what is the best way to get rid of carpenter ants?
Carpenter ants may not eat the forest they chew, merely they can still cause a lot of damage to your dwelling. Got carpenter ants? Here's what to know.
On the march to find a moist, cozy place to burrow and build their nests, carpenter ants munch through dead, wet wood easily, creating tunnels and cavities to lay eggs and grow their colonies.
Think you might have a community of carpenter ants in or near your dwelling house? Before you panic, hither are some facts you lot should know nearly these insects.
What Is a Carpenter Ant?
Related to bees and wasps, a carpenter emmet (sometimes referred to equally a flying pismire) is a fellow member of the Formicidae family of insects. Carpenter ants live in big colonies with workers, scouts and a queen. They can exist found in wooded areas, suburbs and cities. They are one of the largest and well-nigh common ant species in the U.S.
To the untrained eye, carpenter ants and termites may look alike, but they are non the same insect.
What Do Carpenter Ants Look Like?
Hither's how to spot the divergence betwixt a carpenter emmet and a termite:
Carpenter ants
The main identifying characteristics of carpenter ants:
- Measure out between 1/two-in. to 5/8-in.;
- Iii body segments;
- Narrow waist betwixt the abdomen and thorax;
- Large heads with elbowed (bent) antennae;
- A pair of wings (backs shorter than the fronts);
- Nighttime crimson, blackness, brown or a combination of those colors.
Termites
Termites, on the other manus, are no bigger than a dime and accept these features:
- Two trunk segments;
- Wings of equal length and longer than their body;
- A thick, unpinched waist;
- Straight antennae;
- Light in color or transparent.
What Attracts Carpenter Ants?
The kickoff line of defense against an invading pest is to sympathise what it likes and doesn't similar. Here are the chief things carpenter ants are attracted to:
Soft, wet woods
Carpenter ants adore dead, decaying and moist timber. It's their reason for living.
Food
Their main source of diet is honeydew excreted from aphids they farm. Carpenter ants also banquet on the nectar of plants and small insects. Inside homes, they'll happily eat poly peptide and sugary substances left out on the counters and in garbage pails. In the chiliad, carpenter ants are drawn to the food in pet bowls and meat juices on barbecue grills.
Damp and dark places
Along with hiding in dewy, decomposing woods, you'll often find carpenter ants colonizing behind dishwashers and air conditioning units, in the backs of moldy cabinets or around leaky pipes.
What Repels Carpenter Ants?
On the flip side, here is what carpenter ants hate:
Dry out atmospheric condition
Carpenter ants need a h2o source to survive and thrive. Eliminating moisture in your home and standing water in the grand is half the battle.
Strong odors
Essential oils like lemongrass, peppermint, clove, cedarwood, tea tree and citrus disrupt their scent trails, leaving them mazed and dislocated.
Signs of Carpenter Ants In and Around Your House
There are clues to bespeak a colony of carpenter ants may be hiding somewhere on your belongings. Things to watch for include:
- Sawdust, insulation or forest shavings on the basis (extermination pros phone call it "frass");
- Visible damage to woods (ruts or groves on the surface);
- Crackling sounds within walls;
- Expressionless insect carcasses;
- Shed wings;
- Seeing the ants themselves.
Are Carpenter Ants Dangerous?
While carpenter ants do have a painful bite that tin can break the skin, they are mostly regarded every bit harmless.
On the other manus, left to their devices, carpenter ants can potentially destroy your home from the within out. Their chewing action breaks apart decaying logs. If they build a nest in a support beam of a home, it could severely weaken the structure. And just retrieve what they could do if they get their jaws on your wooden deck!
Take information technology from Ed Spicer, CEO of Pest Strategies: "The carpenter emmet is the ant you want to sentinel out for when it comes to property damage and home destruction."
How To Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
The best manner to rid yourself of carpenter ants is to observe the nest and kill the queen. Here are some steps to help y'all find and destroy a carpenter ant nest indoors and out.
Step one: Locate the nest. Follow a scent trail or check suspect wood for visible signs of damage, keeping in mind that ants usually forage about 300 feet from the nest. Indoors carpenter ants tin can oft be found nesting nearly sinks, tubs and other high-wet zones. Outdoors, check around tree stumps, firewood stacks and forest structures with obvious wet damage.
Step ii: Destroy the nest. In one case you lot locate a nest indoors, apply insecticide dust by drilling holes into the wall where the nest is suspected and inject the dust. Y'all tin besides utilize non-toxic borax, boric acid or diatomaceous earth. You may have to repeat the handling several times. If the nest is outdoors, deluge information technology with a sprayer of liquid insecticide.
Note: Insecticides tin be harmful to children and pets. Follow the label'southward instructions advisedly.
Step 3: Put out bait. If you can't find the nest or it is difficult to access, identify slow-acting granular allurement (tamper-resistant bait stations, if you lot have children or pets) near entry points and moist areas where ants are likely to get together. You tin can besides spray foam or gel baits into voids, through nail holes into walls, around gaps in plumbing and into ant tunnels themselves. Ants volition hopefully bring the allurement back to the nest and impale the entire colony, queen and all.
Note: Never spray ants with pesticides. Killing them individually defeats the purpose, because a dead worker or scout can't bring the bait dorsum to the colony to share with its comrades.
Step 4: If Steps 1, 2 and 3 are unsuccessful, phone call a pest command expert in your area who specializes in carpenter ant command.
How To Foreclose Carpenter Ants From Getting Into Your Dwelling
Carpenter ants are big compared to other ants, just they're still ants and therefore tin easily enter your dwelling house through frame joints, cracks in the foundation or gaps under doors. To avert the hassle and expense of eliminating an infestation of carpenter ants, accept the following steps to discourage them from edifice a nest in or effectually your home.
- Keep food in closed containers and clean up spills and crumbs;
- Seal cracks and holes;
- Trim vegetation dorsum from the house;
- Remove rotted or infested wood;
- Raise firewood off the ground;
- Spray a chemical or non-toxic insecticide barrier effectually your home.
Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/carpenter-ants/
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