How to get rid of carpenter ants permanently in 2022

❗ Source : The former site lafourmischarpentiere.com.

The best tips to get rid of carpenter ants...

If you are experiencing a carpenter ant infestation, you know as well as I do how stressful it can be.

But, don't worry about it! 😌

You've come to the right place and there are effective solutions at your fingertips to control these pesky critters without calling in an exterminator in many cases.

Here's how to kill, exterminate and finally get rid of carpenter ants infesting your home and yard for good.

The ant hunt is on!

Before you go to war with carpenter ants, make sure you identify them. Unlike bed bugs, for example, which are easy to identify, some people mix up termites and carpenter ants. Although both species can attack the frame of your home, they must be exterminated using different approaches. Then follow this process:

1. Find the satellite nest(s) inside the house and exterminate them.
2. Find the main nest outside the house and kill the queen.
3. Eliminate all conditions that encourage the establishment of carpenter ants.

If you follow all the steps in this article, you should have peace of mind for quite some time.

But, don't go to war without knowing your enemy. Read several articles on this site to understand what you are dealing with. Carpenter ants are organized and intelligent. Exterminators consider them one of the most difficult species to exterminate.

To do this, it takes tactics, attention to detail and some planning.

Pesticides against carpenter ants

Before using pesticides, use the physical and natural control methods described below. Pesticides should be used as a last resort.

Inside the house, a powerful vacuum cleaner (which can be easily emptied afterwards) can be used to suck up the ants.

If you use pesticides, be aware that most commercially available baits sold to homeowners have little effect on carpenter ants. Borax traps and borax-sweetened liquids generally do not work because the ants, being very intelligent, quickly understand that they are being poisoned and eventually abandon the bait.

Moreover, since satellite colonies, those generally found in our houses (see life cycle) are in constant communication with the mother colony or other satellite colonies, the nest will replenish itself despite the few losses you have caused them.

However, borax itself can be very effective, but it must be injected directly into their nest. Without specialized tools, this can be difficult, but it is possible. Since it is very toxic to humans, children and animals, it is not recommended to spread it around the house in the hope that ants will rub it in.

The most effective pesticides are liquid and kill all insects that come in contact with the product. Once dry, the effect can last for some time as a repellent to create barriers. If you are spraying ants, leaving them in place for a while can help control your infestation because ants eat their own dead!

It is important to protect yourself with a respirator, eye protection and skin protection (rubber gloves) when applying pesticides. Cover aquariums, make sure that kitchen utensils and food will not come in contact with pesticides.

Pesticides are toxic to you, children and animals.

During treatment, keep pets, children and other family members out of the house.

After treatment, wash your hands, clean all surfaces that may come in contact with food, and remember to air the area thoroughly. Wait a few hours before re-entering the house (read the manufacturer's instructions).

Do not allow children or pets to come in contact with treated surfaces until they are dry.

Read directions carefully, do not smoke, drink or eat food while applying pesticide to avoid ingestion.

If swallowed, contact a poison control center immediately. Am I making myself clear? I don't want to be judgmental, but every year there are hundreds of cases of pesticide poisoning. Don't make the mistake of underestimating them. If you treat them safely, there is no danger.

To avoid when hunting for ants...

Do not crush carpenter ants; follow them to find their nests! Don't destroy your home by tearing up floors or walls unnecessarily to look for nests. There are other less destructive ways to locate them. Don't spray pesticides everywhere, it's useless and harmful to your health.

Find and destroy satellite nests inside the house

One method that can be successful is to follow the ants back to their nest. The problem is that they are black and move mostly in the dark after sunset. But with a flashlight with a red filter, you may be able to follow them to their entry point. Carpenter ants do not see red light.

Unfortunately, it is also possible that they move in the walls...

Note also that less than 10% of the ants in a nest move outside the nest. Looking for them in this way requires a lot of patience. Especially since their tracks escape the rain and the sun when you are outside.

At the same time, start looking in the obvious places. The preferred habitat of carpenter ants is wood degraded by moisture. Walk around window and door frames and look for small piles of sawdust. Carpenter ants don't eat wood, they throw it away. Also look under sinks, if you have a basement, look under the main floor bathroom.

In the basement, go around your building and check for foundation cracks. A crack allows water and carpenter ants to enter. The wood in the walls may have been degraded by water and provide a prime habitat for ants.

In the attic, check for wood that appears to have been degraded by water infiltration. Look for signs of deteriorated wood and piles of sawdust. Don't hesitate to lift the insulation if you see infiltration. Water falls from the roof to the insulation and from the insulation to the wood!

From the roof, check the telephone and electrical wiring. It is common for ants to walk along the wires into your home. Apply an insecticide repellent to these areas to repel them.

If you have had water damage in your home that has been repaired, go back and double-check the quality of the work. An incomplete or inadequate repair may have left degraded wood in place, a favorite place for carpenter ants to establish a colony.

Once nests are located, depending on their size, you will either have to call in an expert or treat them yourself. Modoc carpenter ants can form colonies of several thousand individuals. If you are at this stage, call in a professional. If the colony seems to have a few dozen to a few hundred ants, it is manageable! Beware, they bite and release formic acid which makes the burn unpleasant!

