How to Kill Carpenter Ants

Basics of Ant Control

How to kill carpenter ants? ePestSolutions Online professional pest control supplies store has all the information and recommendations necessary to get rid of carpenter ants.

Product Recommendations for controlling Carpenter Ants are located at the bottom of this page.

Common Name: Carpenter Ants

Scientific Name: Camponotus species

Carpenter Ant Description

Color: from red to black Legs: 6

Shape: segmented; oval Size 5/8” Antennae: yes Flight: no

Habitat

Carpenter ants can and will establish a nest inside and outside of any type of structure. You can locate in some cases satellite or parent colonies outside a structure, these will be located in tree stumps, landscape timbers, wood piles or moist damp wood. You can locate trails in the early morning or early evening when the carpenter ants are foraging, locate the trails back and forth from parent colony and structure. Typically the interior locations of the carpenter ants will be near a moisture source kitchen, or bath areas. Look for an area that maybe gets more moisture from rain runoff then other areas of the structure.

Carpenter ants enter structures though openings or cracks while foraging for food. The appearance of large numbers of winged adults carpenter ants inside a structure indicates that the nest or nests exists indoors. Carpenter Ants don't eat wood, but they eat proteins and sugars. Carpenter ant wood damage is caused by tunneling into the structure. Once inside, they will try and locate a water source, food and use wood for their nest.

Carpenter ants do not sting and usually don't bite humans. However, when irritated they can and will inflict a painful bite.

These ants can cause property damage to a structure. They usually invade wet, decayed wood but they can tunnel through dry undamaged wood as well. As you can see, it is important to get rid of carpenter ants to avoid property damage.

Places to look for Ants:

Carpets – Check around doors and fireplace
Foundations
Vegetation- Ants like to nest and forage in trails out of sight behind any vegetation, tree stumps, branches which rests against foundations, patios, etc. Pull back the vegetation to look for ants. Attempt to follow foraging ants back to their colony
Ground – Potted plants, compost bends, or any item that has ground contact could harbor a colony of ants
Mulch or leaf litter – Mulch and leaf litter often harbors numerous colonies of ants such as pavement ants, fire ants, crazy ants and Argentine ants. Rake mulch back from the foundation to check for colonies.

Prevention

Eliminate sources of moisture, seal cracks around your foundation, and keep wood materials away from your home. Cut back bushes and branches will also eliminate sources of entry to your home.

Eliminating Carpenter Ants can be difficult and requires a multitude of control and exclusion techniques. This can involves moisture elimination, removing overhanging tree limbs, stumps, and firewood. Seal up entry points, cracks and crevices. It is helpful to locate the nest and satellite nest, but if you cannot locate them then use of Ant Bait Advance Carpenter Ant Bait and Maxforce Carpenter Ant Bait is very effective.

Areas where water leaks occur should be inspected they will be attractive to ants as well as Termites. Treat nests with a gel bait labeled for carpenter ants Maxforce Carpenter Ant Gel Bait or use a labeled dust. Treat inside wall voids with a Premise Foam or dust. You will want to treat the ant trails followed by workers when they forage with carpenter ant bait granules.

Controlling Carpenter Ants

Controlling ants in structures need not be so difficult. To be successful, you must follow a few basic rules:

Identify the ant
Inspection
Locate the ants and colony
Treat the ant colonies
Use baits for ant colonies that cannot be treated directly.

You cannot always find the colony of ants but placing bait or insecticides in their trails will control and eliminate the colony.