Invading Ants!

[collinchang635]

How do I make sure no ant attack my mantids cage? I gave my ant mantid a cricket its own size and she couldn't finish it. She dropped the rest of the cricket on the floor. The next day, when I woke up, I found that there were at least 200-300 ant in her cage. They were eating the dead cricket. Luckily, my ant mantid was smart enough to hide at the top of her cage instead of the bottom where the cricket was. How do I make sure that this doesn't happen again?

 

[Rick]

Well first you should figure out how the ants are getting into your house. I would be concerned about that first of all. I have never found an ant in a mantis cage.

 

[robo mantis]

What color ants were they.

 

[Hypoponera]

Can you place the cages in a pan of water? The ants will have trouble crossing the water. Or you can place the table legs in pans of water rather then the cages if that would be easier.

 

[collinchang635]

What color ants were they.

They were brownish black and were very, very small.

 

[collinchang635]

Can you place the cages in a pan of water? The ants will have trouble crossing the water. Or you can place the table legs in pans of water rather then the cages if that would be easier.

I'll try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[robo mantis]

They sound like either paratrechina (crazy ants) or tetramorium (pavement ants).

 

[tnienhaus]

what a frightening experience...at least i would have been freaked for my mantis...Otherwise maybe those little ant houses that catch and kill them...a few of those might do the trick