Ants in snail tank

[simon]

Hello everyone,

We've got a problem with ants in the snail tank.

The local playgroup recently got two of the African land snails and they've been great so far. However, they noticed a couple ants in the bottom of the tank the other day, so they asked me to have a look. I thought it may have been a couple ants looking for food, but I believe there's actually a small ants nest in there. They don't seem to be harming the snails so far, but it's obviously not something we want to risk.

I assume I'm going to have to change the whole bedding, but from what I've heard that's not very good for the snails. I can't see another way to remove the nest though.
The snails are on a coir bedding, if that's relevant.


I don't want to harm the snails so I would appreciate any advice about what to do here, and if anyone knew any snail-friendly tips on how to deter the ants I'd be grateful.

[jolovessnailies]

I am not an expert love but I would get it out of these as soon as poss and give the snailies a new substrate. I know you are not supposed to change it all but I think this calls for desperate measures. I am sure our other friends on here can add some advice too. Please keep us posted.

Hugs
Jo xx

[picklepies]

Oh no what an annoyance! When I have to change my snailie bedding I keep as much poop as I can behind (bit gross sorry!) So they still have the bacteria when they go into the new tank, which I think is the main issue in substrate changes? If you're just dealing with ants you could always just scoop up some particularly​ poopy bits xx

[simon]

Hello,

Thanks for your replies

There is (or was) definitely an ant's nest in there. There's a pot in there for a place for the snails to hide in, and when I opened the tank, there were only a few ants moving around the bottom. As soon as I moved the pot though, there were hundreds of ants crawling underneath it. Looks like it was ideal conditions for the ants (warm, safe, available food). So I decided to do as you said Jo, and replace the substrate. I don't think there was any other choice, as the ants must have had tunnels all through it, and I could end up leaving ant eggs or the queen in it.

I also saved as much of the fresh poop as I could, like you said picklepies, so hopefully it helps reintroduce any of the beneficial bacteria back.

The snails seem fine so far. They don't appear to have noticed anything - they were happily eating some kale when I scooped them out the tank and put then in a temporary container, and they were still doing it after I put them back in. So (fingers crossed) they seem like they're going to be ok.


I assume a queen ant must have squeezed under the lid of the tank, so I think the next step is to maybe get some sort of fine mesh to cover it with. I don't believe there's much we can do around the tank to deter ants, because any chemcials would harm the snails. I've read that some herbs (like basil) can deter ants, and there are some that are safe for snails, so we could probably try feeding them some basil every so often. I might help deter the ants, but I'll make sure there's some sort of mesh anyway.

So yeah, thanks again for your replies, it was helpful

[picklepies]

Hi Simon glad we could help if you live UK side wicks does some good fine mesh for a pretty reasonable price, if no you could try insect mesh for plants etc, that should keep them out I also believe ants can't swim very well? So if all else fails you could build a most around the tank lol x

[simon]

Cool, I'll check it out. And I like the moat idea haha