Ants!

[flrancho]

I started having a major problem yesterday with ants around my flight cage. I've never had an issue before with them, but I had a swarm of ants underneath the flight yesterday. They're after the special foods (egg food, corn, etc.) that I give the birds and that they may toss or drop underneath the cage.

We killed a lot of them, and sprayed an unscented bug killer under the stand the flight is sitting on, but we still had problems with the ants. We ended up changing all the paper underneath the flight, vaccuming the area and wiping the area down around the flight with the unscented killer. Today, it looks like their gone, but there's no food out right now besides their seed.

What can I do with these ants. I'm hesitant to use too much bug killer around the cage, especially a scented one, and I don't want the ants biting my birds, even though they seemed to be much more interested in the food the birds were dropping underneath the cage. Is there a special spray I can use to kill the ants that is bird safe?

[cindy]

I also noticed this more when rainy season starts. My trick find where they are entering from. It could be a crack in the baseboard, through a hole in grout. Seal that either with caulk or my trick fill the hole or crack with superglue, let dry and then caulk.

Then go outside and use a good granular ant killer all around the base of your house. I avoid, advise against using sprays near the birds. The chemical in spray cans can be deadly or cause respiratory issues.

I sweep twice and run the vacuum alot, mine are near slides and ants found their way in through the track, a small screw hole...the head of the screw was chipped allowing the to come in. Filled it with super glue and treated outside and it stopped. I found the caulk shrinks and they will follow their trail to get to their food source.

[finchmix22]

An organic way to keep out ants is to place ground cloves in olive oil and mixt at edges of where the ants come into the area. I have also used Double MInt Gum, keep in wrapper, and lay around the edges of windows doors, cracks etc. If you have dogs, watch them as they may try to eat the gum, but this also kept out ants and such.

[cindy]

Great idea Deborah...my Zoe would eat the gum thought...she eats everything!

[Ursula]

I'm battling ants in my aviary currently as well. Previously I was successful with these little ant traps that you can buy at home depot. Supposedly they take the stuff and bring it back in the nest and then die. It worked last year and after a few days they were gone. Now they seem to ignore them and go for the eggfood and veggies of the birds instead.

I wouldn't use any insect spray around birds, no matter whether it's odorless or not.

If you find some solution please let me know. I'm pretty desperate myself right now.

[Sally]

Avian Insect Liquidator, by Vetafarm, will kill ants and other insects and is totally safe to use around finches, even babies. You can even spray it directly on the birds.

[Ria]

Another natural alternative is bay leaves. place them around the cage or the area where the ants are entering. this only works for certain types of ants though. my boyfriends mother had ants in her kitchen one summer, and when she put down some leaves, they instantly stopped coming in.

[Ursula]

Avian Insect Liquidator, by Vetafarm, will kill ants and other insects and is totally safe to use around finches, even babies. You can even spray it directly on the birds.

I am using this too, but I don't think it kills the ants completely. It might kill them when they are sprayed on full force, but it doesn't deter any others to come in...