Carpenter Ants!!!

BigAl · Jul 9, 2005

Does anyone have a sure fired way of getting rid of carpenter ants ? The old ranch was loaded with them when I bought it . I have sprayed every nest I have found but still they seem to show up . Would chickens eat carpenter ants ? They seem to be all over our area . thanks allen

_RaT_ · Jul 9, 2005

There is a bait that you can buy (even in California) that they take to the nest and supposedly kills the colony including the stinkin Queen. I will have to search for it, I have a bottle up at our cabin that gets nailed by the ants every year.
Carpenter Ants die! DIE!

Bob_Skurka · Jul 9, 2005

Inside the house BORIC ACID powder in the nooks and crannies where you see them. The key is to try to follow them back to their nests and put the powder down as close to the nest as possible. They often are found in wet or moist wood, so if you have a water leak, high moisture area, etc, those areas are good places to look for them. They are more active at night, so if you can't find the nest look at night and you will likely see a lot more activity.

Ouside the house, you can often find the nests in a stump, or other dead wood, it is easy enough to spray them with liquid SEVIN.

Boric acid can also be spread around the foundation, etc. You really don't want to have them invade the house. They damage wood in much the same way that termites damage it.

BTW, No clue if chickens will work!

JimR · Jul 9, 2005

I had a big problem with these little creatures at the old farm I'm rebuilding. I spread Diazinon powder around the house and it wiped them out. I believe that they carry this back to the nest. As mentioned in the other post. Ants live in dead wood and stumps. The best thing to do is to take a little time and track down where they are coming from. Then attack them with chemicals.

RoyJackson · Jul 9, 2005

"Boric acid can also be spread around the foundation, etc. You really don't want to have them invade the house. They damage wood in much the same way that termites damage it."

Also, pull the electrical outlet covers and try to get the boric acid down between the walls. Put the acid down along the junction of the walls and floors too.

As one of the previous posts mentioned, there is a compound that they carry back to the nest. I can't recall the name of it, but try searching the internet. You can use that in lieu of the boric acid.

This should be an annual event if you cannot find their nest.

Junkman · Jul 9, 2005

I used Chlordane the first time and it worked. Then with this home, I used Diazinon and it also worked. Both products have been shut down and are no longer available.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Boric Acid powder works because when they walk through it, they get it on their feet and then they run their feet through their mouth to clean them. This causes them to ingest the poison. Effective, but will not get the nest unless you can get it down into the nest. To get any chemical that works today, you need to have a pest control application license. Like so many things, everything is being watered down so it is "safe". /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

BigAl · