We keep a bowl of dog food for our 5 chi's inside the house. During warmer weather only, (starting this month), it starts getting over run with ants! How can I keep the ants out and not bother the dogs?
Glinda from Glendale, KY
We bought a bowl at our local Petsmart (Petco) store that is designed to keep bugs out. Check out your local Walmart, Kmart for them too (04/16/2006)
Put the food in inside another bowl that has a small amount of water in it. Ants can't swim, so this should reduce or eliminate your ant issue.
http://www.frugalforlife.com(04/16/2006)
By Dawn
I just had this problem with my cat food bowls. I emptied the bowl, and cleaned it to make sure I didn't keep any in there, and sprayed the area with vinegar (to kill or chase off the remaining ones) and then I put out some Terro. They have not been back yet. If you use Terro, which you can get at Walmart in the Garden department, you want to put it where your pets cannot get to it BUT near the problem. I moved my bowls so that I could place the Terro under things so my kitties wouldn't get into it. (04/17/2006)
By Katie
I heard--haven't had to try it yet myself--that any cleaner that has orange oil in it will stop ants but won't bother pets or children. So maybe you could spray the orange oil cleaner around where the food bowls are. (04/17/2006)
By Lynn Marler
Figure out where they are coming in and stop them there. Then put your dogs water dish on a cloth place mat that has been sprinkled with mint oil or powdered cloves. They are natural deterrents that won't hurt your pets. (04/17/2006)
I've heard that they don't like bay leaves. Try tacking a few bay leaves to the bowl. (04/17/2006)
By LEONA LABINE
Stopping them as they enter the house is important, or they will just find something else in your cabinets or pantry to eat. I had them in my cats' food bowl. If you have a basement, put ant traps (the kind with bait they bring back to the nest) on the sill plate between the floor joists in the basement, in the area where they are entering. That solved my ant problem completely and I didn't' have to worry about the pets getting into pesticide or having pesticide near my food. (04/18/2006)
By Beth
Hi Neighbor! There are special bowls to keep ants out but you can simulate this type of bowl by placing the water bowl inside another container
(04/19/2006)
By Diana
The way I keep ants out of my house and off my dogs food bowl is (CHALK). Yep, that's all I do is draw a line around my dog's food bowl, the ants don't like it and it works. My daughter didn't believe me and she had a pet rabbit and the ants were getting into the rabbits food and in the cage until I put chalk all around the cage. The rabbit was happy, no more ants. Try it, IT WORKS and it's not messy (04/21/2006)
By margaret_spurlock2000@yahoo.com
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