Method and apparatus for preventing crawling insects or other crawling pests from entering the food area of an animal feeding bowl

Claim 1

An animal feeding bowl for placement on the ground and which prevents a crawling insect of a predetermined size from reaching the food area of the bowl, comprising; bowl means defining a bowl area capable of holding animal food and/or water, said bowl means having an upper ridge defining the sole entry location for crawling insects into the bowl area; supporting means for supporting said bowl means with respect to the ground for disposing said upper ridge at an elevation located above ground; a first surface positioned with respect to said support means for defining a first pathway for a crawling insect to reach food in the bowl area from ground, said first surface disposed in a direction leading away from ground toward the bowl area for discouraging the climbing of the insect onto said first pathway when the insect is using -tactic response modes either individually, concurrently or serially; obstacle means secured along the entire extent of said ridge and including a surface bearing member depending towards the ground and being spaced from ground by a predetermined distance, said distance being greater than said pre-determined size of the insect so as to prevent the crawling insect from climbing onto said surface bearing member from ground, said surface bearing member carrying a second surface confronting at least a portion of said first surface, said second surface being spaced apart from said first surface by said predetermined distance at least for a portion of its extent upward from ground, said surface bearing member physically blocking insects from passing from said first pathway across said ridge into said bowl area, said second surface defining a second pathway being disposed in a direction leading from said first pathway toward ground to a point having an elevation different than the elevation of said ridge for discouraging continued movement by an insect along said second pathway toward ground when the insect is using -tactic response modes either individually, concurrently or serially, said obstacle means cooperating with said first surface for generating a phototactic barrier along said first pathway by shadowing thereof to discourage continued movement by the insect along said first pathway toward said bowl area when the insect is in a positive phototactic response mode or using ultraviolet light for navigational orientation, said obstacle means being disposed relative to said first surface for generating a geotactic barrier to disorient the insect's foraging for a food source at a particular elevation, said first and second pathways being disposed relative to the direction of food scent from food in the bowl area for discouraging the insect from movement along said first pathway toward said bowl area.