CARPENTER ANTS
Don’t look now, but foraging hordes of carpenter
ants are preparing to tear parts of your house to
shreds. Then again, maybe you better look.
It is not uncommon for foraging carpenter ants to
enter a structure. However, if many ants are seen
regularly, it may be necessary to begin a carpenter
ant maintenance program.
BIOLOGY…
The winged reproductives swarm primarily in the
spring to begin a new colony. In three to six years,
a mature colony of 2,000 to 3,000 ants can develop.
Large workers guard the nest while others can travel
100 yards or more for food. Their diet includes
living and dead insects, nearly any type of human
food and many sweets.
In the Spring they gear up for their growth period.
They are actively out looking for food and trying
to expand their colony size. They are setting up
outposts. Unfortunately for homeowners, the ants’
outposts are often indoors. They can set up shop
just about anywhere in the house. And several hundred
to a thousand ants can set up a satellite colony
literally overnight. In fact, carpenter ants are
one of the most common insect pests found in homes.
If you’ve got big black or red ants inside
your house, it’s a good bet they are carpenter
ants.
In most cases carpenter ants will establish their
nest in moist areas where wood is likely to be soft
or rotted – such as behind sinks or dishwashers
or in roofs or attics near leaky vent pipes or chimneys.
Nests have also been found inside hollow doors,
in electrical outlet boxes, and inside boxes in
the attic. They have also been found inside hollow
curtain rods.
Typically, when home-owners think of carpenter ants,
they also think of termites, because both are wood
destroying insects. Unlike carpenter ants, however,
termites will always establish their entire colony
outside the house and make surgical strikes indoors
from the safety of their under-ground nest. And
while termites eat wood, carpenter ants merely move
it out of the way. They chew out galleries and dump
the wood outside. That is one of the first signs
you will see – a pile of sawdust or wood shavings
that keep reappearing. It is called “frass”.
It is kind of like a dumping ground for the colony.
INSPECTIONS…
Carpenter ants found inside a home can be either
foraging troops from the main colony outside the
house or members of an interior satellite colony.
Noticing five or more carpenter ants per day in
an area of the home where there is no food usually
indicates an indoor nest. They are usually black
in color and range from one-quarter to one-half
inch in length. Their antennae are elbowed and their
bodies are constricted between the thorax - just
below the head - and the abdomen.
Another sign of interior infestation is swarming,
which occurs as the weather warms up during the
spring months. Reproductive members of a carpenter
ant colony have wings they use for a once in a lifetime
nuptial flight after which the females lay eggs
and the males lie down and die. Swarms of winged
carpenter ants emerging indoors or from beneath
siding or gutters are a sure sign of ants nesting
within the home.
Once you notice carpenter ant activity on your property
or within your home, a little detective work on
your part, prior to our inspection, will help your
pest control technician effectively eliminate the
nest. Place small dabs of honey, maple syrup or
corn syrup in the areas where the ants have been
seen. Cleanup can be facilitated by placing the
syrup on masking tape stuck to the floor. After
the ants have fed on the syrup, follow them to the
nest. The key to this operation is patience. They
may make detours over countertops and behind refrigerators.
But sooner or later they will disappear behind a
baseboard or cabinet or even out the front door
to an exterior nest.
Once it is determined where the ants are exiting
the house, it is often possible to follow the ants’
trail back to the main colony outside. Ants that
head outdoors should be followed all the way to
their nest – usually a tree stump or wood
pile. You may have to go outside at night with a
flashlight and start looking for them. They are
most active between 10 pm and 2 am. The peak activity
period for foraging ants is between April and June.
For ants that disappear into a wall, the location
of the nest can sometimes be determined by tapping
along the baseboard and listening for a “hollow”
spot. It is even possible for the ants to give themselves
away. You can sometimes hear a rustling sound when
the tapping disturbs them. It is similar to the
crinkling of cellophane.
When the exact location is determined, the next
step is to eliminate it.
Locating the nesting gallery and treating it directly
is the most important procedure necessary to eliminate
carpenter ants.
While every effort will be taken to present an accurate
report, due to the biology, seasonal activity and
preferred habitat of carpenter ants, it is extremely
difficult to detect infestations unless the ants
are visibly active at the time of inspection. Therefore,
the report of our findings will be based upon our
visual observations on the day of our inspection,
and in no way implies a guarantee against future
activity or infestation.
There are several non-chemical ways to control carpenter
ants; however, the most effective way is a combination
of both the non-chemical measures that you can take
in conjunction with a professional carpenter ant
treatment.
NON-CHEMICAL METHODS…
To reduce the chance of carpenter ant infestations,
we recommend that the following measures be taken
into consideration:
· Avoid storing wood against or near the
house and trim back any tree branches or hedges
that touch the house (or overhead wires that lead
to the house) because they can create a bridge for
the ants to use to avoid the exterior perimeter
insecticide treatment.
· Remove any ivy that may be on or near
the structure.
· Correct any moisture problems in the house
such as leaking roofs, chimney, flashing or plumbing.
In addition, proper ventilation of attics and crawl
spaces is essential.
· Consider replacing all rotted or water
damaged wooden parts of the structure, if practical.
· Remove dead tree stumps that are within
50 feet of the structure, if practical.
· Repair any damaged trees on property.
Sick or dying trees make good homes for carpenter
ants.
· Consider stone or marble instead of mulch
around landscaping areas.
· Homeowners should also insure that hoses
are kept rolled up rather than allowed to lie on
the lawn and provide a convenient route directly
from the lawn to the hole in the foundation where
the pipe emerges.
· Check drain pipes to see if water runs
away from building structures and that gutters are
not clogged by wet leaves, sticks or debris. Repair
any leaky gutters.
· Seal cracks and crevices throughout the
structure, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms.
· Tightly seal all food containers and gar-bage
bags.
· Use solid exterior doors in the home instead
of hollow doors.
CHEMICAL METHODS…
· A chemical application should be made
directly into the nest as well as the general area
surrounding the nest.
· In addition, a power spray treatment should
be performed on the outside surfaces of buildings,
porches, patios, garages and other areas where carpenter
ants have been seen.
· A chemical application to the soil or
other problem areas around buildings and building
foundations will help prevent re-infestations.
· Infestations inside a structure can be
reduced or eliminated by applying a chemical along
the travel routes the workers follow while foraging.
The ants like dark spaces so they usually travel
and nest inside the walls and the logical way for
an ant to walk through a wall void is to walk along
the wiring or the plumbing.
Once located, your pest control technician can treat
the nest with a chemical that is specifically geared
toward carpenter ants, using the proper method for
your specific situation.
Until recently, the bait treatments did not work
on carpenter ants. However, for the chemically sensitive
situation, there is now an effective bait treatment
for carpenter ants.
Outdoor nests are most often treated with a liquid
chemical, whereas, with void areas and indoor nests,
it will be necessary to drill small holes into the
wall at the suspected location and puff a chemical
dust into the holes. The holes are then plugged
with dowels.
Future generations of carpenter ants can be prevented
from getting into your home by having your pest
control technician treat the exterior perimeter
of your home periodically with a power spray geared
specifically for carpenter ants.
The purpose of a carpenter ant treatment is to control
and eliminate a carpenter ant infestation. The inspection
or treatment does not warrant against any damage
resulting from the infestation or from the pre-ceding
conditions (specifically rot, moisture, or leaks).
If you are aware that any of the listed conditions
pertain to your property, they should be corrected.
J R G Termite and Pest Control offers qualified
and highly trained pest control technicians to assist
you in any wood destroying insect inspections.
If you have any further questions or would like
to speak with one of our professionals, please feel
free to contact our office.
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