We had an invasion of carpenter ants last summer.  You HAVE to call an
exterminator, you can not kill them with otc insecticides.  They will eat
your house from the inside out, until it falls down around you.  The stuff
they used was animal safe once dry(I read the label).  We were told we
didn't have to remove the ferrets, but I moved them to rooms that wouldn't
be treated for about two hours anyway.  They use a needle like device and
poke it into the walls behind the dishwasher, under the sink, behind the
toilet, etc.  No actual spraying goes on outside of the walls.  You
couldn't smell anything.  After about 4 hours, I never saw another
carpenter ant.  The ants were in the cages here and there, we use recycled
newspaper litter, and the exterminator thought that was attracting them to
the cages, but not into the house itself.
 
I had a bag of TF with the bad lot number (just found out about the recall
when the 30 lb.  bag was all but gone) but it smells fine, the ferrets have
eaten 29 lbs of it, and there has been no illness.  Maybe it's because we
mix it with 8 in 1, Innova, TFS private label, and lately throw in some
Iams kitten we had donated as well, so they aren't eating only the TF.  I
don't know.  I pitched the last little bit to be safe, but I guess if there
was a problem I would have known by now.  So maybe not all the bags in that
lot number are bad?
 
I am also wondering if the heat has aggravated the food for those people
who don't have AC or keep the food in an area that gets very warm in the
summer?
 
Anne
[Posted in FML issue 3127]