How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

Tips to get rid of Carpenter Ants

An ant is an unwelcome sight in your house. You know when you see one ant that an army lurks nearby. An infestation of ants may be a nuisance, but if they are carpenter ants, their presence poses a serious threat to your home.

Though carpenter ants don't eat wood, they do chew through damp and weakened wood to create tunnels and nesting spaces, potentially causing significant structural damage to your house.

First, determine whether you do have carpenter ants.

A carpenter ant is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. Usually black, it can have brown, reddish, or yellow markings on its legs. You can positively identify the ant by its antennae, which is bent like an elbow. rid of them without calling an exterminator or spraying highly toxic chemicals throughout your home. Using inexpensive, common household supplies, along with patience and persistence, you can rid your home of the ants and keep them from returning.

Second, find where the colony lives.

If you're lucky the nest is located outside your house, in a woodpile or rotted stump. The other possibility is that ants have excavated tunnels inside your house and built a nest site in the woodwork. There are often satellite nests, so take the time to locate all possible sites. Track the scouts to see where they go. Outside, look for ant pathways, and follow to see where they enter your house. Watch for ants traveling up the side of the house, or disappearing under an overhang.

If spotted, look more closely for signs of the nest. Ants often choose to enter around window sills, under eaves, at places where utilities enter the house, or where ventilation ducts exit. You may see pencil-sized holes chewed in the wall. There may also be detritus underneath the entrance.

This detritus, called frass, is composed of wood shavings mixed with fragments of leaves and dead ant parts. Frass confirms the presence of a nest. While hunting for nests, pay special attention to places where wood is damp or decaying, or where moisture collects. Wood piles, blocked gutters, a leaking faucet or roof, or shrubbery growing too close to the house all create the damp conditions that ants love.

Once you've located all likely nesting spots, you're ready to set out bait. You'll need a quantity of small plastic containers with covers, the size of sour cream tubs. Use at least one per nesting site, plus one for each high traffic trail. Gather table sugar or com syrup, a sharpened pencil or small knife, and water. You'll also need boric acid, or borax detergent.

Boric acid is a low-level toxin that is harmful to small children or animals if ingested. Not appealing on its own, once mixed with sugar, it could be tempting. This is why you set closed traps with secure Covers, safely labeled, and inaccessible to the curious. Use the pencil to puncture a few small holes around the bottom of each container.

Locate the holes about 1/2 inch up from the base. Mix a paste, of nine parts sugar to one part borax, with enough water to give it the consistency of honey. If you prefer, you can use corn syrup instead of sugar water, in the same ratio. Don't add extra borax, because the ants won't like the taste. Drop one teaspoon of the mixture in the bottom of the plastic container, and cover securely.

Label as poison as a precaution.

You can use our directory to find pest control services in Dubai to get rid of insects. Place the baits near to the entrances of nests and along the pathways where ants travel. Locate the traps out of direct sunlight as it crystallizes the sugar. Scouts will discover the bait and carry it back to the nests in their mouths. On the way, they greet other ants by exchanging food, spreading the poison widely. Boric acid works slowly, so the scout has plenty of time to return to the nest and offer food to the queen and other ants. This poisons the entire colony.

Using boric acid is not a quick process. It can take a few weeks to eradicate the colony. Check the traps every several days, and refresh the bait as needed. You should replace traps every week as dead ants, trapped in the sticky solution, accumulate in them. You will notice the ants decreasing until they disappear.

There is often a new wave of ants, however, after a pause of a tew days.  You may need to persevere through a few waves of ants, each with fewer and smaller Scouts, until they are completely gone. While you're-baiting them, you don't have to put up with ants underfoot.