carpenter ants

[griff154]

What is the best to get rid of and prevent them in the wood pile ? And no napalm is not an option.

 

[mr.finn]

If you see a piece of wood that is suspect and may have ants in it keep a small bottle of gas handy. If they are in there and you split the wood, gas them and light them up. I do this all the time, don't want them around. Just be carefull of your surroundings before doing this. If they are already in the wood pile and you come across a colony chuck that piece aside. Don't want them in or near the house

 

[ptjeep]

I used some sevin dust a few weeks ago and found some dead carpenter ants within two days. Havent seen any since. Just sprinkled it on the outside of the wood pile.

 

[FLHX Storm]

I've used boric acid with excellent results.

 

[woodchuck357]

Peanut butter mixed with boric acid, they carry it back to the nest and kill all active adults and larvae that aren't in the pupae stage. Put more out every week to complete the eradication of the whole colony.

 

[zogger]

I have yet to see ants or termites in dry wood, pull infected chunks out if you can find them and resplit

when I get them in rounds, I split smaller and beat the splits hard on another log, then put aside. few days later clank again, no live ones, into the stack then

 

[AdamG]

Any suggestions for treating when found in the house? I've found quite a few (doz or two) over the last month or two- regular ant traps don't seem to be doing the trick. Not really looking forward to an exterminator bill If I can help it.

 

[Bob95065]

If you see a piece of wood that is suspect and may have ants in it keep a small bottle of gas handy. If they are in there and you split the wood, gas them and light them up. I do this all the time, don't want them around. Just be carefull of your surroundings before doing this. If they are already in the wood pile and you come across a colony chuck that piece aside. Don't want them in or near the house

This is what I used to do when I lived in Illinois. I found this method is very effective on California termites too.

 

[woodchuck357]

boric acid

Any suggestions for treating when found in the house? I've found quite a few (doz or two) over the last month or two- regular ant traps don't seem to be doing the trick. Not really looking forward to an exterminator bill If I can help it.

with bait works everywhere. Carpenter ants like peanut butter, fire ants like potted meat or ground up insects, the little bitty ones like sweet or grease.

You can mix your own or pay the exterminator to do it!

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

I have yet to see ants or termites in dry wood, pull infected chunks out if you can find them and resplit

when I get them in rounds, I split smaller and beat the splits hard on another log, then put aside. few days later clank again, no live ones, into the stack then

I'm with zogger on this one. Once the wood I split starts drying, any ants there might have been hanging around take a hike. The problems I have more with my piles are the carpenter bees and wasps making homes out of the splits.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Any suggestions for treating when found in the house? I've found quite a few (doz or two) over the last month or two- regular ant traps don't seem to be doing the trick. Not really looking forward to an exterminator bill If I can help it.

Ive used Orthoboric Acid that I picked up from Amazon. It's already premixed and comes in a largish type bottle that you can use as a puffer/duster. I've found it to be highly effective in the house, wood shed, and wood piles. Another option is to pick up some Termidor SC, also available on Amazon, and a gallon or two capacity sprayer and spray the perimeter of the house, woodshed if you have one and even the wood piles.

The other thing stated in other posts is these ants look for wet and rotting wood. Once that is eliminated from the equation, the ants will leave on their own. So you might want to try to locate their point of entry into the house and go from there. The objective is to find their colony and eradicate them especially if it is near the house. It is also possible that is what it is, the colony being near the house and no wet or rotting wood in your house. These ants your finding are likely out looking for a food source.

It is also possible the ants made it into the house by way of firewood. So if you have some firewood in the house, use the Othoboric Acid and dust the wood itself. I had that happen over the winter from some purchased firewood (locust) and it worked very well. I did have an appreciation for throwing a log into the fire with live ants and watching them incinerate. Small pleasures you know! :msp_biggrin: (bugs on/in wood means extra BTU's)

 

[WOODSMAN416]

I hang a couple of birdfeeders by my woodpiles and keep them filled. If you can keep birds around the bugs will be lunch.

As far as indoors, I use the baits from acompany called Terro. They work great!

 

[Fred Wright]

The ants you've seen in your house are most likely scouts. As mentioned, they're making the rounds looking for a food source. It's that time of year again, they won't be in your home very long. Baits don't make a lot of difference for scout ants - it may kill the ones and twos but there's always more to come.

Sevin dust and boric acid, agreed. They both dispatch ants quickly. Sevin has to remain dry to work. If the dust gets wet it's no longer any good.

 

[BrokenToys]

Prob already known; but with Boric Acid don't get any on any kinds of plants you want to live I use 40 Mule Team Borax around doors and garage to keep ants away [works great on all kinds of bugs]. I spilled some on my lawn and it took it down right to the dirt.

 

[bubba3228]

Good thread, My brother and I have run into many colonies as we split some stuff around his place.

An ounce of prevention is well worth a pound of cure...


Bub

 

[RiverRocket]

I keep a couple cans of spray ant killer on my log splitter and when i run into a billet that has ants i just spray them good and soak the billet down with spray.

 

[turnkey4099]

the carpenter ants were swarming for abouts a week. Ants everywhere - it is sthe season they breed and what were seen were the adults looking for mates. I stepped out onto the porch and found the floor covered with them. A few days of spraying got rid of the ones in and around the house. I haven't seen any new ones in a couple days.

Harry K

 

[philoshop]

"terro ant dust" from tsc. The orange dust can. I keep a can in the house, one in the barn and one that goes everywhere the splitter goes. Split a round and see ants, dust it. Once the wood is dry they'll pretty much leave on their own. I just don't want them leaving the woodpile to go and get into my house.
Whether its environmentally friendly or not I don't really know. The local birds seem to like the easy pickins when I split and keep coming back. I'll check the ingredient list and get back.

 

[AdamG]

Thanks guys! The replies have not gone un-noticed, I've just been pretty busy over the last few days. I don't have any (fire)wood in my house, so I know they are not coming from there. They seem to always be found in the mud room, so I think I'll try to find any sort of breech in the wall, and/or spray/dust there, as well as a few pb traps.
I've been using Terro traps (can't recall the specifics on it right now- but it is a liquid, and the ant has to go up in the trap to get it. They have worked great in the past for normal household ants- but so far have proven ineffective on the carpenters

 

[ppkgmsy]

I lived in a log cabin one time, and woke up one morning with sawdust on the bed. The carpenter ants were in the ceiling above. I was renting, the owner called an exterminator. During the week it took the exterminator to get to the job, I watched the roof sag deeper each day. It was incredible how quickly the ants decimated the roof.