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Carpenter Ants : How To Kill Carpenter Ants Carpenter Ant pictures, Carpenter Ant identification, Carpenter Ant control, Carpenter Ant treatment, Carpenter Ant management  |
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Carpenter Ant Facts | Carpenter Ant Damage | Types of Carpenter Ants | Signs of Carpenter Ants
Finding Carpenter Ant Colonies | How To Kill Carpenter Ants | Continual Carpenter Ant Protection
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Carpenter Ant Facts
Carpenter ants are one of natures most aggressive wood destroyers. Similar to termites, carpenter ants damage wood. As such, they are of economic importance to the pest control industry and to homeowners alike. Unlike termites however, carpenter ants do not eat wood for food. Carpenter ants only bore into wood to establish and/or enlarge their nest. Carpenter ants can be considered wood destroying pests because of their ability to cause damage to wood. The amount of damage carpenter ants cause is usually far less in comparison to that of subterranean termites, however, if carpenter ant nests are left untreated and undisturbed, the shear numbers of ants can be enormous and the resulting damage caused by "mining" of wood to increase the nest can be substantial.
Carpenter Ant Damage
Carpenter ants cause damages to wood primarily due to nest construction. In other words, damages are only a result of their nest building efforts. As a general rule, carpenter ants do not damage wood as heavily as subterranean termites, but given enough time and a large enough nest, damages can be severe. Carpenter ants have a habit of cleaning and polishing the galleries in the wood. The galleries are smooth in appearance and do not resemble the rough jagged appearance of subterranean termite galleries.
Big Black Carpenter Ants Excavating A Nest
Carpenter Ant Damage To Pole
During the mining or excavation phase of nest building, Carpenter ants make small "kickout holes" out of which all the trash and debris accumulated within the nest are tossed out. The tossings which consist primarily of wood chips, insect particles, dead ants, etc, often form small scattered piles. These small scattered piles are often referred to by professionals as "frass". If frass is found, then it should be carefully inspected with a magnifying glass to determine that it is carpenter ant frass and not the frass of drywood termites. Drywood termites (only found in southern coastal regions) will toss frass out of small kick out holes too. The difference is that drywood termite frass is made up of their excrement and does not contain any insect particles, wood shavings, etc. Drywood termite frass only contains drywood termite fecal pellets which if viewed under a magnifying glass resemble a small football with 6 concave sides.
Any wood destroying insect damage should be a cause for concern and should be carefully evaluated. If you discover that carpenter ants are the problem then the appropriate action needs to begin immediately - and preferably during the early stages of colony development. If you let the carpenter ants continue to populate and the nest to grow, then control becomes much more difficult and in some severe cases almost impossible to achieve.
Types of Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants in North America usually involve 3 main species. The Florida Carpenter Ant usually referred to as the red and black carpenter ant, the Camponotus Modoc (western US) and Camponotus Pennsylvanicus (eastern US) usually referred to as the big black carpenter ants will be focused on in this discussion. Since the Florida Carpenter Ant, Camponotus Modoc and Pennsylvanicus have similar nesting patterns and feeding patterns, we will focus on control of carpenter ants in general, although all carpenter ant species may have different diets and habits depending on the geographical region in which they are located, time of year, and certain other factors.
Florida Carpenter Ant
(also referred to as the red and black carpenter ant)
Big Black Carpenter ant colonies are usually of moderate size, some containing over 3,000 workers (up to 10-15,000 including satellite nests) when maturity is reached in about 3 to 6 years. The typical western carpenter ant (C, modoc) mature colony contains about 10,000-20,000 workers, with large colonies having up to100,000 workers. Developmental time (egg to adult) for workers takes at about 60 days. Workers have different sizes (polymorphic), with majors, minors and intermediates present.
There is usually only one functional, wingless queen per colony. Swarmers are not produced until the colony is more than 2 years old, usually 3.5-4 years old for C. pennsylvanicus and after 6-10 years old for C. modoc. Swarmers appear from May until August in the east and from February through June in the west.
