ANTS -- ANY ENTOMOLOGISTS OUT THERE?

[Mmathis]

Went to check on my brumating (hibernating) turtles yesterday afternoon and found that a GINORMOUS fire ant bed had been build smack in the middle of their "worm" bed (an enclosed area for them to safely brumate, but also a place to harbor worms, grubs, pill bugs, etc.)

Can't use chemicals around the turts. Could have poured boiling water over the ant bed, but risked harm to any of the turts who might have been dug in.

Ended up sucking boiling water into the SHOP VAC, then sucking out as many of the ants and eggs as possible. I dug down and found at least 3 egg chambers, so hope I got the queen. Went through about 5 empties on the SHOP VAC!

Wonder if I did more harm than good, but was in a panic (the turtles would have been helpless if the ants had gotten to them) and wanted those ants OUT OF THERE ASAP!! Never did uncover any of the turtles, though, so hopefully they were never really in danger.

Just how many egg chambers do those guys make? There sure were a LOT of eggs!

 

[addy1]

Are the turtles eating right now? I use http://www.amdro.com/Amdro/index.html it is a crystal the worker ants take to the queen and it kills off the nest.
A small sugar type crystal you could put right into the tunnel of the fire ants. I don't think the turtles would bother it.


This is a good article on getting rid of fire ants

http://www.uaex.edu/...DF/FSA-7052.pdf


In the mound, fire ants have an extensive tunneling system. The tunnels are constructed to improve air movement throughout the colony. Tunnels have been found to a depth of 10 feet in some soils. Soil type also has an impact on the depth of the tunnels – clay
soils will have deeper tunnels than sandy soils.



Because such a small amount of active ingredient is placed on the bait particles, humans or animals would have to eat a huge amount before getting sick or dying. For example, to exceed the oral LD50 standard, a 50pound dog would have to eat nine pounds of Amdro (hydramethylnon) fire ant bait. The LD50 standard refers to the lethal dose needed to kill 50 percent of the test animal population. See the table below for toxicity of fire ant baits.

 

[HARO]

There you go... Addy the ANTomologist!!! :cheerful:
John

 

[addy1]

I get along with ants as long as they stay far from my house.................... I react to their bites almost as bad as I do to wasp stings, red welts, pain, itching.

 

[Mmathis]

We use AMDRO all the time around here, but really not sure about using it around the turtles. More "reptile" research needed for that idea. My babies weigh out in ounces, and the heaviest now was right @ 8 oz when I did their pre-winter exams. No, they're not eating now. I did read something a while back about using diatomaceous earth, sprinkled around the outside of their habitat. But even then, they stressed using a certain kind (?). Don't recall what it was or why a certain kind was preferred: whether it had to do with SAFETY or EFFICACY.

Can't stand FIRE ANTS with a passion! I think they're smart and know they're safe in the habitat!

 

[addy1]

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5877278_turtles-diatomaceous-earth.html

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/securehabitat.html

Here is a few reads about diatomaceous earth and turtles