FINCHforum

So I spoke to the people who run the apartment I rent.. We have little tiny ants here and there. They don't drive me crazy, my daughter has named them ALL "Charlie".
But will they harm my birds?

Anyway the people said if I wanted they will have the monthly exterminator to spray the apartment. But I have bad asthma and birds... Cat and snake so I declined. I don't know if they will have pet friendly ones.. I just don't like fumes and sprays. So I put down bait and they've died and have left.
BUT.. Lets say they come back and are around my birds. As long as my birds are not puffed up and on the floor of the cage and are taken over by ants will they eat them?
In our old house they ate my pantry moth. Sp I just wanted to know instint wise if they would. They are those tinnnnnnnnnny tiny sugar ants.

I have no idea about this, chirpy, but ants are stinging insects, and unless it's a natural way of life they've evolved to manage, I would think after the first sting they would leave ants alone. But as I said, I don't know, and I'm just making this up as I go along.

I may also be reacting from my southern conditioning of living with fire ants - they can kill wildlife that swallow them. I know the little sugar ants aren't as fierce. I was visiting with friends in Maryland, and told one of them, with alarm, that there were ants burrowing around the sidewalk. He looked at me like I was crazy and just said, "They live there." I dropped it - not my house - but was thinking "No! People walk around barefooted out there, children too!" It was only later when I was home that I realized he was still living in a state of innocence, having never encountered fire ants. Once you do, you never, ever want to again. I had scars on my foot that lasted six weeks when I did.

Some ants do sting others do not...sugars do not.

We use this product...put it near the trail and overnight they are gone.

Thanks ladies!!

I need to get those terro things I've read great things about them! I put down this other liquid gel thing and they immediately took to it! Ill pick the Terro up for sure the next time I'm out shopping!
They seem to just scurry off if I even come remotely close.. They are so small it doesn't even bother me. Its just annoying to see things moving.

I don't like ants near birds.
The birds might eat them, but they don't hold much nutrition and ants have a way of MOVING IN without your permission or knowledge. I remember as a kid opening a nest to a homing pigeon and seeing a colony of ants killing the hatchlings.... I haven't like ants since then.

They are easy enough to get rid of as others have indicated without resorting to chemical sprays etc. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

The only ants I ever let live were an indigenous type we get here. They are seed harvesters so loved to clean up spillage from the seed feeder. They never invaded nests etc as they lived under ground, but none the less I watched them closely.

monotwine yikes! That's scary. I haven't seen any this mornin so hopefully the bait worked! Its been so cold and wet over here I guess they really want in... I vacuum every day (whole house) with a toddler you know there are crumbs here and there! And the bird area too of course!

I've been having an issue with ants as well. Think I've got it under control. But no, you certainly don't play with fire ants down here in the South. They can kill newborn calves and fawns. Most of our ground nesting birds like Bobwhite Quail, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens, are declining because the ants drive the hens off the nest as the chicks are hatching and kill and eat them. (Not to mention wild hogs like to eat the eggs and young babies too.) I read that in the last few decades since their introduction, native reptiles have already begun evolving longer limbs to allow them to move faster to escape swarms of fire ants.

Fire ants are a menace and I really wish we did not have them here in Texas. I've found carpenter ants and Pharoah ants, which are not biters or as dangerous as fire ants, but I wonder if they bring in bacteria, germs and other things our finches are not immune to, so I avoid all outside insects being in the house, flights, etc.

Oh myyyyyy gosh.... Glad i dont have fire ants!!!! just the regular black little ones.. though they are def not loved (except the daughter seems to REALLY LIKE THEM) I would take them over the fire ants any day... yikes that scary... When I lived in australia we had Bull Ants, they were Big Black... and looked like the "honey I shrunk the kids" ant near the lego. They bit thats about it I think (not sure if they really preyed on living things).

I do wonder if they carry anything.. I don't know. They seem to be going home and dying the last 2 days. I just wish it would hurry up and get warmer so they just go and do whatever they need to do outside.

I have been vacuuming like a menace.. which is probably something good that caame out of this ant ordeal!

I had ant problems last summer around my birds. I don't know the different types but I hate them all!!! Good topic. I used these little ant traps because I was afraid of using chemical sprays around my birds. Thanks for the tips!

Jen Aren't they a pain!

I was at the insecticide isle for a lonnnnng time.
I have to think about:
1 - child safe?
2 - bird safe?
3 - cat safe?
4 - asthmatic safe? (me)
5 - does it leave a stain? (those gel things you squirt out to corners)

I ended up getting three types - two of the child tamper safe poison DOME things and a gel tube. I squeezed out the gel under the wood in the corners so even if it stained you cant see.. though now i dont really care lol