Insect problem

momoftwogirls

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
39
Purraise
0
Location
SW Fla
I have an ant problem and I have a problem with the little flies. I live in a condo and there is no lanai so both of my litter boxes are inside. There a many little flies around the litter boxs ( that gets cleaned 2x a day) and also ants around the food dishes ( in the kitchen). What can I do to stop either the ants or the flies, I want something that is not going to harm my cats. Thanks for the help
 

skimble

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
930
Purraise
13
Location
MS
Not sure about the litter boxes. For ants I set the food bowl in a shallow dish of water. The water drowns the ants before they can get in the food bowl. This is how I feed the ferals and it is working pretty well. I did buy an animal safe, natural bug spray in a can. Will try to find the brand and list. Bought it at an organic grocery. Good luck.
 

mrblanche

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
12,578
Purraise
119
Location
Texas
There are ant traps you can put out that the ants will get in, and carry the poison as food back to the colony.
 

blaise

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
598
Purraise
2
There are ant traps you can put out that the ants will get in, and carry the poison as food back to the colony.
A huge caution on this.........on this site!

"Many of us have experienced pest problems and will resort to using ant- or roach-baited traps to eliminate the problem. If you use these devices, be sure to remove any ant/roach traps from places where cats may find them. These types of devices are good at what they do, but they can deliver a dangerous dose to your cat. There are many ways to eradicate pests without the use of harsh, dangerous chemicals..."

I'm also thinking...so, the ant "takes the bait" and heads back home to the colony...except that, on the way, kitty intercepts and swallows the ant...perhaps two, three. four... ants
 

mrblanche

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
12,578
Purraise
119
Location
Texas
I have used them at the spot where the ants are getting in, both inside and outside, and the cats have never shown any interest in either the ant or the bait. And the poison is one that should not have any affect on a cat, in addition to all that. The ones I used required the ants to crawl through a fairly small opening. I just went outside to try to read what brand it was, but it's illegible now.

Of course, you always want to be careful and read the label on anything completely.
 

cloud_shade

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 19, 2004
Messages
2,807
Purraise
17
Location
Oregon
I've successfully used the ant traps to reduce the number of ants, but they often are not a long term cure--they can cause the ant colonies to split, which seems to result in the ants finding new ways into the building. Treating the crawlspace is probably more effective if you have access to it. I've watched my cats around the ants, so I'm confident that my cats aren't going to eat them--Zek always points them out to me, but if I ask him to eat the ant, he looks at my like I'm crazy--"But Mom, they taste gross!"
 

blaise

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
598
Purraise
2
Originally Posted by mrblanche

... the cats have never shown any interest in ... the ant ....
Originally Posted by cloud_shade

... I've watched my cats around the ants, so I'm confident that my cats aren't going to eat them--Zek always points them out to me, but if I ask him to eat the ant, he looks at my like I'm crazy--"But Mom, they taste gross!"
Hmmmmmmmm

Different strokes for different....cats
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
Get food grade diotomaceous earth. The cats can eat it without any ill effect but if ants eat it, it kills them. You'll find it if you google it.
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by Momofmany

Get food grade diotomaceous earth. The cats can eat it without any ill effect but if ants eat it, it kills them. You'll find it if you google it.
Diatomaceous earth is the best. It is totally harmless to your cats (any mammals actually), but as momofmany has said, get the FOOD/HUMAN grade.

The dust gets on the ants' exoskeleton and because the powder (to us) is like shards of glass to insects, it penetrates their shell which causes them to die. I don't think they actually eat the DE.
 

lsanders

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
294
Purraise
6
Location
Chicago, IL
I came in tonight to find out what to do about the ants in my house, so I'm glad i found a current conversation going!

I don't know if we're under full-blown attack yet- I've only seen a couple, but we had a problem last summer, so I want to end this one before it gets worse.

I have some questions about the DE stuff. This is the first time I've ever heard of it and it's been mentioned in a few places here, but I'm a little concerned because everyone says it's safe around cats...but then they say don't inhale it or get it in your eyes...how safe is it then if i can't even inhale it? (not that i was planning on huffing it or anything!)

