Vent: That $60 'ant-proof' hummingbird feeder was a total scam

Bought this fancy feeder with built-in moats and traps online last month. Said guaranteed to stop ants. Day 1 looked fine. Day 2 there was a whole army crawling up the hook and drowning in the sugar water. My yard now has a daily ant funeral. Anybody find a feeder that actually works or am I just feeding two species now?

2 comments

2 Comments

clark.alex6d ago

Oh boy, I've been down that exact road with those so-called ant-proof feeders. The trick that finally worked for me was putting a little Vaseline on the hanging wire above the feeder, it creates a slick barrier they can't cross. Also moved the feeder to a separate shepherds hook away from trees and bushes where they climb up from, that cut down the problem by about 90 percent.

the_diana5d ago

Little Vaseline on the hanging wire" - that's exactly what my friend Jen tried after her own ant disaster last summer. She had this pretty glass feeder, not even the expensive kind, and ants were marching across it like they owned the place. She put a thick ring of petroleum jelly on the wire right above the hook, and it worked so well that she even saw a few ants get stuck and give up. But then the sun melted it all off in one afternoon, and the ants came back worse than before. She ended up switching to one of those upside-down bottle feeders with a moat built into the base, and that thing actually works because the water barrier is always there, no reapplying needed. I think those fancy traps are just a gimmick, but a simple moat with plain water, replaced every couple days, might be your best bet without turning your yard into a bug spa.