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How to get rid of carpenter ants?


Joker
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Help! I've never had them before and had to Google to figure out what they heck was happening. The other day I killed a winged thing or two by our living room windows but didn't think anything of it. This morning when I raised the blinds, they were everywhere. It was awful. It's been raining a ridiculous amount here so I'm not sure if that is part of the issue. Can I do this myself or do I have to call someone? 

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First clean up attractive foods — they don’t eat wood they eat sweets, fruits, meat, pet food etc so don’t leave attractive food and residue around   Make sure you’re not providing a buffet 

 

we have used lights to attract them away when they are on wing

 

Liquid bait ant traps for one that get in and lose their wings

 

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/alternatives/factsheets/CARPENTER ANT CONTROL.pdf

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Pen said:

First clean up attractive foods — they don’t eat wood they eat sweets, fruits, meat, pet food etc so don’t leave attractive food and residue around   Make sure you’re not providing a buffet 

 

we have used lights to attract them away when they are on wing

 

Liquid bait ant traps for one that get in and lose their wings

 

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/alternatives/factsheets/CARPENTER ANT CONTROL.pdf

 

 

That's weird about the food considering where these are. There is nothing! These are windows in our family room but opposite wall from all seating. There is zero food and drink where they are at. There is the occasional drink left out on an end table but it's rare and nowhere near the ants. They appear to only be on two of the three windows and there is no trail of them going anywhere. There are dead ones on the ground below but that's it.

I'm not comfortable with liquid, or really any, baits left out due to animals in the house. Maybe I can find a safe place to hide them though.

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They build their nests in soft wood that they can chew through and then come into homes looking for food. Look around your house or garage. They leave piles of sawdust where their nests are. Ideally, you’d want to get rid of the soft wood but if not, some sort of bait might work.

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2 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

They build their nests in soft wood that they can chew through and then come into homes looking for food. Look around your house or garage. They leave piles of sawdust where their nests are. Ideally, you’d want to get rid of the soft wood but if not, some sort of bait might work.

Like mulch? That's the only thing I can think of in the back where these windows are. The previous owners planted lots of different types of tall grasses and plants there. It's like a little forest for the chipmunks and rabbits so it'll be fun trying to find a nest. 

 

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When we moved into a house and discovered we had carpenter ants, I did a lot of research. One site said to check if you have one nest or two by putting ants from the different areas of the house together. If they fight, you have 2 different nests. I think that was just interesting to me, but maybe didn't help get rid of them.

We used gel bait they ate and took back to their queen. We had to put it where ever we saw ants, which was a hazard for our kids. It significantly decreased how many we saw, but I don't think we ever really got rid of them. Eventually we used Orkin. We had a wooded creek running behind our house and the tech who came out said we would likely never get rid of them because they lived in all the rotting wood. He thought the nest was likely outside the house.

Good luck getting rid of them!

Just had another thought... Are you sure they're ants? I don't remember our ants flying. Termites can look like flying ants, though, and I believe they swarm.

Edited by wilrunner
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15 minutes ago, Joker said:

That's weird about the food considering where these are. There is nothing! These are windows in our family room but opposite wall from all seating. There is zero food and drink where they are at. There is the occasional drink left out on an end table but it's rare and nowhere near the ants. They appear to only be on two of the three windows and there is no trail of them going anywhere. There are dead ones on the ground below but that's it.

 

Diatomacous earth can also be helpful if they are landing somewhere like a sill

Light also attracts them  

We have had our porch lights swarmed, but also I think just our white shiny exterior walls    They mostly move on.  

That may be why the windows attract them

When on wing they’ll be looking for a good new home . Ideally they’ll go find an old log or rotted tree somewhere— taking care of cleaning up (helping break down) things like that is part of their role in nature .     If your home doesn’t present with the right sort of nesting wood or food sources they will probably move on

15 minutes ago, Joker said:

I'm not comfortable with liquid, or really any, baits left out due to animals in the house. Maybe I can find a safe place to hide them though.

 

I put them near to spots where I saw a clear problem like ants going into a crack and protected the baits from pets.

 

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Pretty sure they are ants. We actually found termites on a wooden structure right after we moved in 3 years ago. No damage to house and we had Terminix put in a bait system. We chose the five year plan so they just were here a few months ago and said everything looked good. I'll probably go ahead and call them to come out for this too. 

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36 minutes ago, Joker said:

Like mulch? That's the only thing I can think of in the back where these windows are. The previous owners planted lots of different types of tall grasses and plants there. It's like a little forest for the chipmunks and rabbits so it'll be fun trying to find a nest. 

 

 

I don’t know about mulch. I think they may need something more solid?

We bought a neglected house years ago that we planned to renovate and found several dozen dead winged carpenter ants under a kitchen cabinet. The first clue. A year later, they swarmed one of our new bedroom windows and were able to get in so I taped anything that looked like a place they could squeeze in. Later, I found piles of sawdust in a garden shed. That was their primary nest. The shed was demo’d and that was the last of the carpenter ants.

Carpenter bees will also burrow into wood. We had those too.

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Ugggh. I'm worried they may be in the wall? I found some shavings by the baseboard under the window. Could that just be how they found a way in but they're not living there? I also found a ridiculously large pile of dead ants behind the entertainment center near the window. The last time I would have moved it out to clean was probably just about two weeks ago. In between i just use a swiffer underneath and haven't noticed anything. It was gross. I'm now deep cleaning an already clean room because I'm icked out. I'll head out in a bit to find the DE recommended. Thanks!

Edited by Joker
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  • 1 month later...

There are different ways through which you can remove or control the carpenter ants. This ant does not harm human but they destroy the things or articles of the house which are made up of wood as they have strong mandibles that can chew through solid wood but they don’t swallow it. To control them take help from Pest Control Fairfield CT in Fairfield CT. My friend also visited there.

 

 

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The winged carpenter ants are young females that swarm.  They mature and leave at the same time, going off to each found their own colonies.   You'll need to look up the difference between carpenter ant females and winged termites, not too hard to tell them apart with pics. 

They like wet rotted wood, most likely you're framing is wet in the spot you see the sawdust.  That has to be dried out to keep them away. 

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you HAVE to destroy all the nests - at least two is fairly common.  if you only destroy one, but not the rest - they will just move back afterwards.

and you have to kill the queen/s.  drones are replaceable.

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