Wouldn't a cat (or dog), who's more likely to stick their nose right in it and sniff, be more likely to inhale it and suffer the consequences?


I just want to be REALLY sure this stuff is safe to my cat, dog and me. And yes, I know: FOOD GRADE!!
 

littleraven7726

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2002
Messages
3,339
Purraise
12
Location
Next to the World's Largest 6-pack
The couple of times we had sugar ants in the kitchen I used those ant baits/traps. However, I made sure they were in places the cats could not get at them. I'm pretty paranoid about them getting into something like that.

Edit: If you have fruit flies in the house, there are several websites with "traps" that are simply a bottle with a paper funnel. I did that in our last apartment for the fruit flies we always seemed to get. It's nontoxic too. I think I googled something like "natural fruit fly traps" or "nontoxic fruit fly traps".
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by lsanders

I came in tonight to find out what to do about the ants in my house, so I'm glad i found a current conversation going!

I don't know if we're under full-blown attack yet- I've only seen a couple, but we had a problem last summer, so I want to end this one before it gets worse.

I have some questions about the DE stuff. This is the first time I've ever heard of it and it's been mentioned in a few places here, but I'm a little concerned because everyone says it's safe around cats...but then they say don't inhale it or get it in your eyes...how safe is it then if i can't even inhale it? (not that i was planning on huffing it or anything!)

Wouldn't a cat (or dog), who's more likely to stick their nose right in it and sniff, be more likely to inhale it and suffer the consequences?


I just want to be REALLY sure this stuff is safe to my cat, dog and me. And yes, I know: FOOD GRADE!!
The reason they say don't inhale it is that it can irritate your lungs but will not harm you. When you are applying it, it "poofs" out of the nozzle and that is why they caution against inhalation. Once it's down it isn't as easy to inhale. As for your eyes, it would be like getting sand in your eyes hence the caution. If kitties (or you yourself) ingested any, it would simply kill any parasites in your system. It is the safest insecticide I know. In fact, my container has the name CHEMFREE in large letters and I think that is the actual name given it.

As with most things these days of the sue-happy consumer, they have to over caution about things to cover their butts in case someone is stupid enough to use any product incorrectly.
 

lsanders

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
294
Purraise
6
Location
Chicago, IL
Ok, I guess that makes sense. So, you just sprinkle it around the area the ants are coming in? I'm pretty sure mine are coming in through a hole or something behind my oven/stove (doesn't take much for ants, but I suspect the mice we had over the winter were coming in through the same place.)

Sounds like there's pretty fast results with it- should I keep putting it down as it gets spread around, just by regular foot traffic? Am I now going to have a bunch of dead ants to clean up? Gross, but not unbearable.

I guess if I really wanted to nip this in the bud, I would pull out the oven and sprinkle behind there. Hmmm....
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by lsanders

Ok, I guess that makes sense. So, you just sprinkle it around the area the ants are coming in? I'm pretty sure mine are coming in through a hole or something behind my oven/stove (doesn't take much for ants, but I suspect the mice we had over the winter were coming in through the same place.)

Sounds like there's pretty fast results with it- should I keep putting it down as it gets spread around, just by regular foot traffic? Am I now going to have a bunch of dead ants to clean up? Gross, but not unbearable.

I guess if I really wanted to nip this in the bud, I would pull out the oven and sprinkle behind there. Hmmm....
I can only tell you of my own experience. I put the powder down directly on the hole where they were coming in and along the baseboards in that vicinity. Within an hour I didn't see any more ants, dead or alive, whereas before I put the powder down the ants were running in and out of the hole. I had no dead ants to clean up. I assume they went down the hole and died????? I left the powder around the baseboards for a few days and then just vacuumed it up and haven't seen any ants since.

I sprinkled some on an anthill on our lawn and the ants were still seen running around for hours afterward so I'm assuming there were just a lot more of them and it would take a bit longer to kill them off.
 
Top