Bittersweet..

[AneesasMuse]

This couldn't have come at a better time for me..

A few weeks ago, I found Sashti (http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c231/aneesasmuse/IM001085.jpg) dead in her Exo Terra ..I suspected ants again (I have a horrid ant situation here ..all the vivs sit in water moats, I spray orange oil ..it's non-toxic for everyone, even T's ...and I have Terro pellets outside ..where Joob (Red Foot) can't get to) ...none of this keeps them completely under control, though.

Anyhow...

..finding Sashti that way was awful and I didn't say much about it. Until the other night, when I went looking for L'il Abner (http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c231/aneesasmuse/LilAbbyface.jpg).. it was late night and he's usually perched on something, giving me his goofy routine ...but he wasn't this time. I opened his viv and looked in the cork tubes, under other stuff ..then I saw his nose in the substrate, so I thought he was just hiding in the cool coco fiber. Reached in to get him and give him some treat off my finger ...but it was horrible!! His NOSE was all that was left with skin and flesh ..the rest was a skeleton ..........and the "dirt" was ANTS completely devouring him!!!!

The flickin' ants are figuring out how to cross the water moats ..and they are coming right through the Terro traps and pellets! What can I do??? (I suspect this place ..stucko, btw... is full of termites and ants go where termites go. And my landlord is a .......umm, wrong section.. so.. )


This is pretty darn disappointing for me, as I really wanted to breed L'il Abner (http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c231/aneesasmuse/LilAbshy.jpg) with Sashti and Lucille and Sunny/Houdini next season ...and I only have ONE of L'il Abner's kidlets (http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c231/aneesasmuse/IM001254.jpg) held back, on top of it all. Crapola!



For all that bitter disappointment, there is a teeny little bit of sweet to this..

Last night, I was dinkin' around in here, hoping to find Sunny/Houdini (yes, she's out again ...'nuther looooong story) ..and decided to put Lucille (http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c231/aneesasmuse/IM000844.jpg) in a different viv and set her up next to me in the bedroom. Got all of her stuff ..she's my favorite girly, so she's got LOTS of stuff.. water fountain, plants, cork tube, big lay box..

...lay box! I was moving it and noticed the coco fiber could use a bit of water and flipped the lid off.. "hey! that's a big honkin' urate poo, Luce... "

...umm, no.. that's an egg.. an EGG!!!!!!! :dance:


Lucille and L'il Abner (http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c231/aneesasmuse/full%20capacity/Picture026.jpg) had a 3 night rendezvous very early in the season and he was harrassing her too much, so I pulled her and put her back in her "castle" viv. I didn't think anything of her being gravid ...it's been months! She wasn't even digging around in the lay box like she normally would..


Sooooooo.. (take a breath ..sorry so long) ...Lucille layed 4 perfectly white pearly eggos in the lay box, after closer inspection ...and all 4 should be sired by my sweet boy, L'il Abner!!

Two look ready to go in a month or so ..two look like they may have another couple months ...we average 80 days incubation.. and I can see two more little pearls in her belly again!!!

:cheer2: WOOT!!! :cheer2:

[snowliz]

Sorry about your loss but thats wonderful that you got the eggies from the pairing. Hope they all hatch out just perfect for you.

[sputnik]

Congrats on the sweet part at least.... sorry to hear about the bad part.

[Otter_23]

Really sorry about the little guys, you gotta post your hatchling pictures when they come out though.

[BalloonzForU]

:( Sorry to hear about your loss but sweet that you may have some offspring from him soon!! :D

[Cool Evil Liz]

Sorry about you losing them but congrats on finding a eggie

[Tama]

What everyone say above. LOL :high5::cheer2:

[Chandler Rep]

That stinks but you need to find a lizard that eats ants...

[AneesasMuse]

Thanks for the condolences, everyone..

That stinks but you need to find a lizard that eats ants...


Ain't that the truth! :thumb:

[kenster]

get an ant eater..Duh easy choice:eusa_shifty:

[MrsWTownsend]

That stinks but you need to find a lizard that eats ants...

HORNED LIZARD!!! You'll need one for every cage though... they eat a lot of ants but they're little...

Geez Aminah~ how awful! There's got to be something else you can do to fight off those damn ants! I'm going to look in my 'helpful home hints' books...

[Chandler Rep]

HORNED LIZARD!!! You'll need one for every cage though... they eat a lot of ants but they're little...

Geez Aminah~ how awful! There's got to be something else you can do to fight off those damn ants! I'm going to look in my 'helpful home hints' books...

There is that one lol and another little gecko that eats termites but I can't recall what it is or even know if it is available in the pet trade....

[kenster]

Normally horned lizards only eat fire ants though

[MrsWTownsend]

Well then I need to get some of those for my backyard!!! Hmmmm~ how to keep them out of the pool...


