Hummingbird Feeder Ant Trap

thingiverse

This is my "Hummingbird feeder Ant Trap". All spaces inside are 1/2". The oil cup is filled with mineral oil. The ant cannot cross the trap without crossing the oil, a 1/2 inch wide pool, which they cannot do. To my knowledge, not a single ant has crossed one of my oil cup barriers. This one is based on a design I used for my bee hive ant barriers. This one is different from the bee ant barrier in that it has straight sides. The important parts are the same, though. There is nowhere an ant can cross without spanning a 1/2" air gap or going for a swim in the oil. Strictly speaking you might get by with just the oil cup. The cover is primarily there to keep the rain out. Rain otherwise tends to fill the cup and wash out the oil. Also some insects will drown in an uncovered pool of oil. They probably mistake it for water. The cover is worthwhile, it both keeps the rain out and shields the oil pool from view by insects or other wildlife. I've printed a number of test units for people in yellow. If you have bees I'd use black. A better color if you don't have bees would be red which attracts hummingbirds.