How to Deal with Ants!?!

[BabyBella]

Hello All Squirrel People,

I have a strange question that I am sure others have had to deal with: Ants! How do you safely keep ants out of your squirrels food/cage? It is beginning to get warm here in nY and the ants are making there way into my Bella's food dish, also flies, I saw flies on her piece of corn the other day. Any suggestions are welcomed. Thank you!!!!!:thankyou

[BabyBella]

Thank you! I will check it out ASAP!!!! I was using chalk, supposedly ants won't cross it but guess what??? They did!:sanp3

[Sissy]

Powdered cinnamon has always worked well for me for ant problems. If you leave a gap they will cross it, so make a solid line of it, where ever they are coming in and around the things you don't want them in. Hope this helps.

[MaiThiJade]

Hot peppers where they come in around the house, always works for me, especially with those large black ants. Then again this may not be ok for the squirrels.:dono

[LynninIN]

Someone last year suggested putting the legs of the cage in cups of water. I thought that was a good idea.

[Isis]

I've read that to get rid of ants... put out cornmeal where you've seen them. They'll take it back to their nests & share it & supposedly they can't digest it so it kills them. Article said it takes about a week for them to 'disappear' Haven't tried it yet... but intend to. My pine squirrel 'Critter' used to eat the occasional carpenter ant & flies in the window sills :tilt ... protien? hehe...

[BabyBella]

Thanks to everyone who replied. :thankyou

I have lots of things to try now! I don't want to actually kill the ants, I don't like to kill anything, I just want to distract them from going into Bella's cage. :thankyou again!!!!!!!!

[BabyBella]

Slugs eat my beautiful garden up becuase I don't have the heart to kill them. I was preparing my garden beds the other day and found a grub and I put it in a walnut shell and put him in another part of the yard, it was like a 'moses Basket' for it ;.0 I had to laugh at myself cause I am NUTS!!!!!!!!

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

Baby Bella is beautiful!

[BabyBella]

Oh, thank you. She is no longer a baby though. She is 1 year in July. She now goes by the names: Bella, Jelly-Belly, Belly-Bean and Beanie-Weenie. Nuts isn't it??? My ferret, named Impy, has several nicknames, all more complicated than her actual name, Impster, Impy-Whimpy, Impy-Pimpy, Shmimpy, and The Imp.

:D

[TexanSquirrel]

Good luck! We had ants in our classroom one year - yuck!