How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
Getting rid of carpenter ants in your home requires a lot of work and persistence. Before calling in the pest control technician, make sure that you have a thorough inspection outside.
The Best Carpenter Ant Control
Carpenter ants are both sugar and protein eaters that feed quite comfortably on the inside of your home. Look for tell tale signs of timber deterioration and sawdust. This is often misinterpreted as termite damage, particularly on window sills. If in doubt, arrange for a expert in termite inspections.
A1 Pest Control specialises in this type of work. See our pages on Termite Inspection
You can contact us by calling 0417 251 911 or emailing bruce@a1pestcontrol.com.au
Ant Baits and Treating Infestations
Step 1: Treat the outside of your home with a residual barrier insecticide like Termidor, and clear rubbish and leaves away from the home. Kill any mature nest you may find (usually in rotting wood) by opening the nest and drenching it with boiling water or with a mixture of water and ant killer. Structural improvements may be necessary to prevent establishment of indoor carpenter ant colonies.
Getting rid of carpenter ants from your home is simple enough if you can find out where the Carpenter Ants are coming from. If the colony is large enough, nesting carpenter ants will actually make a crinkling or crunching noise.
This can sound disturbingly the same as termites. If unsure, leave it be, because if it really is a termite infestation, you can spread them, causing more problems. If detecting carpenter ant nest by sound isn’t possible, you may want to try setting up a sugar or honey bait, and follow them back to their nest during the night. This, of course, requires that you can stay up well past your bed time, but once you find the nest it’s just a matter of making one of two choices:
Step 2: to get rid of carpenter ants in your home is to spray aerosol pesticides into the entrance of the nest and place sweet baits (containing boric acid ) near the nest. This can be considered a first step, if you think the colony isn’t very large. Usually twenty or so winged ants found in the house during the spring is indicative of an established, but small, colony.
Sweet baits and a simple aerosol spray may be able to take care of the problem, though ants in the nest have been known to survive for several months without feeding, and aerosol sprays may not make it far enough into the nest to guarantee complete ant extermination.
Step 3: to get rid of carpenter ants in your home safely is to drill holes in the wall to penetrate the nest, and then dust and spray with ant killer. If you notice more than 20 winged ants in your home during the spring, then it’s possible that you have a larger colony established somewhere in your home, and if you want to get rid of carpenter ants the best way to do this is to find their nest, drill holes into the nest, and dust with boric acid or Termidor Ant control, and spray with an aerosol insecticide.
This is a big step for a lot of people because they don’t want to do any damage to their home, and if they’re renting, this may not even be an option. If you can’t get rid of carpenter ants or you’re not certain you are qualified to do so, you may want to call a professional pest control agency. If you’re a homeowner, you should schedule an initial inspection to make sure they can detect the location of the nest, a second to treat the nest, and a third inspection within a month or during the following spring to ensure they have gotten rid of carpenter ants for good.
If you’re a renter, you should notify your landlord of the problem; explaining the danger to the structure of you home may influence more immediate action
Professional Carpenter Ant Control
A good pest control professional will do a very thorough examination of your home. Having all family members present may help the agent pinpoint the location of the next more easily, so be ready for questions about sightings and recent ant activity. Once the nest is located, the pest control agent will drill holes, and treat the surrounding wood, moving outward from the nest’s location, eventually finishing the job with a residual insecticide spray of the perimeter of your home. With the number of carpenter ant infestations and the difficulty of getting rid of carpenter ants, it is relatively common to call in a professional to take care of your ant problem.
CAUTION! Pesticide recommendations in this article are registered for use in Australia only! The use of some products may not be legal in your state or country. Please check with your local county agent, pest control firm or regulatory official before asking "How do you get rid of Carpenter Ants?" or using any pesticide mentioned in this publication.
Of course, ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS FOR SAFE USE OF ANY PESTICIDE!
Call A1 Pest Control for all pests on 0417 251 911
Call Bruce on 0417 251 911 or email him at bruce@a1pestcontrol.com.au if you have a problem with carpenter ants.
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