View of the adult stages of the carpenter ant:
Top Right- Queen
Top Left - Male
Bottom Right - Minor worker
Bottom middle - Intermediate worker
Bottom Left - Major worker
Signs of Carpenter Ants
In order to effectively eliminate carpenter ants, you have to be absolutely sure that it is carpenter ants to begin with. Look for the following signs:
- Presence of ants (workers or winged reproductives) - An occasional ant may be a scout looking for food and may not indicate the presence of a nest, but continuous or numerous ants are a sign of nesting.
- Frass - Accumulating in piles or caught in spider webbing; has a finely-shredded appearance. Do not confuse with small sawdust from construction, doors or cabinets rubbing on one another, or drywood termite fecal pellets.
- Trails - Carpenter ants will often form tight closely associated trails that can be traced to the area of the nest. Many times trails can be tracing along carpet edges, door frames, outside eaves, fence tops, telephone and power lines, etc..
- Sounds - Rustling or tapping noises produced when disturbed ants rasp the substrate with their mandibles or gasters or when excavating wood. If you put your ear up to a hollow door and then scratch your fingers on the other side, the scratching sound will give you a good idea of what carpenter ants sound like.
Finding Carpenter Ant Colonies
Carpenter ant control begins with a search for the colony or nest. Before any efforts are made to eradicate carpenter ants, a program or strategy needs to be implemented. Do not simply spray "something" on the carpenter ants without considering the consequences. Simply spraying an "over the counter poison" on the ants without any other consideration will greatly complicate your control and sometimes make the infestation much worse.
#1 Reason you do not want to spray: Sprays will only kill the exposed worker ants. Spraying will have no effect on the queens. Therefore if large numbers of worker ants begin to die - guess what happens ? The queens will lay more eggs, and since the queens will not be killed by sprays, the number of eggs will grow and multiply and eventually outnumber by many times the numbers of the original workers. That means your carpenter ant colony is now several times larger - all because the ants have a "natural tendency to survive".
#2 Reason you do not want to spray: Most chemical pesticide sprays tend to be very repellent to the ants. Chemical or pesticide repellency simply means that the ants can sense the presence of pesticides and they will avoid them. That's right - the worker ants will simply avoid the chemical that you sprayed and travel or trail around it. If the chemical is sprayed too close to the nest, the queens will engage the workers to pick up the eggs and move the nest farther away from the pesticide ! And usually, as a result of moving, the queens will also engage the workers to divide or "split" into several new nests. This splitting of dividing of the carpenter ant nest is also called "satelliting" After the new nests are setup and established, the new queens begin to lay more eggs and the entire carpenter ant system is divided and now instead of a single nest there are several nests to deal with, making control much more difficult.
Some pest control technicians as a result of using repellent sprays or dusts actually create more problems than they solve ! Yes, they use repellent sprays thinking they are "doing a good job", but create more problems than they solve - as a result of not following rule #2.
Their are no non-repellent pesticide sprays labeled for ant use. The only product that comes close to being non-repellent is PHANTOM a liquid spray product that also has an indoor ant label. Termidor also has an ant label for outdoor barrier use.
The only non-repellent dusts are Borid, Timbor and Nibor. The ants will contact these dusts by crawling or trailing through them not realizing the presence of the dust. The ants will die within 7-14 days after being exposed these products. Nibor can be mixed with water and sprayed like a liquid pesticides. When the water evaporates it leaves a thin film of Nibor on surfaces sprayed.
The bottom line is, you have to find or make an attempt to find the carpenter ant nest and not use repellent sprays or dusts.
Most nests of C. modoc which can be found are associated with (in order of frequency):
Outside walls and voids - 35%
Attic - 21%
Ceilings - 19%
Crawl space - 19%
Other Interior sites (including interior walls, roof, sill plate, and supports in crawl space and stacked lumber)
Porch pillars
Support timbers
Window framing and sills
Roofs
Shingles
Siding
Girders
Joists
Studs
Casings of houses, garages and other buildings
Insulation
Drawers of dressers and cabinets
Behind books
In hollow doors
Under floors
Attic spaces
Buried wood, stumps or construction debris
Nest Location Outside Structures:
Forest (within 50 meters) - 27%
Live trees (excavate heartwood; enter by knotholes, wounds, etc.) - 17%
Dead trees, stumps or logs, buried wood - 16%
Wood debris - 8%
Decorative wood in landscape - 7%
Stacked lumber - 3%
Firewood - 3%
How To Kill Carpenter Ants:
Once the carpenter ant colonies have been located, they need to be treated directly with insecticides. But not repellent pesticides. Only use non-repellent pesticides to kill carpenter ants. Non repellent means that the Ants will not detect its presence and will not avoid it. In the case of baits, they will be attracted to it, and hopefully feed on it. In the case of dusts or sprays, they will not detect its presence and not be repelled.