Aminah~ Home hints for getting rid of ants, in case you haven't already tried them all~ these come from 2 different books:

*Sage or White Pepper will repel ants. Sprinkle around affected areas, in crevices and cupboards
*Boil 1 pint tar in 2 qts water and set in an uncovered dish where ants gather
*Sprinkle leftover cucumber peelings with salt and place where ants are
*Campers swear by mothballs~just create a border around your site
*Draw a chalk line on the floor or wall where the ants march~ it is said that ants will not cross a chalk line
*Leave apple pieces, core or peeling where ants enter. When brought back to the anthill it's said the acid in the apple kills the queen and the colony
*Mix equal parts of honey and boric acid powder and place the mixture on small pieces of paper in the problem areas. The ands carry the concoction back to the nests where the boric acid disrupts their digestive systems. Some ants prefer grease to sweetness so you may want to try substituting butter or lard for honey. KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN AND PETS
*Wipe cabinets, shelves, counter tops and baseboards with a solution of equal parts white vinegar and water to help keep away ants
*Squirt lemon juice on windowsills and the bottoms of doors to keep ants from coming in the house
*Discourage sugar ants by sprinkling red pepper around the baseboards and at the rear of counters. Ground cloves and black pepper works too.
*To get rid of ants in the lawn mix abt 1lb coffee grounds in 1 qt boiling water and pour on anthills. Red ants, which make big ant hills, will require big dousing.

It also says Carpenter Ants are usually attracted by a water source ((such as a roof or plumbing leak). As a first step in eliminating the ants be sure to eliminate the moisture. This is very important and sometimes all that is needed.

[Chandler Rep]

Honestly if they are just the crested cages I would look at the explorarium cages and just hang them from the ceiling...then set tons of ant traps and keep all the mammals away....we used to use this nasty powder that is probably illegal in general now not just in cali when I was a kid but personally I like bay leaves to keep the little buggers away...

[AneesasMuse]

Thank you so much, Gina!!

Ken, did you hatch any Aardvarks this season? Send me one with the other "kids" ..if you did :nod:


I have tried almost all of the things on that list ..excluding the moth balls and the tar ....cuz I think those might have an effect on my tarantulas, roaches, mealworms, millipede and mantis ..and the tar will cause me to go into convulsive type migraine/clusters.

I've yet to look into the link that Adam gave me yesterday.. I'll go do that...


Thanks again!


...wonder what shipping is on an Aardvark?

[MrsWTownsend]

Well, it was worth a shot!

[Chandler Rep]

...wonder what shipping is on an Aardvark?

$10,496.98








:brick:

[kenster]

Should be more Jeff after all she is in CA..I think they only allow gay aardvarks as well

[AneesasMuse]

I appreciate the shot, too! :thumb:

Jeff.. I haven't tried Bay Leaf before either ..maybe give that a try. I'm not sure what powder you are referring to ..if it's not Boric or Sevin :noidea:
When you say "exploratorium" type vivs, do you mean the screen ones? I'm using the glass ones ..Exo Terra and ZooMed ones... but they'd be too heavy to suspend from the ceiling, I think. Unless you have some tips for such ..I'm pretty handy with my tools and stuff.

Heck! I'll hang from the ceiling, if it'll stop these blasted demons from killing my Cresteds, Hermits (lost FIVE ..3 Straws and 2 Rugs ..Rugs can't be replaced easily either) and Dumpy Frogs! I'm only certain that L'il Abner (gecko) and Will (Dumpy) were murdered by them, but I had a little juvie that was attacked last year (Sashti is suspect also) and lost her tail from it. I almost lost her, too ...Benadryl and a very quick response saved her butt!

[Chandler Rep]

These things...
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/explorarium.php

and yeah it was boric acid....nasty stuff....

[Chandler Rep]

Should be more Jeff after all she is in CA..I think they only allow gay aardvarks as well

Once you figure out which is the gay one you can ship it out then....:banplease:

[AneesasMuse]

Thanks, Jeff ..I have a few of those around here, but it's hard to maintain humidity in them unless I run the humidifiers nonstop ....and that doesn't work well for my desert "folks"

There is one great solution to all this nonsense .........................MOVE!!!!


Ken ..how do you determine which Aardvark is gay or not? Is Duke involved?

[kenster]

Ken ..how do you determine which Aardvark is gay or not? Is Duke involved?

One that desses better than I do

[AneesasMuse]

One that dresses better than I do

So... is that with or without pull-up plaid? :eusa_shifty:

[Chandler Rep]

So... is that with or without pull-up plaid? :eusa_shifty:

If it is without then he knows for sure....

[kenster]

Plaid is in for some odd reason. I also have some blue plaid shorts that I wear gofing

[BalloonzForU]

Plaid is in for some odd reason. I also have some blue plaid shorts that I wear gofing

You type like your mom talks!! :P

[kenster]

I put an L in there jerk face:der:

[AneesasMuse]

Fe... are you gonna let him get away with that??? :heh:

[BalloonzForU]

I put an L in there jerk face:der:

Dork!!!

[Tama]

His typo's he'll just blame on the gimp hand. LOL :D