Using a powerful hand-held vacuum cleaner, suck up all the ants coming out of the nest and try to suck up the ones inside the nest. You will then have the choice of either powdering the nest with boric acid (borax) or applying a liquid pesticide to the infested area and its surroundings. In all cases, it is important to make sure that it penetrates the openings made by the ants and, if necessary, to drill other small holes.

Once the ants have been killed by the insecticide, it is recommended to leave the bodies in place for a while because if there are still ants, they will eat them and spread the effect of the pesticide.

Ultimately, the infested piece of wood should be removed along with any other deteriorated wood and the source of the water infiltration should be sealed. Be careful not to damage any supporting structures. Consult a specialized contractor if necessary. Do not use a central vacuum! You may spread them!

If you are not comfortable, seriously consider consulting a professional exterminator to eliminate carpenter ant colonies inside the home. If you don't do the job right, they could spread and make it more difficult for the professional to do the job and the cost of their services much higher. Outside, you have more room to maneuver.

Find and destroy the main nest and queen outside the house

A satellite nest can contain both workers, mature larvae and winged reproductive ants. But, it does not contain a queen.

Eliminating this colony is critical, but if you stop the fight at this stage, you won't win the war.

Once you've eliminated the satellite colonies in your house, your job is to find the main colony that contains the reproductive queen (or queens) so you can eliminate it and then limit the conditions that favor their establishment.

Satellite colonies frequently contain reproductive males and females that have not yet begun to lay eggs, and these must also be exterminated because these ants will go on to found new colonies of carpenter ants. But if you don't eliminate the laying queen and all the degraded wood in your yard and home, your problem will quickly return.

The Queen can be found within 50 to 100 yards of your home (perhaps at neighbors' homes). If your neighbors are uncooperative, be sure to do whatever is necessary to avoid creating conditions for a colony to establish itself on your property by following the advice in #3.

The Queen sets up a colony that usually counts more than 2000 ants - see: life cycle. She can live up to about 15 years, some say up to 25 years, and will not produce winged reproductive ants for at least 3 to 5 years in general.

The speed at which it spreads is almost exponential. The start is very slow, but soon the colony expands.

The main colony is usually found in a stump, a dead tree trunk lying on the ground, an old dilapidated shed, a crumbling fence made of untreated wood...

Carpenter ants also love fruit trees, often full of cavities and victims of diseases.

You can try to follow the ants to their nest, but the task is difficult and will require a lot of patience. The best thing to do is to look in all the places where they like to settle down - the wet decaying wood!

Eliminate any satellite nests you find. There may be several. If you find the Queen, you'll know by her appearance. She is the largest ant you will ever see. She can be up to 2.5 cm (1 inch) long and has no wings. It must be killed.

You can use pesticides at this stage, but boiling water can also work very well and may be even more effective. Make sure you have plenty of it, though, and be careful not to burn yourself in the frenzy.

Cut and burn stumps (in your outdoor fireplace - NEVER indoors) and infested dead wood after scalding the nests. If the nest is in a stump, the ants may have dug into the roots deep in the soil. Boiling water can follow the tunnels all the way down and be effective here as well.

If you don't have an outdoor fireplace, put the infested wood in a tightly tied plastic garbage bag and dispose of it.

Eliminate conditions that favor the establishment of carpenter ants

With carpenter ants, prevention is better than cure.

The first step in getting rid of carpenter ants and preventing them from spreading and infesting your home is to change the conditions that encourage their infestation to slow them down and keep them away.

Practice good housekeeping habits throughout your home. Clean your home to remove all traces of food such as bread crumbs, juice spills or other sweet liquids. Carpenter ants are omnivorous and will feast on a drop of sweet juice as much as bread crumbs or leftover meat or cereal. Use a household detergent and wash your home with plenty of water. Pay special attention to the kitchen. A quick wipe down with vinegar can't hurt. It wipes out their pheromone trails and many claim they don't like the smell.

Clean out your food cupboard and be sure to seal your food in airtight containers to avoid attracting these voracious critters.

Then take all the firewood out of the house and keep it outside away from buildings. If you have placed firewood near the building, move it away. Carpenter ants love to build their nests in piles of damp, decaying wood. If your firewood is too degraded, dispose of it.

Go around the house and cut off any tree branches that could serve as a pathway between the tree and your house. Remove tree stumps from your property, they are perfect and coveted places for carpenter ants. Remove any vines that attach to your house, they run alongside them. Remove all rotten wood around the building - rotten patio, rotten stairs, rotten window or door frames, severely deteriorated sheds or fences... Replace them with healthy wood and if possible, treated wood for outdoor structures like patios and fences.

Continue your inspection around your home and seal any entry points that could allow ants to enter. Seal window and door frames.

From the roof up, seal any openings that could potentially let water through. Re-seal waterproof joints if necessary. From the attic, check for any sources of water infiltration and seal them from the roof. If possible, replace any damaged wood.

Check all your plumbing, eliminate all sources of water damage. If any wood has been affected by moisture, replace it. As you can see, carpenter ants love deteriorated wood.

Top tips

• Take your time! Make sure you understand your enemy.
• Choose natural methods over pesticides.
• Don't tolerate carpenter ants in your home and don't put them off. The problem will grow quickly.

Defeating carpenter ants is entirely possible with a little organization.

Don't think you'll get rid of them all at once, and try to eliminate the causes of the infestation to avoid future re-infestation.

Happy hunting!