How to get rid of carpenter ants
Carpenter ants are extremely common household pests. They are extremely large ants that form and build colonies inside wood furnishing and other wood articles. Even though carpenter ants are not parasites their presence can be extremely disruptive due to their sharp sting and colonizing and invasive tendencies. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat the wood, the use it as their nests. Carpenter ants infiltrate into homes to source food and water sources. Carpenter ants nests usually in rich wood furniture. Their nests are often characterized by frass- sawdust like material that are left behind by carpenter ants when they bore into wood to make their nests. Frass usually contains wood shavings along with the body parts and other debris of carpenter ants. The sighting of frass near any furniture item is a sure sign of a carpenter ant infiltration, and must be approached and appraised with caution and concern. The following are a couple of helpful suggestions that can help you deal successfully with the menace and threat caused by carpenter ants in your homes and property. Be sure to pass on any tips that you find effective to your friends, family and close relatives who may be facing difficulties along similar lines on account of carpenter ants and such.
- Destroy the nests
The first step in ridding your house of a carpenter ant infiltration or infestation is to destroy the nests created by carpenter ants for abode and feeding. These nests are usually located inside wooden furnitures where carpenter ants borrow in so as to establish their nests that would later become their feeding and residence centres. Nests can be identified by observing the presence of frass near furniture items. Nests can also be identified by tracking and tracing ants from other places back to their nests. Often locating carpenter ants may be extremely difficult as it may turn out to be the case that these ants often come out for feeding on water and other food sources only at night. However in this case there are other methods to lure them out of their nests. One such method is the use of baits. Baits are strategically place food and other consumable material that attract ants. The smell of the food items will draw the ants towards it. After the ants have come to the bait and have started to return back to their nests with their food, they may be tracked and traced. Such tracking and tracing helps to identify the nesting ground of the ants.
- Using toxic baits
In case the nests are located too deeply, they cannot be destroyed using bare hands. This means that toxic baits or pesticides may have to be used to kill the ants in those nests that are out of hand or are not physically accessible. Such toxic baits often involve poisonous gels or powders.
- Clean up the house
A general sense of hygiene and cleanliness can help a lot in keeping the house and surroundings free and clear of ants and infestation by other pests and parasites.
