First year to have ants getting in my TH feeder. Tiny little black ants. Saw them about a month ago in the feed hopper when almost empty. Saw ants climbing up the legs and entering through the small corner gaps inside the hopper. I filled those gaps with silicone and thought I solved the problem. But this morning they are back. They ARE NOT coming in from under the lid but somewhere from the bottom. My feeder is mounted out on my 30 ft pontoon boat I use for my dock. Please help with any suggestions to stop them from getting to my feed. I have been using this feeder for about 3 years now. Only recently have I had any problem with ants in it. I know I get ants on the deckwood of the pontoon boat but how to keep them out of the feeder is puzzeling!!
Put some grease or Vaseline on the legs.
Dave, I can finish emptying the hopper. It is almost empty. What about any ants hiding where can't be seen before adding vasaline to the legs? Will they multiply underneath a new batch of feed? Sounds silly but I guess at least my feeder goes empty about every 3 weeks. Do you suggest ant spray under the bottom metal components and on the legs first. What if I open the side of the feeder up and spray in there? See any reason that would hurt anything?? These are not red fire ants but...they do sting. My wife wears flip flops down there and they bite her every time. Got to get a handle on this. Don't want to put anything down there that could get washed into the pond during rains.
Maybe a few ant bait stations?
When I was a kid and complained about flys in my face I was told by a "helpful" older adult (not my mother) to cut a hole in the seat of my pants.
I don't think that would help with ants though.
This happens every summer with my game camera...I clean out the camera and remove all of the ants, then I spray the tree from the camera to the ground, then I place a few ant bait houses around the general area. It usually takes care of the issue for the rest of the year.
Mike, no idea whether they could breed in there but it seems to me that they would need water of some kind.
Ants=fry/fingerling food....just how much food could a few thousand ants consume? most consumed would still wind up in the pond...
Rainman, while gathering around the feeder the ants are in a area where we stand a lot to fish. They sting the wifes feet when wearing flip plops on the dock. That is one of the main problems with them being lured to the feeder.
Terro makes a good ant poison. They will take it back to the colony and then all die. It is a syrup type poison so I would put it on a board or peace of metal so it would not blow away and set it so the ants have to walk around it. I Would also use it only when there is no chance of rain.
Look into Diatomaceous Earth. I've used it with good results in compost piles to get rid of fire ants. I chose it because it's non toxic and wouldn't harm the worms. Do your research but it's naturally occurring and appears to be safe for fish as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth
Note that the insecticides used in effective ant baits work very slowly and are targeted at the queen. The other ants feed it to the queen, so there is no need to poison every ant.
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/hydragen.pdf
Flame, our hummingbird feeders were covered in ants, and we've had good luck using Tanglefoot on our hummingbird feeder poles. Not only would the ants not cross the tanglefoot, the trail of ants to the poles stopped also. Maybe that'll work on the feeder legs, and help keep the biting ants away since they can't get to the fish food for an easy meal.
Tanglefoot's sticky stuff. Be sure and wear gloves, and use your least favorite butter knife to spread it.