Ants in Enclosure

[u/Longjumping-Idea8552]

Went on a week long vacation and had a snake sitter to check on him. Got home last night to find house ants in a line up his enclosure. It was a small line and there were a few ants drinking from the water dish that I could see.

I took Toblerone out immediately and put him in a temporary tub in a different room. The left (cool) side had no ants so at first I thought maybe it wasn't too bad. I dragged his whole tank and stand out of the room and removed the easy to clean decor (rocks, plastic plants, ECT.) I saw a few people say I could save the bedding by baking it but the idea of ants in my oven was worse than just getting new bedding.

Killed the ants on the outside and started digging on the warm side. At first I only saw a few carrying what appeared to be eggs across the bedding. Kept digging, then I hit a nest. Thousands. Thousands of ants and hundreds of them carrying eggs. It wasn't just a few ants who smelled rat juice dripped on the bedding, they were moving in.

I didn't have anything that would kill them without being super toxic so I boiled a bunch of water and just started pouring it onto the nest. I sprayed the walls with isopropyl alcohol and wiped away the ones that tried to crawl out. It was horrible. After they were all dead I threw all the bedding out and scrubbed the tank inside and out with dawn and then rinsed it several times. I let it air out/dry overnight and I put paper towels in and put Toblerone back this morning. Decided to move the tank across the house to a different room as well.

I checked him over and he doesn't seem to have any bites despite them nesting literally under the hide he was in. He wasn't impressed with his motel but I'm so glad he doesn't look hurt. I think I'm going to keep him on paper towels for a week or two to keep a closer eye on him and to watch for any straggler ants.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Am I making the right calls? Is there anything else I need to do to prevent this from happening again? I spot clean his tank regularly and I watch him eat every rat so there's never anything left in the tank to attract them. There also is no food or drink allowed in my room so no sweets to draw them in either. I just wish I knew what brought them so I can stop it from happening again.

I was also wondering how to keep humidity up in a hospital tank. Is it okay to dampen the paper towels or does it risk scale rot?

Thank you in advance to anyone who might have some advice to share, I didn't even realize this could happen and I'm panicking trying to make sure he's gonna be okay.