Question about Ants!

zorana_dragonky · Jul 14, 2008

We are having a problem with ants and kitty food this year. I have taken some steps to minimize food escaping onto the floors, but the ants are still coming into the house. I did some research and also searched TCS and I found that diatomaceous earth is a kitty safe ant killer.

So my question is... Where in the heck would I go to buy diatomaceous earth!?

Thanks!

laureen227 · Jul 14, 2008

Originally Posted by zorana_dragonky

We are having a problem with ants and kitty food this year. I have taken some steps to minimize food escaping onto the floors, but the ants are still coming into the house. I did some research and also searched TCS and I found that diatomaceous earth is a kitty safe ant killer.

So my question is... Where in the heck would I go to buy diatomaceous earth!?

Thanks!

i got mine at the feed store. make sure you get the food-grade DE. oh, it's sold online, as well - just do a search.

enuja · Jul 14, 2008

You probably already know this, but, in the meantime, put the cat-food dish in a larger plate with water (so the ants have to drown to get to the cat-food dish) and wipe up any thick trails of ants with a wet sponge. Ants (and other insects) breath through holes in the sides of their bodies (spiracles) and water blocks the spiracles. Of course, there are some aquatic insects who have some work-arounds to this problem, but plain old water is very good at killing ants. Cats can push their food bowl the edge of the water tray and provide an ant-access, and ants can die and create an ant-corpse bridge. However, water remains a good, safe way to isolate cat food from ants.

coaster · Jul 14, 2008

How does "food-grade" D-E differ from the bag I bought at the garden supply store, and why would I need food-grade? Sorry....there are actually some things I really don't know.

I used the D-E when I tried to trap a stray cat last year. They said to sprinkle it on the ground around the trap to keep the ants off the bait. I don't think it did very well at keeping the ants out. And I didn't catch the cat, either.

laureen227 · Jul 14, 2008

Originally Posted by coaster

How does "food-grade" D-E differ from the bag I bought at the garden supply store, and why would I need food-grade? Sorry....there are actually some things I really don't know.

big of you to admit it, Tim

food-grade DE is safe for the cats to ingest, should they happen to walk in it & then groom. there's another DE that's sold for use in pool filters... that one isn't food-grade & is called industrial-grade.
what you got [depending on how it's labeled] could be either... but what i found at Home Depot was industrial grade.
http://waltonfeed.com/grain/faqs/ive.html

gayef · Jul 14, 2008

Originally Posted by Enuja

You probably already know this, but, in the meantime, put the cat-food dish in a larger plate with water (so the ants have to drown to get to the cat-food dish) and wipe up any thick trails of ants with a wet sponge. Ants (and other insects) breath through holes in the sides of their bodies (spiracles) and water blocks the spiracles. Of course, there are some aquatic insects who have some work-arounds to this problem, but plain old water is very good at killing ants. Cats can push their food bowl the edge of the water tray and provide an ant-access, and ants can die and create an ant-corpse bridge. However, water remains a good, safe way to isolate cat food from ants.

Thank you kindly and sincerely for a simple fix to a really annoying problem. I am going to try this tonight and see what happens when I wake up in the morning. From the sounds of it, I will have a plate-full of drowned ants.

zorana_dragonky · Jul 15, 2008

Originally Posted by Enuja

You probably already know this, but, in the meantime, put the cat-food dish in a larger plate with water (so the ants have to drown to get to the cat-food dish) and wipe up any thick trails of ants with a wet sponge. Ants (and other insects) breath through holes in the sides of their bodies (spiracles) and water blocks the spiracles. Of course, there are some aquatic insects who have some work-arounds to this problem, but plain old water is very good at killing ants. Cats can push their food bowl the edge of the water tray and provide an ant-access, and ants can die and create an ant-corpse bridge. However, water remains a good, safe way to isolate cat food from ants.

I did know this, but thank you anyway! It looks like you helped gayef out! I have my food bowls in a tray with a bit of water in it right now, which keeps the ants out of the cat food, but the cats flick pieces of food around the room all the time... So I want to kill the ants, too.

Thanks everyone!

coaster · Jul 15, 2008

Thanks for the link, Laureen, that one got bookmarked.

laureen227 · Jul 15, 2008

Originally Posted by coaster

Thanks for the link, Laureen, that one got bookmarked.

you're welcome - it was interesting reading, wasn't it?

coaster · Jul 15, 2008

I just skimmed it....the bookmark is for when I need to reference it. The whole site looks intriguing. I found a section on grinders, but didn't really have a chance to study it too long.

gayef · Jul 15, 2008

I have to say that the plate of water under the dry food bowl worked like a charm! Now if I could just get Pearl to stop scooping the dry food biscuits out of the bowl and into the water, I'd be in tall cotton!

Question about Ants!

zorana_dragonky

TCS Member

Thread starter

laureen227

Darksome Duo!

enuja

TCS Member

coaster

TCS Member

laureen227

Darksome Duo!

gayef

TCS Member

zorana_dragonky

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Thread starter

coaster

TCS Member

laureen227

Darksome Duo!

coaster

TCS Member

gayef

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