Sugar ants raiding enclosure food - what works that doesnt hurt squirrels

My grey is in her outside enclosure until at least june 30th. With her diet being more healthy than wild, the grapes,apples, and other sugary foods have attracted sugar ants.
I need to find some options to limit them from getting to her food so i can keep cage trips to a minimum.

Cage bowls are the bowl that twists into a base pedestal, and the base secures through wood/cage with a clamshell.. (got them at tractor supply, same types as most kennel feeders).

The posion that is used for the ants is borax based.. so i dont want to introduce that anywhere near the cage because i have no clue how the squirrel will react to it.

The only thing i can come up with, is to use some Vaseline around the point where the pedestal mounts to the wood, as thats the only way the ants can get to the bowl.... the squirrel has her ledge/perch that doesnt provide easy/direct access to the pedestal.

Will Vaseline be something harmful if the squirrel finds it and decides to moosh it all over herself?

I have done that ; smeared just enough to coat the metal legs of a little table their feeding spot is on. They don’t climb the legs of the table. But any limb going to the table is eventually found by the ants

So I have also made “moats”; a casserole dish with a little water in it, and a second smaller dish in center with a stone to weigh it down. The perimeter of water is enough the ants can’t reach the food dish. They dribble food sometimes and you will need to clean the water daily, but the moat method works well for us and isn’t as slimy:)

I did the vaseline and it worked. At first it didnt, but that was because i missed a spot like an idiot.

Since shes in her outside enclosure, i limit all interactions so she can do squirrel things and get her strength back.

Feeding her 4/5am and then 3/4pm which are her times before she wakes up.... if i had to do the enclosure release again, id have built an easier way to vasaline a proper barrier... and make it easier to apply in the night. LoL!

Thanks for the info!

Glad that is working👍