Yesterday morning I was pulling water dishes from the tubs to clean them and to my utter shock and horror, underneath the water bowl in Atlas' tub was a small nest of fire ants, little eggs and all!!! I immediately went to examine him and he seemed completely untouched (thank goodness) and I checked on the other snake in the same rack (only 2 of 6 slots have animals in them) and her tub was ant-free, so I figured I'd just clean and disinfect the one tub and that would be the end of it right?? Well, since then I've been checking like every few hours and just a bit ago I found a couple of ants under his water bowl!!

What can I do about this? I've had some issues with fire ants in my bathroom and kitchen for a few months now but it's only ever been a small amount here or there, and I've never seen them anywhere else in the apartment until now. Would treating the enclosure with provent-a-mite or another type of mite killer work to remove them and still be safe to the snakes? I would call maintenence but I know they'd get an exterminator and I'd have to find a place for the animals to stay while the apartment is spray treated, which is a hassle.

Btw here is a picture I managed to get of the ants. I assume the reason they were able to congregate like that without me noticing was because I fed and watered the snakes Tuesday night and had left them alone besides refilling water and checking for messes until Saturday morning, about 4 days later.

Any ideas appreciated, thanks!!

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