# Ocoee, what else can I do with these ants?? (pics!)



## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

Oh also, that swarm built up very fast, we've been giving him small amounts of food at a time and constantly checking his dish. It was fine last night, this morning right back to those pictures. The room his bowl is in is the kitchen, and they don't seem to even try exploring anywhere else in the house, just want his food and leave!


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

how about put the food outside of the house and let the cat eat outside only at dinner/lunch time... just let him drink water inside...


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

...........because he's indoors only 
My cat is a hybrid (bengal), basically he's a 3rd generation, his grandparent (maybe grandparent) was an asian leopard cat (jungle cat) that was bred to a domestic cat (tabby cats are usually used to breed with either asian leopard cats (to make bengal hybrids) or with servals (to make savannah hybrids).

This makes an awesome animal, his hair is really soft, he's spotted, hell he was a show cat / breedery stud before we adopted him. Unfortunately there's little things that are different though. Diet needs to be pretty specific (very, very picky eater, easily prone to diahrrea (sp?), etc), and another problem is that he cannot get vaccinations. 

When he went for his vaccination for rabies, he got the shot, and then became insanely sick at the doctors, vomitting all over the place. They had to give him all these shots to keep him alive, it was a mess. So, he's completely unvaccinated against anything, so he has to stay indoors.





As far as ants anyways (sorry about the ramble, I could go on and on about my cat lol), I got more traps today, these are the same bait / poison type, only it's a new brand (as I'm sure the ants have now completely avoided the old ones). It's a borax based one, I figure if the traps work in the short term, I'm gonna do what some diy'ers do, and just keep making borax/boric acid homemade traps, and keep switching the flavor of the 'gel' delivery vehicle so they don't shun the bait (they shun baits because of detection of previously hurtful *flavorings*, not the actual poisons, right? Like if I keep using arsenic or borax, they'll just keep going into those as long as I keep changing the flavors, even if the poison's the same right?)


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## SecretSquirrel (Jun 22, 2007)

Joey, whenever I have an infestation of insects I use Spectracide Bug Stop. I've tried the ant baits and whatnot but that takes a wee bit of time to take it's course. The Bug Stop will kill 'em dead right after they cross the spray area. IMO it's good stuff. You just got to sweep up the deceased for a few days until they get the point that there's no more good pickens at that location.


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

I've got concerns that not only are they nesting outside, but they may be setting up shop in a wall.... That product you listed I wouldn't touch... Everyone's got their weird phobias and stuff, pesticides/insecticides/herbacides are mine. When I was putting out arsenic stakes I was gloved. When I just sprayed my yard with roundup, I was gloved, and almost fully clothed, in the ~90 degree humidity of FL. 

Even if I need to forever setup baits, I'd do that before doing sprays, especially sprays in my home. In fact, I wouldn't have even considered roundup if I didn't know that it will go away on its own. The days following a roundup application I won't even step on my lawn. Some people are scared of spiders, or mice, for me it's (insert here)-acides, that and metal/glass filings from sanding. Eck!


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

could you then let your cat eat indoor at fixed time... like a human being... then clean up the mess after the lunch/dinner time... sounds like you love this cat so much.. may be you are spoiling him like a child...


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

Lol he's definitely spoiled, I can't argue that, but giving him specific eating times seems to be *more* maintenance - I'm betting that if I do that, the ants will just find food in other spots inside. I think based on their location outside, and his food inside, it's just the most accessible to them. Plus I couldn't keep his food away w/o some serious issues off the bat - he'll come in the bedroom crying in the middle of the night if he's got food problems (that's the first time we saw a real infestation was when he came and woke us up).





I posted those pics, those were from yesterday morning. I threw away most of the food in the bowl, but left a little so the ants would keep trailing. Last night I placed 6 borax based gel traps along their path in the office, and zero ants in his bowl this morning. There were 3 ants I saw wandering around in the office. 

I'm thinking it may end up coming down to a rotating bait program here, we'll see I guess.


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## jkrodger (Jul 10, 2007)

Not really related to the post, but you said your Bengal is a 3rd generation? I thought only 4th generation bengals were supposed to be the true domestic bengals?

Also, I'm sure you thought of this already, and with the baits you've been using you haven't found any problems yet, but I would consider feeding your cat in a different room. Keep his same bowl with some food to attract the ants, but I wouldn't want to risk such an expensive kitty (one with an apparent sensitive system) accidentily ingesting some of the poison.


