# Ants!



## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

About three weeks ago, I moved into a new apartment, and, upon moving in, discovered I was sharing the house with the old tenants - ants. They were only in the kitchen, and so I put Winston's cage in a different room, and laid down poison for the ants, which promised to wipe out the entire colony in 7 days or less. I was very careful to never let Winston into the room with the poison, just in case.

Well, it's been three weeks, and the ants have spread throughout the entire house, and grown in size. I'd put out more poison, but now that they're in every room, I'm worried about Winston. Has anyone heard of ants attacking hedgehogs, or if hedgies will eat ants? I would hate for Winston to eat a poisoned ant and get sick, or for an ant to bite Winston. I'm worried that they'll try to invade his cage because there's always food in it.

If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

This is gonna sound really funny but if you lay out a dish with uncooked grits it will kill them. Thats how a lot of people get rid of fire ant piles in their yards down here. I know you probably don't have the same kinda aunts but still may work on them too, they eat it and it expands and kills them. I have also heard a non toxic thing you can do if you see them is spray with soapy water and it suffocates them, haven't tried this yet just passing it along.

Hope you get rid of them, they are a pain


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

What kind of ants are these? If they are carpenter ants, laying out poison usually does not work. To protect Winston, you can get some screening and wrap his cage with it making sure there are no openings. Clothespins or binder clips work great to attach screen.


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## HedgeMom (Nov 7, 2008)

If these are small black or red sugar ants, then get some Terro ant baits. They are totally harmless to pets and children. You can put them anywhere the ants are. They eat the bait, carry it back and poison the colony. 

If these are carpenter ants, you need a professional exterminator and Winston needs to move out because carpenter ants inflict a wicked bite.


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## Amy1024 (Mar 18, 2010)

Hedgieonboard said:


> I have also heard a non toxic thing you can do if you see them is spray with soapy water and it suffocates them, haven't tried this yet just passing it along.


Yup, soap has worked for me before.


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## krbshappy71 (Jul 17, 2009)

If small children aren't in the house or other pets, you can create a border of dry Borax soap. Put it all around the hedgie cage. Ants grab it, bring it back to their nest and it wipes out the colony.


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## Littlefootsmama (May 23, 2010)

I actually was concerned about the same thing. Ants seem to be a terrible pest this year. I've killed 4 trying to get into Little Foot's cage and thats when I started to really freak out. They are just small black ants though, but still. I dont want them near my baby.


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

Something I found really helped was sprinkling a "perimeter" of cinnamon around the cage. Ants hate it, but it's not poisonous. Win-win!


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## Kennyreef (Jul 20, 2010)

I was having a really bad time with black ants. I not only have hedgehogs, I have guinea pigs, hamster and a dog. And on the pet room I had ants in every dish of food. Since I read the soap thing now I have a bottle of spray with water and soap ready. Not only i relax watching my animals and playing. also killing the couple of ants that do enter now. 

Im gonna try the cinnamon trick on the windows were they get in. lets see if it works


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