Help! Ant Attack!!!

[crapwhereaminow]

I fed my male this evening, a fresh killed adult mouse. He won't eat in front of me so I left him alone for an hour or so.

When I looked back in he still hadn't eaten, and the dead mouse was covered in ants!!! I pulled him out, but they're all over his cage!

Should I completely clean out his cage? (I've got work in 5 hours though, I need to get some sleep) or is he ok with the ants? I'd feel really bad leaving him in there with them though.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

[angllady2]

First, I'd want to know where the ants came from and how did they get in the snakes enclosure ?

For them to completely cover a dead mouse in only an hour, there has to be a lot of them, and they had to have been in that area for a while. Ants do send out scouts looking for food, but it take many hours or even days for them to find food that way unless you drop it on an established ant trail.

Do not leave your snake in with the ants. While they may not be capable of harming him through his scales, they will find his delicate eyes, nostrils, mouth and vent and could do serious damage. The fastest way to get rid of them temporarily is dump any bedding in the enclosure out, then stick the whole thing in the shower to wash them away.

This is only a temporary fix however, because more will quickly follow the established scent trail and invade his cage again. If you don't have any bug killer in the house you could spray on a towel and wipe all around where his cage sits, sprinkle cinnamon around it as a stop-gap measure until you can get the bug killer.

Please take care of this now, not later. I understand the need for sleep before work, but that is what 5 hour Energy is for!!

Gale

[bsash]

I have to agree with gale, that would need to be taken care of immediately. Ants could be a serious problem.

[ALTownsend1]

Should I completely clean out his cage? (I've got work in 5 hours though, I need to get some sleep) or is he ok with the ants? I'd feel really bad leaving him in there with them though.

Are you really asking this? Please Please Please tell me you didn't take the time to log on and type this up, all while making an excuse for "not having time" to keep ANTS off your DEFENSELESS SNAKE. I honestly hope this is a joke

[crapwhereaminow]

Alright, the bedding is dumped, the cage is washed out, the surrounding area has been bug spray/wiped. I don't see any more ants but I'm terrified to go to sleep!
I've got my guy out on my lap and he seems ok.

Ugh, this was just so disgusting! I panicked, and wrote too quickly. This stuff just always seems to happen at night. And no, I'd never leave him in there, at the very least I'd have moved him to a clean qt tub and left his cage outside or something.

Seriously though, does this kind of stuff happen to anyone else? Or am I just extra special?

[llovelace]

We have all been there at one time or another, I would find out where the ants are coming from 2morrrow

[mechnut450]

never had ants but I gotten stray roaches in orders of snake stuff( like heat tape,bowls and such) I think they were picked up along the trip. I propley killed the sob and sprayed a strong chemical around the room floor whe it happens. it seems that even the cleanest of people can get these annoying bugs. I seen ants in mom's kitchen many a time and I usely get some ortho and pread around outside and they vanish for the rest of the summer. ( makes a note need to do this again.) the stuff smells like kero(heater fuel) and chocolate.

I bee ntold that ants don't like vinger either.

[stevepoppers]

Once you've treated the enclosure, I'd treat your house for a general ant infestation. Or at least keep Provent-a-Mite around. There are definitely a LOT of them coming from somewhere VERY close by.

[Vypyrz]

I treat my tubs once a month with Provent-A-Mite and that pretty much takes care of anything that might get around the enclosures. If I happen to notice any around the window sill, I'll remove the snakes from the room and spray it out with bug spray and let it air out for a couple of hours before putting the snakes back in the room...

[Zenllama]

Places to keep in mind when spraying. Ants can use any holes in your walls like a highway. i.e. electrical outlets, and cable/phone terminals.
Make sure to hit these areas as well as the perimeter of cove base where the wall and floor meet. When spraying I use the double perimeter approach. One pass along the cove base(corner where floor and wall meet) and the second pass roughly 12" in from the wall on the floor. Then i spray the legs of the stands, so nothing can climb up the the stand to get to the tanks. I also spray about 12" of the power cords so nothing can climb up them either.
I try to isolate and treat any and all paths that any insect would have to cross to enter the room, as well as any path they would have to travel to reach the enclosure even if the would get into the room. Treating just the tank or rack will not give you a "sterile" herp room. I live in an older house and every spring and fall I run into ants that think they can share my house with me. They are very sadly mistaken.