The techniques used depends on where the colony is located. A colony in a wall void is treated differently than one living under a rock outside. Colony location also determines the type of insecticide needed.Outside - Carpenter ants outdoors are usually always best controlled with baits. Advance Carpenter Ant Bait , Uncle Albert's Super Smart Ant Bait or Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait ant baits currently on the market for all species of carpenter ants. These baits can be used in small quantities and applied close to the source of then nest or where the worker ants can pick them up. It is best to start with small quantities (tablespoon size) and check periodically to see if the ants are picking them up. If so, them more bait can be applied. Apply as much bait as the ants will consume. Remember, you may be dealing with a carpenter ant nest that contains tens of thousands of ants. If so, you may need to apply a lot of bait. How much depends on how large the colony is.
It is best to place liquid baits such as the Uncle Albert's Super Smart Ant Bait or Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait into a suitable cup or a specially made chamber such as the KM Ant Pro Ant Feeder Station. KM Ant Pro Stations should be placed on each side of the house, near trees, foundations, on gutters or where carpenter ant activity is found.
The only time a liquid spray should be used outdoors is when a carpenter ant nest is physically located. Carry a small hand sprayer when inspecting for carpenter ant colonies outside. As you locate ant colonies along foundations, under items, etc., they can be quickly drenched a with a liquid insecticide such as Termidor. Never spray worker ants without any knowledge of where the ants are nesting. Remember rule #2 above.
Inside - Ant colonies located inside wall voids, hollow doors, window sills, etc, should be treated using dust products such as Timbor or Nibor-D. These products are non-repellent to the ants and are very effective. Using a small hand duster such as the 1964 Duster, apply Timbor or Nibor-D liberally into wall voids, hollow doors, attics, eaves, sub areas, etc.. The use of a small hand drill using a 3/16" bit may be necessary to apply the products into hidden or enclosed areas. Another good method is to remove all electrical and plumbing covers and dust into the walls and plumbing areas. Carpenter ants will travel from room to room via electrical lines and plumbing lines. Dusting these areas cuts off these routes of travel killing worker ants and also reducing "satelliting".
Indoor Baiting is also very effective for most ant species and also the safest. Advance Carpenter Ant Bait , Uncle Albert's Super Smart Ant Bait or Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait are the safest to apply and are very effective as long as they are applied into wall voids through switch plates or in hidden areas such as attics, voids, under carpeting, corners of cabinets etc.. It is best to place liquid baits into a suitable cup or a specially made chamber such as the KM Ant Pro Ant Feeder Station. KM Ant Pro Stations should be placed in attics, crawl spaces, under cabinets on countertops, window sills or where carpenter ant activity is found.
Continual Carpenter Ant Protection
Perimeter treatments of building foundations, lawns or trees with a liquid insecticide will help prevent outdoor foraging ants from entering. Outdoor sprays such as Demon WP is very effective at killing and repelling carpenter ants. Never spray these products on existing infestations, but do spray them to repel ants from ant free structures. Outdoor Liquid Ant Feeders such as the KM Ant Pro Ant Feeder Station also provide excellent long term protection and only have to be inspected every 90 days or so.
Don't Buy Retail Ant Baits !
Most over the counter baits sold at hardware stores and retailers do not contain the same attractants or active ingredients as professional use baits. Although the packaging and advertising may appear convincing, millions of dollars are wasted by consumers annually on over the counter ant bait products that simply do not work. For this reason, ePestSupply.com is committed to offering only the finest Professional Quality ant bait products and at the lowest possible price. You can depend on ePestSupply.com and our commitment.
Want More Information on Carpenter Ants ? Get The Book !
PCT's Guide To Structure Infesting Ants
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