Food, ants, etc.

Red is a bit of a sloppy eater, and his messy habits have brought sugar ants into the house. I'm getting tired of checking on his food bowl all day long to be sure he hasn't dropped any food.

Does anybody have any suggestions to how I can keep his food area clean?

Or, does anybody know how to get rid of ants?

Ants are a pain and a constant battle. The easiest solution I've heard is to place the food bowl in a larger container and put water in that larger container so there is a moat of sorts around the food bowl. You'll need to change the water regularly since your cat will probably drop kibbles in it, but it should help keep the food away from the ants. I've never had a cat get into a bait trap, so placing those near the walls might help reduce the total ant population.

I never ever had a problem with ants,but we have had larder beetles and sawtooth beetles try and infest food areas.We just swept often and made sure there was no food mess around pet dishes.

I have not had that problem here yet...because I have scavengers for cats! Haha...if my foster dog drops food around her dish,the cats are usually at it before I can get it swept up and if they drop pieces,they usually eat them.

I always recommend sprinkling diatomaceous earth around. I've successfully gotten rid of ants within hours. AND, it's very safe around the kitties and humans.

or you can try the electric pest repellent. But make sure your cats can't reach the device.

Originally Posted by marjan

or you can try the electric pest repellent. But make sure your cats can't reach the device.

Click to expand...

That's one of the reasons I recommend the DE - it cannot harm the cats so there is no worry that they will reach a device, or get an ant trap open, or anything of that sort.

What is diatomaceous earth and where do you get it?

I was told by an exterminator once that the ant baits will actually make the problem worse because they attract more ants than they can kill.

Diatomaceous earth is ground diatoms (microscopic sea creatures). It looks and feels like a powder to us mammals but to insects it's like sharp shards of glass which cuts into their exoskeleton and kills them. I had a whole army of ants by my kitchen door, put down some DE and they were gone in under an hour. I sprinkle it across all my doors leading to the outside as well. I got mine (and it's usually available) from my local garden centre. I had to call around to a couple of them but the largest one is the one that had it. My container does not say in big letters that it is DE - it says CHEMFREE and lower in the smaller print says it is diatomaceous earth. If your cats happen to ingest any of it, all it will do is kill any parasites in their system which isn't a bad thing at all.

You must be sure to get the human/food grade though. There is also an industrial grade but you do NOT want that one. Call around to some of your garden centres. It is not expensive and it lasts a long time.