How do I get rid of Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants are capable of causing tremendous damage to structures; such cases are rare and are usually the result of long-term infestations and neglect. Most homeowners take steps to control carpenter ants soon after ants are noticed inside so little damage has usually taken place. Also, main carpenter ant (parent) colonies require a constant moisture source (like a leak that results in wet wood) to live indoors. Most parent colonies live outdoors in trees and landscape timbers, and they often set up satellite colonies indoors. An experienced professional takes time to identify as many nest locations as possible and then treats those directly. Control is achieved by finding as many colonies as possible and treating each directly, or with a bait. I really like bait because of it’s capability to “search out” and treating the parent colony (with bait) which is required to prevent new invasions of satellite colonies. Carpenter ant infestations can be difficult and often costly to eliminate or control due to the number of satellite colonies they may establish.
There is a new formulation of materials with Carpenter ants on its label and is a good material for some of the infestations. One of the materials is called Termidor which is a phenylpyrazole. The use requires identification of the ant being a carpenter ant and a continuous trail entering or leaving the primary colony located within the structure being protected. We determine whether the colony is actively nesting inside the structure by observation at dusk (defined as the period of the evening when visibility is almost non-existent due to no presence of light to see the animals trailing.) This leaves a pretty short time to inspect and note if the ants are trailing toward or from the structure. Generally they would be headed toward an old tree with a missing limb or hole in their trunk that is capable of holding weather.
If this can be determined, then an application of the Termidor c van be applied in the area where the ant is going inside the structure and will be walking across the barrier you have created with the spray pattern and Termidor. At the same time, a band 12 inches wide horizontally from the structure is applied to the soil or other material adjacent to the vertical wall. Then the same width vertical barrier is applied to the wall from the ground upwards. At every point where the wall is penetrated by a pipe or service cable with an access next to the wire or pipe. a 12 inch band is applied around that point. What this does is create an area the ant must cross in order to get into the structure. This is the "kill-zone" where the "new chemistry" insecticide is picked up by the ant and it is carried into the colony where the material is horizontally transferred to the unsuspecting fellow "nest-mate" ant and is thusly killed. A word of caution...this must be given a period of approximately ten days to two weeks to determine if it is working. When it is applied correctly and the ants walk across it, it works well!
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