Protecting their food from ants

[yankydoodle]

Hi folks,
The last week or two a problem has occured, that never has occured before. My dogs sleep inside, and they are fed inside with food in the bowls in each of their separate quarters.

When their food is outside, ants love to get to their food. Never happened inside, until about two weeks ago. I just had to clean out so many ants again.

This has never in the 9-10 years that I've had them, happened before inside where they sleep.

It's almost autumn where I live, but again, so for a moment I thought it might be the changing of the seasons, however this is the first time this has ever happened. Nothing out of the ordinary has changed. They eat pellets, or kibble.

How can I protect their food from ants, and it's becoming a real problem now ?

Thanks for any help.

 

[2BullyMama]

@helsonwheels @oscarmayer -- would food grade DE help in this situation?

 

[helsonwheels]

Hi folks,
The last week or two a problem has occured, that never has occured before. My dogs sleep inside, and they are fed inside with food in the bowls in each of their separate quarters.

When their food is outside, ants love to get to their food. Never happened inside, until about two weeks ago. I just had to clean out so many ants again.

This has never in the 9-10 years that I've had them, happened before inside where they sleep.

It's almost autumn where I live, but again, so for a moment I thought it might be the changing of the seasons, however this is the first time this has ever happened. Nothing out of the ordinary has changed. They eat pellets, or kibble.

How can I protect their food from ants, and it's becoming a real problem now ?

Thanks for any help.

If you DON’T have a cat(s) in the house, you can use pure peppermint essential oil non diluted. Did you find where the ants are coming in from? Usually open doors, window, cracks from basements. I recommend you add peppermint in one straight line along doors, windows n cracks. It can stripe paint so stay off the paint. Insects don’t like oils cause it burns their little neuron brain cells n will die. You can also use lavender. I live on an acreage n I use peppermint all the time on the side of my garage doors. Keeps mice out. Works.

 

[oscarmayer]

I would go to the source of the problem and get rid of the ants. Many species of ants can destroy wooden structures. Sweet ants(tiny black ants) are easy to kill using a few drops of Terro Ant Killer. Figure out how they gain access and seal them out while you determine how best to eradicate them. I hate ants in my home.

 

[Manydogs]

The Terro works great.I get ants on my kitchen counter and put terro ant traps. ' If you are worried about the dog getting to it, you could also use DE(diatomecious earth(sp?),
You and the dog could eat it, and it won't hurt! It is great for ants and fleas! It is dusty for in the house, but I always sprinkled it around the foundation. No worries about danger!

 

[1Chumly]

At a previous house we would get ants occasionally so I used to put my dogs bowl in a larger bowl of water. This is more elaborate but the idea is the same.

 

[2BullyMama]

At a previous house we would get ants occasionally so I used to put my dogs bowl in a larger bowl of water. This is more elaborate but the idea is the same.

what a freakin great idea!

 

[yankydoodle]

Thank you for all the good ideas.

What I've done now, is I give them food much later. So, their hunger is built up, and by the time they eat, they eat everything, and it does not give the ants a chance to get to the food, and I remove their bowls as soon as they are done. And they are very happy once they ate.

Sometimes they don't even eat in the morning. Which is strange. lol.

I don't like to have them hungry, but it works (for now).