My family and I have tried to exterminate a bunch of carpenter ants which have decided to infest my room. We are not sure where they are coming from, so if anyone has any ideas of how to track them and kill them for good, please let me know. Thanks.
2007-12-16 14:47:48 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Other - Home & Garden
Gas and a match
2007-12-16 14:50:53 · answer #1 · answered by Adam B 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Wow, you got a lot of terrible answers, didn't you!
Ok, there are several things you have to look at first before you can determine the best way to handle the situation.
First, where do you live? The reason this is important is that there are several varieties of carpenter ants. The Northern Carpenter Ant IS a wood destroying organism and therefore should be handled by a professional. However, the Southern Carpenter Ant IS NOT a wood destroying organism (although a really big pain in the butt!) and can be handled yourself.
I am just going to assume that you are dealing with the Southern, because that is the one I am most familiar with.
You need to locate the satellite colony inside your home. The reason that I am calling it a satellite colony is that the main colonies do not live inside, but I will get to that in a minute. You need to check your attic (the most likely place) under the insulation, around wiring, etc. You will probably find them there and then you can treat them with a residual pesticide. Basically anything will work, once you find them. If you don't find them in the attic, check around the outlets, baseboards, and window frames in your room. These are other common locations to find them. A residual "dust" pesticide works best in these locations, because you do NOT want to spray liquids in your wiring! Around the windows, you are best to use a silicone-based dust, so that if it comes in contact with moisture, it will still be useful.
Once you find them inside, and I am sure you will find them in one of the above locations, and then you need to locate the main colony outside. The best times to do this would be around 8-9 pm as they are leaving their colony or 4 - 5 am when they re returning. They will usually walk straight to and from their colonies when searching for food. The first location that I would look at would be the tree or trees straight out from your bedroom window. If you are unable to search for these guys at the times I stated, grab a long screwdriver and stab into the ground at the base of the trees with it. If you find the colony, they will come pouring out quickly. Do NOT stop at the first tree that you find with them, there is usually more, especially if they are in the house too. When you find them outside, use a good residual pesticide, and you should be able to get rid of them.
If you are unable to find them with any of the methods above, call a professional. They can use a product called Termidor that can kill the entire colony, without even locating it. (Long explanation to that one.)
Good luck!
2007-12-17 02:36:57 · answer #2 · answered by Katslookup - a Fostering Fool! 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You can try that bait that they carry back and poison their own nests. But while they are wandering around your bedroom, they are also cutting their way through the timbers of your house. If it were me I would get a professional exterminator in there ASAP. The extra you pay that guy will be less than what you would pay a carpenter to rebuild your walls and floors.
2007-12-16 14:53:29 · answer #3 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Carpenter ants eat wet wood. Any kind of leak will draw them. Go to the bathrooms and look to see if they are crawling into the cracks - you may have a leak. Your bigger problem is probably a leak somewhere - not just the ants!
2007-12-16 14:52:05 · answer #4 · answered by J m 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
We has a nasty ant problem this year (although not carpenter ants) and after trying everything on the market, we found a product called terro. It works great! you can get it in little individual prewrapped thingies you can hide behind stuff where your animals can't get to it. (very poisonous to kitties I hear)
We got it at a home improvement store, but you might check Walmart....
2007-12-16 14:52:47 · answer #5 · answered by whispurrr_on_a_scream 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
a expert exterminator is mandatory to unravel the any subject. they could be waiting to handle the any subject and be executed with it. in the event that they are actually not stopped on your room, they're going to be moving on the the wood studs interior the flooring and partitions. Then there will be enormous issues.
2016-10-11 10:49:45 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The jist of my ant problems occured with a water source, bathroom and kitchen. I used typical ant baits and it worked.
2007-12-16 19:14:23 · answer #7 · answered by Pink Lantana 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Do this if you can. Replace the carpet [i think theyre all over the carpet right?] and have the rest of the room cleaned by steaming stuff. Hot things will usually kill them.
Another choice is calling Stanley Steamers
2007-12-16 14:51:27 · answer #8 · answered by i<3vintagethings 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
You could use boric acid. Boric acid is poisonous to ants acting on their exoskeleton and is not harmful to human beings.
2007-12-18 00:41:41 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
They are like termites, so get an exterminator asap! I had the same problem
2007-12-16 14:51:03 · answer #10 · answered by buckeyes24a7 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