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Is there any turtle safe ant bait I can use? There are many ants by her pond and I want to get rid of them. We have some I believe that says pet safe. I am worried though.

I have posted this tip before, but maybe it can help you.

Down here in the south, we put instant grits on ant mounds. The ants eat the grits and when they drink water it makes the grits swell and the ants die. It really works and is safe for the environment.

ZooKeeper wrote:I have posted this tip before, but maybe it can help you.

Down here in the south, we put instant grits on ant mounds. The ants eat the grits and when they drink water it makes the grits swell and the ants die. It really works and is safe for the environment.

Thanks! I am assuming that it is also safe for my RES and it won't swell up in her if she eats it and hurt her?

My turtle is indoors, so I don't have any experience with that but I assume that they wouldn't eat it since it is on the ground. That's just a guess though.

Turtles can't digest things that are on land

yes but it has been reported that some turtle get food then bring it back into the water to eat it, i dont think this would be a problem with the instant grits though...

unless the turt ate a whole bunch of it... it wouldnt bother her

Correct me if I am wrong, but uncooked grits don't have much of an odor. I wonder if they would even notice them?

I realized I put this thread in the wrong spot! I am worried about it getting on her feet and her tracking it to the water and drinking the water. Also, after a rain it can get washed in there.

Well my mom said she heard pamolive soap (a little) and water will kill an ant pile. But again soap can kill turtles so I am worried.

Andrew7769 wrote:yes but it has been reported that some turtle get food then bring it back into the water to eat it, i dont think this would be a problem with the instant grits though...

Yep. Mine gets fallen hibicous (spelling?) flowers all the time and takes them to her pond to eat them. It is so cute! We have about two vines with the flowers on them. One over her pond (convienently!) and one a few feet away!

ZooKeeper wrote:Down here in the south, we put instant grits on ant mounds. The ants eat the grits and when they drink water it makes the grits swell and the ants die. It really works and is safe for the environment.

Oh man! Do you think instant grits will work with MICE!?

I know this is off topic but I live on a ranch in No. Cal and in the winter our house (50 yrs old, bad insulation) gets positively inundated with mice. It's disgusting. We've tried everything. Sometimes I can catch about 5 of'em in our under-the-sink kitchen garbage can (they love chicken bones) because they can jump in but they can't jump out. We also use mouse traps and Decon which I hate because they die inside the walls and stink until they dry up. And if one of our cats eats a Decon-stuffed mouse it's not good for the cat! This is a daily battle all winter long. Auugghhh!

Thanks.

I've never tried grits with mice. But I have used the trash can (or a bucket) as a trap, just put some food in the bottom and create a ramp for them to climb up to get in and then they can't get out. The only thing is then you have to kill them or set them free and you have to take them pretty far away so they won't get back in your house.

We've tried the grits with ants for a couple of weeks now and it seems to be working. We didn't really believe it would be so easy. Why doesn't eveybody know about this?