those plastic ant bait stations (Makes me nervous but the bird is never alone with them and I watch her to make sure she can't mess with them).


HERE IS MY ISSUE----yesterday, some ants made it up onto my bird's play-stand perch and she started to try to eat them/lick them (LOL/OH NO!?!)

I wouldn't mind if I knew she couldn't be poisoned second-hand, but I'm not sure and when I called a pest control company about this years ago, they didn't know either!



Any thoughts on this? What happens if she eats a poisoned ant that is still alive?

 

[condobirds]

Living in Florida, ants are part of life. When they get too bad, I use a product called Terro. I am sure that the ants get into the cages, playstands and if a bird eats an ant, nothing has ever happened. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[ChrisYNA]

That Terro stuff is amazing, but noodles has a valid question. What if an ant eats some Terro or similar and then the bird eats the ant. I don't know how dangerous that is, so I'll be reading here.

 

[noodles123]

Well, I am glad that others have at least survived the ant situation---Terro is great (would have gotten it, if not for the mess potential)...Even then, my concern is just that second-hand consumption, but obviously many birds have likely been exposed and survived. I appreciate the input so far and any other input is equally appreciated! Thank!

 

[EllenD]

That's a great question...I think the answer is just dependent on what the active ingredient/chemical/poison in the specific traps you're using is. Some of those types of chemicals are made specifically so that the pest can eat it, and then there is a delayed-reaction in the pest dying so that they have enough time to carry it back to the rest of their little pest-friends (rat poison is the best example of this, there is a 48-72 hour delay in death after something/someone eats rat poison, which is what makes it so effective, but also so horribly deadly to anyone and anything that touches it)...

I'd take a look on the packaging or just go online to the website of the manufacturer of the ant traps you have and see if there is any information listed there about what the poison/chemical used in them is, and if they list any specific info about exactly the question you have. If the poison/chemical is listed, then you can either research it and try to find the answer yourself...if you can't find any information on it, then the best thing you can do is to call the manufacturer and ask the directly about the toxicity to birds, as I would think that any pesticide companies must be required to keep all of this information right on-hand for poison-control/hospitals/doctors and just for consumers who buy their products.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I've had ant issues. While I was solving the problem (via diatomaceous earth outside around the house perimeter) I smeared sonne vaseline on the cage legs. Ants won't go on it and they get caught if they do. Somebody told me this trick back in New Mexico. Works like a charm!

 

[EllenD]

Just to mention something about those bait stations really quickly, I believe the active ingredient is something similar to Borax in most of them, it's called Indoxacarb, and their is a delayed-onset with this stuff, so if that's what is in the traps you are using, then it's almost definite that the ants crawling around have already been through the trap and back out again, as with this stuff that's exactly the way they are supposed to work. Many people think that these things don't work because they sit and watch the ants walking into the trap and them right back out the other side of the trap, and they don't realize that that's how they are supposed to work, so they carry it to the "Queen", lol, along with all the other ants in the nesting area.

So if that's the active-ingredient in the traps you have, then I don't think I'd want your bird eating them. Granted, it would probably take your bird eating quite a few ants to make him sick, but honestly I don't know the toxicity-level of this stuff, it may not take much at all, either way, if he's eating ants they have probably already been dosed with this stuff, if that's the ingredient you have...If I recall, the main issue with people, dogs, cats, birds, rodents, etc. ingesting Borax is that it causes their red blood cells to not be able to carry/deliver oxygen to the body tissues, or prevents the oxygen from binding with the red blood cells in the first place, etc. (long time ago, I don't remember specifically)...So obviously not something you want your bird or anyone else to ingest...

 

[EllenD]

I've had ant issues. While I was solving the problem (via diatomaceous earth outside around the house perimeter) I smeared sonne vaseline on the cage legs. Ants won't go on it and they get caught if they do. Somebody told me this trick back in New Mexico. Works like a charm!

Now that's genius!

 

[noodles123]

I called the vet and they said that a study from Cornell indicated that birds had few problems due to ingestion of the particular chemical in mine( They are Raid brand and the chemical starts with an A and then has a hyphen and a "b" after it- can't recall the name..something -b).. I think I will still do something else and I love the diatomaceous earth+Vaseline idea!