Carpenter ants are one of the more serious wood-destroying pests that can impact your home. Although they don’t eat the wood like termites, they tunnel through it, weakening it and creating hollow areas for nests. If they find a way into your home, they can create serious damage to support beams, wall studs and ceiling and floor joists. If you see ant activity indoors during late winter or early spring, it suggests a colony has already established itself inside your house.
The best way to prevent Carpenter Ants Removal ant infestations is to keep their parent colonies away from your home. They love damp wood and can cause extensive structural damage if allowed to get out of control. You can do this by removing piles of firewood, dead stumps and logs from your property and keeping the ground around your home moist by watering the lawn regularly or using drip irrigating systems for trees and shrubs. Fixing leaky pipes, faucets and roofs is also an effective way to reduce moisture levels in and around your home that could attract ant species.
A pest control professional can help you locate and destroy a carpenter ant nest. He or she will also be able to determine the source of the problem, whether it is an existing colony in your home or a new one that has just started. Oftentimes, just cleaning up the affected area and eliminating pheromone scent trails with a mixture of vinegar and soap can be enough to keep these ants at bay.
If you want to do a little more at home, use a baiting system that includes boric acid. You can purchase this at your local garden store or online and then place it in empty bottle caps that you set around where the ants are most active, such as under sinks. The ants will take the bait back to their nest and consume it, carrying the boric acid all the way back to the parent colony. The ants will then share this with the rest of the colony, killing it.
You can also simply sprinkle a powder designed to kill carpenter ants directly on the nest. This method can be dangerous for people with dust allergies. It’s also not likely to be effective if the ants have already entered your home, so it is best used as a prevention measure before they become an issue.
It’s important to note that if you’re dealing with a mature carpenter ant infestation, it may be difficult to treat yourself, especially if the infestation has been ongoing for some time and has caused significant damage. If this is the case, you should call in a professional pest control company sooner rather than later. They will have access to stronger pesticides than most homeowners and can use their experience to get the job done quickly, thoroughly and with minimal damage to your home’s structure. It will also be cheaper to deal with the carpenter ant infestation properly than to let it get out of hand.
