Ant bait and pets.. not so good combo

[firebirdgold]

So I read the label on the Raid ant bait and it had a great many dire warnings about the contents and not letting children or pets play with it. The label also listed .05% gobbledygook insecticide and 99.95% unnamed inactive ingredients. I really would have preferred a few less dire warnings and as least one warning as to what the other ingredients were!
So DH puts the ant baits out in the yard, figuring it''s safer for the dog than spraying. He also later lets the dog out into the backyard. An hour later he goes out and I hear yelling and cursing. Turns out our dog collected all the ant bait traps, made a nest in a flower bed, and settled down for some serious chewing. He only really mangled one trap, but if you didn''t already know what it was you couldn''t have guessed from what was left! So we called the vet and then called poison control.

Turns out the unnamed 99.95% was peanut butter! Hello? What sort of idiot mixes peanut butter with poison and forgets to mention it on the package?? Peanut butter is a universal treat for most animals including dogs! GRRRRRR....

On the plus side the poison control hotline guy asked me if my dog was lethargic, confused, or vomiting... and I''m looking down at doggy monster''s happy smiling face with the frantically waving tail. (he really wanted to go back out and eat another ant bait!) Apparently it''s not a lot of poison, it''s similar to a dewormer anyway, and my dog is very large.
So no harm done in the end. But I thought you guys might like to know about the peanut butter!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Peanut butter?!? What are those idiots thinking--not putting some sort of better info on the packaging? Yesh, you would think SOMEONE in the entire ant trap company would say, geez, I have a DOG and this seems like the kind of thing that he/she might be interested in so maybe we should print something on the label.

 

[jcrow]

not to mention - peanut allergies!

 

[Kaleigh]

That''s insane, grrrr.

 

[FireGoddess]

IT''s.....PEANUT BUTTER?!?!?!!?!?!?

 

[Gypsy]

OMG! That''s the HEIGHT of stupidity. SO VERY HAPPY that the dog is okay. Great warning.

 

[IrishAngel7982]

Oh geeze...I can''t even imagine what my devil dogs would do to a trap full of peanut butter. Inactive ingredient huh?

 

[sumbride]

Peanut butter is one of the greatest ways to get a creature to take poison... works for us with rats... and alas, it works with pet dogs too! Glad to hear puppy is ok!

What kind of ants are you dealing with? Are they the mound-making welt-generating fire ants? or the little black sugar ants? or the pesky ones that just won''t go away? For the fire ants, get granules that you can drop into their mounds. For the other kinds, get ant spray. I adore the Ortho Home Defense Max! I used it last year and I STILL don''t have any ants in my kitchen! They are outside, but they aren''t crossing the threshold. I''m not opposed to ants in general, just don''t want them in my house. So I sprayed this along the door frame and against the molding where they were coming in and voila, no more ants. According to the label, as soon as its dry it''s safe for pets to be around... that was important to me because of my cats eating near the spot I had to spray. (I did move the food before I sprayed!)

 

[VegasAngel]

Sucks that your dog got them, but I do have to say the label warns about pets & humans. I never noticed peanut butter wasnt listed on the label but I can smell it. Those ant traps work great though I had to put some around a few days ago.

 

[monarch64]

Yep, if we have to use ant traps we hide them way back inside the cabinets where the dogs can''t get to them...bad stuff in those things! I hope your dog is ok!

One of my co-workers'' dogs got into a whole pound of dark chocolate and ate the whole thing a few months ago. The co-worker said the dog was fine...it weighs almost 100 lbs and apparently there is a ratio of chocolate to body weight that has to be exceeded before it is poisonous to the dog, but STILL!

 

[AndyRosse]

LOL, I''m a bit late here, but since I just dealt with a sugar ant problem a little bit ago, I thought I would let everyone know about Terro ant products. Their liquid ant baits contain a sugary syrup and borax, and while of course you should try to keep your pets away from them, their website claims that the amount of borax in the product will not harm pets if ingested. And the best part is that the ants absolutely loved the bait trap and (**knocking on wood**) they seem to be gone.

And like Sumbride said, the Ortho Home Defense Max is great for spraying outside, and she''s right, according to the packaging, once the spray is dry it is not harmful to pets. I sprayed a ton of that around the outside of my house and on my walkway too.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 5/25/2007 7:06:00 PM
Author: monarch64
Yep, if we have to use ant traps we hide them way back inside the cabinets where the dogs can''t get to them...bad stuff in those things! I hope your dog is ok!


One of my co-workers'' dogs got into a whole pound of dark chocolate and ate the whole thing a few months ago. The co-worker said the dog was fine...it weighs almost 100 lbs and apparently there is a ratio of chocolate to body weight that has to be exceeded before it is poisonous to the dog, but STILL!

The Demon ate a bunch of mini candy bars a few years ago and the vet said a dog has to eat one ounce of PURE chocolate per pound of body weight before it becomes a toxic situation. Dark chocolate is probably closer to "pure" chocolate than the ultra processed stuff in the Kit Kats and Almond Joys and other things that The Demon ate, but even then the dog would have had to eat over 12 pounds of it before it became deadly.

 

[divergrrl]

Date: 5/25/2007 10:04:44 AM
Author: sumbride
Peanut butter is one of the greatest ways to get a creature to take poison... works for us with rats... and alas, it works with pet dogs too! Glad to hear puppy is ok!

What kind of ants are you dealing with? Are they the mound-making welt-generating fire ants? or the little black sugar ants? or the pesky ones that just won't go away? For the fire ants, get granules that you can drop into their mounds. For the other kinds, get ant spray. I adore the Ortho Home Defense Max! I used it last year and I STILL don't have any ants in my kitchen! They are outside, but they aren't crossing the threshold. I'm not opposed to ants in general, just don't want them in my house. So I sprayed this along the door frame and against the molding where they were coming in and voila, no more ants. According to the label, as soon as its dry it's safe for pets to be around... that was important to me because of my cats eating near the spot I had to spray. (I did move the food before I sprayed!)

I second Ortho Home Defense. Our 100 year old house gets ants all the time (the little ones) and Terminix & their fancy bait/sprays never made a dent. My Dh sprays the Ortho once a month outside & once it dries its safe for pets/kids. We only spray inside if they come in & same thing, once its dry, its kid/pet safe (I have both kinds of kids...2 legged & furry).

Like Sumbride said...just move any food items prior to spraying.

Bonus: Its cheap. Ant bait has never worked for us.

Diver

 

[firebirdgold]

I''ll try the Ortho spray.
Personally, as long as they stay outside, I could care less about an ant colony but it''s aggravating DH probably ''cause they''re right outside his office. I have no idea what they are, small black ants under my brick patio that push up little mounds of sand between the bricks for their entrances. Not the super microscopic kind, but small. I swear their colony must be the size of my whole back yard because they''re under two different brick patios. Terminix sprayed them with no effect. DH thought the ant bait traps would work better. Probably would have if Monster dog hadn''t thought DH was leaving a special chew treat out for him.

 

[anchor31]

I can''t believe they don''t mention the peanut butter on the package! My parents put the stuff in places the cats or dog can''t reach. Now that I moved the cats in my new place, it won''t be so much trouble.