Don't ignore ants...

[Spocktopus]

Hey guys! It's been a while since I posted here, but I have been lurking for the past week and I was reminded of a story from this summer that I forgot to post. So, I figured I would now as a cautionary tale to you all.

I really like ants. I think they're really neat and cute, and I've always been fascinated by their behavior. So, when I saw a few common sugar ants hanging out in my bathroom one day, I didn't want to kill them. I figured they were completely harmless, as well as rather adorable, so I just let them hang out and do their thing. Most I would see at a time was four or five workers, which didn't bother me in the least. My girlfriend at the time wasn't thrilled and would kill them, though. I eventually put out some bait traps to control the population for her sake.

One day, they completely disappeared. I figured the bait traps worked and got the queen, and I totally forgot about it. I was a little sad they were gone, but mostly relieved to have the pests taken care of. I didn't think about it again until I was sitting at my computer desk and one crawled on my hand. That had never happened before, but I figured it was just a fluke. My apartment is in a very old building, bugs come and go a lot. I killed it and went back to whatever I was doing.

Until it wasn't just one ant, it became two crawling on me, then three, then four. By this point, I was confused. I looked all around my room, but couldn't find any evidence of a colony. My hermit crabs also live on my computer desk, but when I investigated the tank, I didn't see anything unusual at all. There were no ants in the substrate, food, or on the crabs. Every time I looked, I never saw a thing. One of my crabs was molting at the time, so I didn't feel comfortable digging through the substrate to look further. This was a mistake.

After a week of still having ants crawl on me while I was trying to work, I knew it was inevitable that I was going to have to tear the hermit crab tank apart. The second both of my crabs were on the surface, I prepared to inspect the tank thoroughly. I removed my two crabbies, who were thankfully completely fine. I had a bowl filled with hot water next to me, which I was going to put all of the tank décor in to secure them. I pulled back the lid and started moving the décor around, and the Ant-Mageddon broke lose. I picked up a cholla log to find dozens of white ant brood attached, and a biblical level flood of ants poured out. I started freaking out, my roommate started freaking out, and I started tossing things into the water as fast as humanly possible. Ants were EVERYWHERE. On me, on my desk, absolutely everywhere. I was completely taken aback since I had not seen any insect activity in my tank at any time, the water bowl was meant to be a precaution just in case. If I had any sense, I would have lined the tank edge with baby powder before attempting this, but I clearly do not have any sense.

Putting the decorations in the water killed probably 500 ants alone, not counting SO much brood. Tons of ants escaped into my room. Incredibly luckily, I spotted the queen crawling on my desk and I quickly dispatched her. If I didn't spot her, I likely would have had to completely move my enclosure or get rid of my crabs altogether. Once all the décor was out, I boiled a pot of water and poured it through all the substrate. This process was not only disgusting, but made me feel so guilty. They were pests, sure, but I didn't like killing them at all. Once it cooled down, I completely replaced my substrate and boiled every. last. thing. inside of my tank, whether it was a tiny shell or a massive hide. After a few hours of this, I was finally able to put my crabs back in their tank and go to sleep. After a few days of panicked workers appearing on the tank lid, the ants were finally defeated for good.

So, yeah. Don't ignore ants, or they will make your day very, very bad.

[JTKermie]

I commend your patience for them! I have zero when it comes to ants in the house and it's one of my worst fears with my hermit crab setups.

I've had tiny ants set up shop in/around my aquarium equipment over the years and it took some doing to get rid of them. Easy compared to a crabitat though.

[wodesorel]

You got so lucky!! This was how my crab colony was killed. I didn't see the sugar ants in my tank because they were so tiny, until they moved their nest under the water bowls. Picked up and it was an explosion like you had, with so many babies. It was awful. Unfortunately they had been in there for so long that they had taken out every molter that had gone down. I thought my guys were mass molting over the winter, but they were nearly all dead. 2/3 gone right there, and lost almost the entirety that were still alive from stress afterwards. I moved the entire tank to a different floor because it made me so nervous!

[Spocktopus]

I commend your patience for them! I have zero when it comes to ants in the house and it's one of my worst fears with my hermit crab setups.

I've had tiny ants set up shop in/around my aquarium equipment over the years and it took some doing to get rid of them. Easy compared to a crabitat though.

If you are ever worried about ants breaking into your hermit crab cage for any reason, I would recommend adding a line of baby powder mixed with just a little bit of isopropyl alcohol to the outside of your tank around the perimeter of the glass! Ants cannot grip onto surfaces covered in talcum powder. This strategy is commonly used in ant keeping to keep ants inside tanks, but would definitely work to keep them out as well. They are stubborn little bugs, but at least there's some defense

[Spocktopus]

You got so lucky!! This was how my crab colony was killed. I didn't see the sugar ants in my tank because they were so tiny, until they moved their nest under the water bowls. Picked up and it was an explosion like you had, with so many babies. It was awful. Unfortunately they had been in there for so long that they had taken out every molter that had gone down. I thought my guys were mass molting over the winter, but they were nearly all dead. 2/3 gone right there, and lost almost the entirety that were still alive from stress afterwards. I moved the entire tank to a different floor because it made me so nervous!

Oh no, that sounds awful! I'm so sorry that happened to you, that must have been completely miserable All those poor crabs... those sugar ants really are so tiny and impossible to see. I couldn't believe how many there were in my tank without seeing any of them at all, not even evidence that food had been taken. I guess sugar ants are not as harmless as I assumed, I'm so grateful that my crabs made it out unscathed.