we have ants in our king snake tank,we cleaned our wood in bleach and water,could the ants survive the bleach?

Question

could the ants harm the snake.

Answer 1

YES you may use bleach to soak your wood and branches. 4 ounces per gallon allow it to dry completely in the sun 5 days minimum the sun disipates the chlorine and the heat forces any moisture to the surface. fireside if you know so much about microbes in wood here is a question at what temp and how long does it take to gurantee kill of single cell micro organisms that can infest your tank completely in 2 years or less. 445 degrees for 6 hours or 12 hours at 105 degrees celcius also this only guarantees to kill fungi. these are the most correct answers try this with a piece of everyday wood. guess what you end up with a scortched branch that it not usable. manufacturers used bleach for a good many years then epoxy coated the product to fill the pores. now they use bleach and uv rays to destroy microbes. uv disrups the dna and will not allow it to reproduce. this is also how they sterilize your drinking water .5 ppm. pools that kids drink out of 1.2 ppm enough to kill any fungi or bacteria. and if you tell me there is a difference between bleach and chlorine I will begin ranting again because you will be wrong about that too. I am sure if you used storebought items or you only have branches about 2 inches in diam there is no way a colony could survive. queen, workers, drones, eggs etc take up alot of space and require major amounts of food to survive. what you have is readily accessable food for them and they are probably getting in to the tank and getting at the food available in there. try this get a roll of 2 sided tape place 2 strips one inch apart all the way around the bottom of the tank. place one strip all the way around the top of the tank. if you see ants sticking to the tape you know they are coming in from the outside. I hesitate to recommend poisins inside your home even as far away as other rooms as they tend to take a little while to take effect and may actually get into the tank and your snake may eat them. as far as the ants harming your snake I would be more concerned with the ants being an outside food source that has consumed pesticides and poisins. if there is enough in numbers to actually attack your snake you will probably notice that before it happens.

Answer 2

what kind of substrate ( ground cover) are you using in the tank. If you are using wood chips they could be in there. I have had ants that got into a tank and lived under the black plastic that is around the top and bottom of the tank, check there. As for the ants hurting the snake, it all depends on the ants.

Answer 3

This is foolish. BLEACH KILLS STUFF! STOP BEING CHEAP! Throw the wood AWAY and clean the tank. YOU CANNOT CLEAN THE WOOD WITH BLEACH AND THE PUT IT BACK IN THERE WITH A SNAKE YOU FOOL.

Wood is porous and SOAKS up bleach. No matter how much you try to rinse it, it will stay in the wood, and as it heats up will offgas chlorine fumes. This will irritate your snakes eyes and respiratory system possibly causing him blindness or a respiratory infection which can kill him!

If you want to kill insects in wood used for reptile tanks....THEN HEAT TREAT IT!

Please get on the forum at kingsnake.com to speak with experienced kingsnake owners before you kill the snake.

Answer 4

They won't live in bleach, and most likly won't bother your snale but keep an eye on them to be shure