carpenter ants

[frustrated7]

We have never had trouble with bugs in the 6.5 years we have lived in our house. But about three weeks ago, we started seeing a few carpenter ants every day, right after a string of strong storms. Then out of nowhere, about five days after the first sighting, we saw and killed about 40 in one evening/night. We got Terminix out here the very next day and they sprayed inside and outside. That helped a lot and we only saw a few here and there over the next week. Then we didn't see any at all for about four days. We have had really strong storms here in Illinois, and yesterday evening we suddenly had a massive infestation again. I think I killed at least 30 last night. So we called Terminix again today. This time he set bait traps inside, but he said that it takes a very long time for the bait traps to work and we can expect to not see any results from that for an entire month. A month? No results for a month? I know, I know, they are just big ants and they can't actually hurt me, but I can't stand them, they freak me out, and I can't bear the thought of no progress for a month. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit it, but I'm a little scared to go into my kitchen because they are there every evening/night. (I don't see them hardly ever in the day.) The guy that came out today said he wasn't going to spray because the last guy had sprayed (less than two weeks ago) and with the coming rain it would be pointless. Does anyone here have any tips or suggestions for how to get rid of the carpenter ants fast? The guy was pretty sure that the nest is located in our neighbor's tree, but he can't do anything about it because it isn't our property. The bait he used is supposed to kill the entire nest, but it takes a long time to work. Anyone have any tips?

[Flamingo]

Are you sure the carpenter ants don't have a nest in your walls or roof? Carpenter ants are bad to have because they can do severe damage to the wood in your house. If you are seeing them in your house, they are coming from within your house, the roof or under the house. If they were coming from your neighbor's tree, you would see a line of them going back and forth. Do you have any tree branches touching your roof/side of house or high grass/shrubs around your house touching your house? Do you have crawl space under the house? Attic? If they are in your house (if they are you have a heavy infestation with the numbers you are seeing) you might be able to hear them rustling in the walls or be able to follow the ant trail to a tree or to the nest (the nest is usually in a tree but they move out to find another wood source for more nests - i.e., your house).

I would have your house thoroughly checked as to your roof, walls, etc. to ensure they have not made a nest in your house. Once you get rid of them, have them spray at least quarterly around the outside perimeter of your house and do not let branches from any tree touch your roof. My mother once had a horrid infestation with them and her porch roof collapsed. They came from the large maple trees that were next to her house.

[frustrated7]

Thanks for responding. Both Terminix guys who came out (the first one a couple of weeks ago and the second one yesterday) didn't think we have a nest in the house. They think they are coming in from outside. Of course, if we don't handle the problem, they will create a nest in the house, and that would be even worse than what we are dealing with now. Both guys thought that the carpenter ants were searching for food. Both guys checked our house for possible nests and didn't find any. My husband and I have also searched the entire house over and over and over again looking for a possible nest and haven't found any.

Our contract with Terminix has them come out quarterly for at least a year. I just hope they can get this under control with my sanity intact! How did your mother finally manage to get rid of them?

Thanks again for responding.

[Flamingo]

The exterminators had to put holes in walls to insert chemicals to kill the ants. I could not believe the amount of the ants after the roof mess was cleared up and the only sign she ever had was what you had, a number of ants on her kitchen floor after a big rain and then some showing up in her upstairs bathroom. They got into her porch roof and then into the side of her house in the walls up to the second floor (bathroom). Sometimes the only sign you have is a noise in the wall/ceiling which sounds like paper rustling. Thankfully you found the problem now; however, keep an eye out in your house for a possitble nest they may have missed. The ants were in your house either for food or looking for a new nesting site or already have one established. Now that you know they are in your area, keep the quarterly spraying done around your house perimeter and keep branches from the trees away from your house/roof. The roof is usually where they start first. However, they can make nests in walls/areas that you do not see and if you continue to see ants after this, get a better professional. Educate yourself - go on the internet and search all you can on them - you will be amazed at what they can do.

[queenfluff]

We had some bad storms too lately and I noticed a few big black ants after. in the house. I think those are the carpenters. You will only see those once it starts getting warmer out. Normally year around (even in the freezing winter) we have these super small reddish brown ants. For what I can tell from my research, I think they are pharoah ants - can't get rid of them - They are mostly in the bathroom. They seem to like water and fatty foods even soap esp soaps that are scented like almond scent.

They aren't so bad this year but before I had to either keep all my bread,nuts in the frig or in a tupperware container or they would get in there and I would have to throw the food out. This year not so bad but I have a bigger frig now and everything goes in there or way up on the top. I am pretty sure there is a nest of them in the bathroom wall (this is the second floor bathroom) but they are apparently super hard to get rid of because normal traps don't work on them and certain ant treatments actually make them grow in numbers and it isn't my house so I can't go messing around in there. I haven gotten used to them for the most part but I have a feeling they might grow in size in the summer.

I notice if I keep it super clean I dont' see them as much. Unfortunatley, I am the only super clean person in the house so they will probably never really go away because others leave out food and crumbs on the floor. (plus this house is SUPER old and not kept up and probably lots of rotting wood in those walls - but like I said not my house - so I have to deal) I went around chauking like crazy because I notice they come in and out of the cracks (0f course) and ants are all about scent. Keep it clean and kill the scent trail they won't go near your food. I know how you feel - I don't want any ants near my food (mostly because of the fear of accidentally eating one - ew! - and I'm a vegetarian! double ew!)

I remember I had little black ants in some of the apartments I lived in before and one group entered from a small hole in the living room and traveled all the way to the other side of the apartment to get to my cat's food bowl - big old line of them. But this is made it easy to find out where they were coming from too - you just have to spend some time "studying" them to figure out where they are coming from and Walla! I chauked up the crack and no more - of course I had to vaccum up all the ants that I sealed out and I felt bad about that but there were tons, I had no choice.

I have done a lot of reading online about ants and bait traps tend to work the best on most types of ants esp if you can't find the nest. They take longer to work obviously but cheaper and less work on your part. If you are diligient about keeping them out and keep your home clean, you should be able to control the problem. If my ants get worse this summer, I am going off to get some traps.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/M1166.html

[Justpoor]

Here in Florida we have bugs! If you have them in the house you can put Borax on your window ledges. We had swarms of winged ants and put the Borax down and they were gone. I'm not sure if it will help with your ants butBorax is great at killing everything. It's full of salt and dries them out.