Ants!! and Molting

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 11:12 pm

My 3 yo (almost 4!) daugher woke us up this morning bright and early at 6AM, telling us that there were ants all over her crab house. I went to look, and sure enough, there were ants on the outside of the tank, and also some inside.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Orange County, but this place seems to have been built on a gigantic ant hill, and so ants are a constant problem for people living in this area. Oftentimes, the ants are attacted to moisture, and I'm sure the humid hermit-crab tank is very attractive to them.

I sprayed outside of the tank with some pyrethrin-containing insectiside, which is relatively harmless to humans. Didn't do anything inside the tank except to try to clean up some of the ants.

While cleaning up, I noticed that one of the crabs, Oscar, looked a little odd. I went to pick him up, and he fell out of the shell. I immediately though "oh s---, he's dead", but upon closer inspection, I saw he was alive in his shell, and what had fallen out was his exoskeleton. He must have molted! I did notice him digging a bit the last week or so, but this was on the surface, which I thought was odd.

Anyway, long story short, here are my questions:

1) What to do about Ants inside the hermit crab tank?
2) Anything I need to do with him post-molt? I left the exoskeleton in the tank, since they are supposed to eat it, though it doesn't look like it's being eaten.

Thanks!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 11:34 pm

try sticking double sided tape along the sides of the tank and hope the ants cant pass it? I dunno.. ants are terrible things.. impossible to get rid off!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 11:45 pm

Grrr, the ants are so bad here!!

I'm not sure about how to get them out of the inside of the tank but my parents use a unique way of keeping them out of the house/things they don't want them to get into.

I don't know exactly if this works because I haven't lived at home with my parents in awhile...but, they sprinkle powder around any object they don't want ants to get on.

They put all the open food like chips and cookies and cereal and things on top of the fridge and sprinkle it all the way around, just underneath it. Sometimes it looks a little funny, like my brother will have a line of it across the doorway his room shares with a bathroom, but they say it works well.

The reason they know is that my mom is allergic to EVERYTHING and the strong scent of normal bug cleaner just makes her feel that much worse. She's always trying to find ways to avoid chemicals.

my roommate also puts tape over the holes where they are coming from...and we use those ant hotel things.

That's all i can suggest!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 12:16 am

well you should definatley not spray the cage with chemicals

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 12:21 am

I know how you feel, i live in fountain valley. my nabors had a big ant problum recently. they use this thing that plugs into the wall. every couple of seconds it sends out some sorta ultra sonic soundwave or somthin like that which keeps the ants away and kills the existing ones. it works really really well. its wierd, but you cant argu with results. ill find out what its called and post it later. good luck

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 12:27 am

I've heard of that sound thing too! My parents got theirs from QVC or the Home Shopping Channel or something like that. And it did work. The pattern of sound even changes so they don't get used to it.

megs · Post by **megs** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 12:41 am

But wouldn't that little sonic zapper bother the hermits?
My dad had some kind of similar device and it drove my frog crazy. I had to unplug it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 9:24 am

wow, i thought that was only for gophers. I saw it a home depot. You would stake it in your lawn and the ultrasonds would drive the gopherrs crazy and they would leave. Modern technology

I didnt know the ultra sounds would kill the ants though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:39 am

Have you tried dimatomaceous earth (DE) in guarding against ants? It's non-toxic, so it's safer to use around the yard and house, and doesn't smell. It's a powder so it can irritate if you breath in large clouds of it but besides that it's safe. It mechanically gets into the ants underside, pierces the shell and drys them out. I mix it with water in a sprayer and treat my foundation and known "ant hotspots" two or three times a year. It won't kill them until it dries though. They add it to animal feed now on farms - so bugs don't corrupt the feed, some intestinal parasites are killed as it passes through the animal and cow patties and the like don't even have flies because the DE that's passes through and ends up in the poop will wipe them out as well. I've been using it around my house for two years, the only drawback may be that I'm unsure if crabs are open to the same type of harm as ants in regards to the DE. The dust is extremely drying and is sharp enough to work it's way underneath an ants softer underbelly and it just sucks out all of their moisture. I've also wondered if it would help against mites, however, it might be just as harmful to crabs as insects, even though mammals can eat it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:00 pm

Thanks for the responses. The ants are gone now, must have just been one of those temporary things. Maybe my daughter left some food lying around that attracted them.

With regard to ant killing methods, one of the best things I've tried is called Grants for Ants. These are ant-bait type traps that really do work. The catch is that the active ingredient is arsenic, so you need to be really careful if you use this stuff around kids or pets.

I've used it for years with great results, but don't use it as often now because of the kids. I place a few stakes of it outside in areas where the kids can't get to, so I'm limited in how much I can use. Ever since using this stuff, I haven't had too many problems with ants, except for the occasional attack, like yesterday. When that happens, I just clean up, and it's usually gone.

I was concerned about seeing the ants in the hermit-crab tank, but since it looks like they are gone today, there hopefully won't be any more problems.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:49 pm

me and my limited wisdom would suggust that you give your hermies a bath too just incase there are any ants that got into their shells.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:05 pm

We live in Texas and the ants are terrible. My kids couldnt walk to the mail box without stepping in an ant hill. So we thought of trying that Over and Out and it worked. I havent had an ant in or around our property all season. You put it out in the spring every year.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:44 pm

To protect the hermies, strictly:

Smear a thin layer of vaseline around the inside top 3" of your crabitat.

They won't be able to pass that barrier.