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

jkrodger said:


> Not really related to the post, but you said your Bengal is a 3rd generation? I thought only 4th generation bengals were supposed to be the true domestic bengals?
> 
> Also, I'm sure you thought of this already, and with the baits you've been using you haven't found any problems yet, but I would consider feeding your cat in a different room. Keep his same bowl with some food to attract the ants, but I wouldn't want to risk such an expensive kitty (one with an apparent sensitive system) accidentily ingesting some of the poison.


He may be a 4th, I can't remember. I think the first couple/few generations of males are sterile, he was a stud (the little slut!) though so if 3rd gens are sterile he's a 4th gen. 

Yeah we left his food where they could get to it and where he could get to it, but 'his' corner is the corner of the kitchen, with the office on one side of the wall and the garage on the other, so all the traps were behind closed doors / past walls, no way for him to access them. Oh and he wasn't expensive, we were lucky and got him for only $100 (basically we just paid to have him neutered, un-neutered he'd be worth a ton because of his blood line). We just happened upon a really lucky scenario where a breeder needed to bring a new stud in, and really wanted to find a good home for him (or sell him at an insanely high price as a stud to another breeder). Luckily for my fiance and I, she really liked us, and thought we'd be good to him, so we bought him for $100 when he was 3yrs old.

Oh and he says thanks for looking out for him :wink:


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

Cant tell from the picture
They could be
Big headed
Pharoah or 
Ghost ants

Be careful using insecticidal spray on small ants if they are pharoahs you will intensify and spread the problem

If you need a quick fix method to keep the ants out of the food bowl
Put the food bowl in a larger bowl and fill the larger bowl with water.
If the food bowl tends to float place some sort of platform for the food bowl to sit on, like a small brick or something

If you use bait you will have to eliminate bait competition

And just like using sprays on Pharoahs will cause problems using baits on some ants will not get the results you want

With anyt problems identification is key


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

ocoee said:


> Cant tell from the picture
> They could be
> Big headed
> Pharoah or
> ...


Ocoeee you're late to the party!

I've done firecrackers in their mounds, boraxed the lines around the walls near his bowl (opposite sides of wall, not where he can get), boraxed the entry points (after filling with expanding insulating foam), and have 3 separate types of baits (different poisons in each!) all over the place!

I haven't seen an ant in his bowl for at least a week, so I think it's problem solved, at least for now!






What's bait competition?


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

Bait competition is when they have something that they like better , like cat food, that competes with the bait.

For some reason I just kept checking UserCp and nothing came up for awhile


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

ocoee said:


> Bait competition is when they have something that they like better , like cat food, that competes with the bait.
> 
> For some reason I just kept checking UserCp and nothing came up for awhile


it may've been in the other thread (kinda dealing with the same prob in 2 threads lol!)

But yeah, it seems good for now anyways - his food corner abuts (sp?) 2 walls that they may've been coming through - the garage (maybe) and the office (definitely). 

The garage has bait traps, and the office is rigged up like crazy (and off limits to pretty much everyone, especially the cat). I've got 3 or 4 different kinds of baits, at least 3 of each, placed strategically all over. I've got borax lines where the walls of the office meet outdoors (inside at the baseboards), borax lines at the baseboard of the office where it meets the cat's corner, and borax outside of the office near their entry points.

Add to that firecrackerin' all of the mounds I found, we haven't seen a single ant in his food for probably close to 2 weeks now. We do see the occasional lone ant in the house, which we tolerate, but there hasn't been a line of them anywhere, and none in his food, which is what matters most!


Thanks for all the tips, I'm glad I could resolve it w/o having pest control guys come! Probably spent between $20-30 on all the baits, borax, etc, so not bad!


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## Dutch1962 (Oct 5, 2007)

If they are trailing in from the outside then I doubt they are pharaoh ants....hard to see from the pic but fire ants do this kinda thing quite a bit....I know you don't want to call a bug man but there are sprays now that are not even insecticides,such as phantom and termidor sc. They work differently and can be put in place an ounce or two at a time with devastating effects on entire ant colonies. Most baits are 'sweet' baits and they seem to have their mind made up on the kitty food which is probably for proteins....Drax makes a protein bait that you might have success with. If you don't want any sprays then bleach the floors to wash away the chemical trail the ants are using(they laid it down) and move the food,then look to seal up if you can where they enter. Exterminators today can be quite good,don't let your phobia stop you from a possible positive experience

Hope I helped

www.pestcemetery.com.


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

Mix Terro with peanut butter and you have the equivalent of Drax Proein, just better, for about 50 cents

_Pharoahs will definitely trail on the outside of a building_


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## SimonS (Oct 4, 2007)

sorry if this has already been mentioned but have you tried scolding water (make sure nothing or anyone is around at the time)


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

haven't tried hot water, ants haven't been a problem for a while :no:


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

Scalding water will simply move the nest


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