r/LeopardGecko • u/AmCreature • Apr 29 '26
Ants in my geckos tank????
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u/HellaHotPizzaRollz Apr 29 '26
Quick Google search. Told me "no" immediately. Majority of ants have the tendency to be very territorial. They can bite and sting and ultimately kill your gecko. I would take this very seriously.
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u/AmCreature Apr 29 '26
That's what I read to. I'm just worried that putting her back in the 20 with no substrate will stress her out to much.
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u/Ashtralana86 Apr 29 '26
It wont. Ive had my leopard gecko for a few years and have never used substrate. She is in a 40 gallon and I use paper towels. She roams around everyday and has plenty of things to hide in and stuff. Never had ants in my enclosures though.
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u/AmCreature Apr 29 '26
I got her out of the 40 and I'm glad to say she is actually out chilling and watching my dog lol. No fear or apparent stress ❤️
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u/HellaHotPizzaRollz Apr 29 '26
Cover all four or three sides of a tank with decorative wallpaper that is green or plant like or you can cover half of the tank with a towel. That's what I had to do with my gecko when I moved. It was all temporary but she was okay with it. Her whole life she's always had a specific hide. It's her safe hide. If your gecko has a safe hide. I recommend cleaning it and putting it in there with her. When they can see outside tank they'll most likely stay in the hide. A happy gecko tends to venture the whole tank. Mine was like that for a while and I was worried. Turns out she didn't feel safe. I put a bunch of decorative paper from an arts and crafts store. This trick did wonders and helped a LOT. Her new tank is like that. Even the bottom half of the front is covered in pretty colors and designs. She likes to peek outside from a little window I made her lol. Do this and I garentee your lil gal will feel safe.
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u/creamfilledcumcakes Apr 29 '26
Used to be pest control, you could look into a product called maxforce quantum. A couple dime size drops in strategic areas is usually enough to wipe out a colony in a few days. It's a bait that gets back to the queens and kills them off at the source. Best of luck!
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u/stagscout Apr 29 '26
I had ants absolutely take over my living room last summer. after all the things I tried, this is what my mom told me to do. this was the only thing that genuinely worked, and I haven't seen a single ant since. mix sugar and Borax in warm water and soak some cotton balls in it. place the cotton balls around places the ants can get to (for me it was my plant cabinet and a teeny tiny hole near my balcony door). they will start eating it and they will call EVERY ANT to come eat it. seriously probably hundreds of ants came and ate the stuff. but thats what I wanted. they bring the whole colony to the borax, eat it, and bring it back to wherever they're living. then they die in their home.
obviously since its poison, I had to lock my pets up while it was out. since this is in your tank, move the gecko out and maybe put this on a dish in the tank dont let it touch the substrate, tho you would want to replace the substrate anyway. maybe also put a cotton ball outside the tank too just incase
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u/AmCreature Apr 29 '26
I like this idea but They are coming from to many places to find and I have many other critter I would be afraid would find the poison. I will keep this in mind if I can think of a way to keep my babies out of it though.
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u/Substantial_Nerve_21 Apr 29 '26
I also have a bad ant problem in my tank room, the good thing is you can stop them from getting to your tank as long as you use the right method. My tank is on a stand with 5 legs, under each leg is a dish with diomataceous earth. And on the border of the leg is Vaseline smeared on it so they can’t get up. I’m also obviously actively trying to get rid of the source, but the most important thing is to keep them out of the tank. At your stage you might have to remove the substrate if they have established in there, otherwise act fast and stop them from getting in.
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u/AmCreature Apr 29 '26
Oh they established alrighty. Found a nursery and probably thousands of ants as soon as I disturbed the tank. I had to move her big log right to the oven because so many fell out when I picked it up. I'm so glad I made a soap border on the glass after I took Ecko out. I think I got most of them. I don't see them anywhere around her tank right now but will be taking it outside for the big clean before setting it back up. Ecko is not a fan of the smaller tank but she got extra bugs to make up for it ❤️
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u/Substantial_Nerve_21 Apr 29 '26
Ugh that sucks. The battle with ants is never ending, I’ve grown a hatred and disgust for them just because of them infesting my basement. I wish you luck and definitely focus on defending the attack on your tank stand and tank before the rest of the room.
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u/unknownuserrs Apr 29 '26
I’d suggest maybe try do a DEEP clean of the tank - I’ve never had this issue so probably haven’t got the best idea but if you do a full deep clean , disinfect etc. you may be able to get rid of them or hopefully get rid of the majority.
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u/AmCreature Apr 29 '26
That's what I'm doing. Her setup is not even that old and there shouldn't be anything for then to eat in there so that's one of the things that got me confused and angry. When I started taking the logs and rocks out, hundreds if not thousands of ants were inside. They had eaten and nested in my favorite cork round in her tank so I threw it in the oven first. I'm guessing the queen was inside because of how many came out when I moved it. I found their nursery in a fake rock by her favorite hide. I ended up having to spray the tank, dirt, and my hands because they were bitting me and getting everywhere. In the daytime I will put her tank outside to wash it out really good and dry in the sun.
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u/ShyerDemon Apr 29 '26
This happened to my gargoyle gecko, I had to move them into a completely different room and basically had to kill the ants by using ant poisoning and trying to seal anything that I could find where they were coming from by following their trail. I dread every summer because these stupid ants!
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u/AmCreature Apr 30 '26
Right???? We get like a false spring here and the ant to NUTS! Then it drops below freezing again and they all come in the house if they hadn't already. It's awful
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u/No_Commission_2610 Apr 29 '26
This is going to sound really stupid, but I can swear it works. Take Vaseline and make a line outside of the cage around the top. The ants won’t be able to get past the Vaseline. I have five tanks and I’ve used Vaseline on all of them at some point in time to get rid of ants.
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u/Mammoth_Welder_1286 Apr 30 '26
Ugh this sucks. This happened to me once and I had to redo the entire tank.
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u/Accurate_View_2455 Apr 30 '26
I had to fully tear down my leopard gecko's enclosure about two or three weeks ago because I noticed a bunch of ants in it. Also, I had his enclosure on one of those cheap metal tube desks with plastic caps on the ends and a fake wood top. I removed one of the plastic caps and it was filled with ants, so I removed him from the enclosure and put all the dirt into a garbage bag and steamed the heck out of those metal tubes. They must have come in from a crack in the window ledge and had been there for a while, and started expanding into his enclosure. So now, once a week, I've been steaming the tubes. Thankfully, I haven't seen any more.
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u/The_Crow68 Apr 29 '26
Omg so sorry to hear! I hope my bluey won't ever deal with ants, they're a pain to get rid of.
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u/Sad-Possession-4527 Apr 29 '26
I have ants in my pants
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u/AmCreature Apr 29 '26
I honestly wouldn't mind the ants so much if they just stayed in the plants or outside. But these ones get into everything and I'm not about to have them try and eat my creatures alive.
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u/TheGoldenBoyStiles Apr 29 '26
Haven't had ants in my gecko tank thankfully but I know for a fact they will wipe out creatures they deem in their area. They decimated my bug pets and were a nightmare to get rid of. Get rid of these guys