I figured that some of you might know how to kill a colony of carpenter ants. Ants seem to be running down the tree in my front yard, up the walkway, up the front porch stairs and then into the porch. I’ve also seen a few in various places inside the house. I’ve put down some of the different ant baits (little round or square bait stations, the idea being that the worker ants take the bait back to the queen and presto!). However, the ants seem to be disinterested in these baits (tried about three or four different brands / active ingredients). I think there are a few places in the walls where they might be residing as well. The numbers of visible ants don’t seem to be increasing, but they don’t seem to be on the decline either.
Any suggestions on how to get at them / kill them / bait them without going on a wild goose chase tearing up all different parts of the walls or siding? I’d rather not wait until they chew up enough wood to let the house fall down itself and expose the location of the nest.
Thanks
Alec
Replies
Alec,
I have dealt with carpenter ants on my house as well as several rehab projects. Usually call an exterminator to come deal with them. A few things I have learned from the bug guy:
- Carp ants usually have a colony in a tree, get that one if you can. They also tend to have satellite colonies in your house. Unfortunately, when you find one, the ants will scatter which can lead them to new/other areas in the house.
- most store bought baits, traps, etc. don't work very well, you need the stuff the bug guys use.
- Carp ants are attracted to a moisture source, find and eliminate any leaks or wet and damaged wood.
Hope this helps
Some of the folks here were helping me with a similar problem a couple of days ago.
Click on the link to read the thread.
http://forums.prospero.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=75879.1
Carpenter ants reside in wet, and rotting wood. If you have carpenter ants, it may be an indication that water is leaking into your structure.
May neighbors respect You, and troubles neglect You.
Gord
Carpenter ants need food.
They do not eat wood they live in it.
Get rid of any food source and they go away.
Had a customer a few years back that was a total slob. Kids spilled sugar all over the kitchen floor, empty cat food cans galore, sink filled with dirty dishes... and he couldn't figure out why he had ants.
By far in my experience the little tiny ants are way more destructive the carpenter ants... but bottom line is, if you feed them they will come.
Go out to the barn and break into that 3 gallon stash of Chlorodane that is still left from the 70's when you laid in a lifetime supply.
However; being a young guy only in your 30's you probably dont have any chlorodane stashed away--- but, I did find anothe pint at a garage/estate sale last year. 1/2 tsp will kill'em all if you can get ahold of some. 5 gallons will last for 50 years around a home.
Looked at your profile to see age, pix looks like a regular on arboristsite.com??
The boric acid fans will arrive soon with more advice.
Go out to the barn and break into that 3 gallon stash of Chlorodane that is still left from the 70's when you laid in a lifetime supply.
Mine was only one gallon but I still have plenty left.
If having a low wage work force was good for a country's economy then why hasn't Mexico built a fence?
how to kill carpenter ants
get them jobs working for Contractor ants...
they will soon loose the will to live...
I have no comment...
That is the best thing I have heard in a long time. I have to clean chocolate donuts off my computer screen.
As for the Op are you sure they are carpenter ants? Have you seen little tiny beer cans laying around? Thats how I tell if they are carpenter ants.Can't you hear the violin playing your song.
I thought it was the little cigarete butts.
cig butts is painter ants...
Carpenter ants are always busy...
contractor ants will only be seen at quitting time....
plus they won't touch a stick of wood, but will go right for your check-book...
I have no comment...
Freaking priceless, T !!!!
Take a look at Bora care. It is non toxic but does something to shut down their internal systems. In MA there are many places to get it but Lesco might be the most convienent. It is a concentrate that only comes in 1 gallon containers and you mix it with hot water.
http://www.lesco.com/?PageID=27&ItemNumber=017883
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/spec/pick-boracare1.htm
According to the OSHA handbook, there are literally hundreds of ways to kill carpenters.........ants or not.
The carpenter ants in my house all have little pencils behind their ears.
Being a witless geek I'll give you a straight answer; a technique that worked on 2 occasions for me (though I have no idea what kind of ants except for "little ones" but not "tiny ones").
- Take one of the little bait traps that the ants have been ignoring and cut a hole about the size of a dime in the top over the bait.
- Take a new toothpick and dip it 1/4" in honey. Put the lid back on the honey so you don't accidentally re-dip the poisoned toothpick.
- Take the sweet end of the toothpick and smear it around on the poison, dig a few little holes, and mix it a little bit. (I don't know why, but this is what I did and it seems to work).
- Get a new toothpick and redip in the honey just enough to get a tiny bit, and make a couple of trails fromthe edge of the plastic toward the bait. My theory being to attract the ants to the edge, then lure them to the poison.
- Put the trap in an ant-happy location, keep kids and favored pets away, and let the ants do the rest.
I hope you get rid of them one way or another.
-jim
We had the same problem some years ago. In a tree down the yard, pretty steady stream to the porch, a few in the house. Pretty big ones. They are almost certainly carpenter ants, little wee toolbelts or not. They likely have a home, or vacation home if the one in the tree is the main one, in your porch or thereabouts.
You can start tearing up some of the porch around where their path leads (found our nest in doubled rim joist under some soft floor boards which needed replacing anyway). It's best if you can blast the nest directly, using the strongest insecticide you can find. Or you can shoot it into anyplace around the porch you see them and along their path near the house, again, using something strong with a label that says they'll carry it to the nest and any of they're friends they bump into. I don't think ant traps will be enough.
Probably best to bring in a pro, though. They'll blast the outside and inside (different insecticide), too.
As others have said, carpenter ants are a symptom, not a disease. They might be coming from outside, but if there are many of them inside the house, there may well be a moisture problem and rotting wood. The solution is to find and fix the problem. In these cases, I just spray with regular ant killer after I find the nest. After everything is clean and dry, the ants will not come back.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
I have used a product called Terro, (liquid borax) you leave it in their trail and they suck it up and take it back to the nest feeding the others. Winthin days the ants are gone. I have had at times 20 to 30 ants at the Terro food source and within days I had one or 2 ants left. It now comes in various types. I use the liquid and place it on cards. They now have an outdoor dispenser for the liquid that is loaded with Terro.