Last night, 2 Chilean Rose tarantulas had to be evacuated from their tanks in an effort to combat the swarm of ants that was invading their desk. Although no one was hurt, both spiders remain confused, and rather pissed off that they were so rudely interrupted.
Siddhartha, the Pink Toed neighbor, refused to leave her dwelling, and was luckily unaffected by her neighbor’s plight. I found an ant or 2 in her tank, but nothing else. Stragglers probably, looking for more food.
All this came about when around 10:30 last night I noticed Nata acting strangely. I normally do a check in the morning, and just before bed, so I tend to catch anything out of the ordinary pretty quickly. Nata had been out of her burrow, sitting by her water dish. Normally she does this if she is eating, but when I looked over at where her crickets sit, I saw that one was dead and covered in ants, and another was sitting at the top of the cricket hide.
This is why I am always looking for extra tanks. I needed to get Nata out fast, so I used the best thing I had: a live animal carrier from Petco for small animals. I managed to get her to go back into her favorite burrow (a dibs container) and placed her and the burrow into the Petco carrier.
I had to remove everything from her tank, and dump out all the bedding. (Note to self: buy EXTRA bedding.) I took a wet (new, not used) sponge and wiped down the top and lid of the tank, and put fresh bedding in.
After I got her water dish back in, I made the decision to keep any crickets out for the night. I repeated the process with Sarva, and all seems well.
For a temporary fix, I placed liquid dish soap around the 2 big tanks, and placed the unaffected spiderlings on top. It looks like everything is ok this morning, but I will continue to monitor the tanks.
We live in a small apartment, so the desktop is the only place I have to keep them.
No other critters were affected by the ants. 😐
I am still tired, and need many more cups of coffee.
I love bugs, but they (INCLUDING ANTS) need to learn to stay outside unless pre-authorized to come in.
UGH.
From the Desktop of Sid and Nata 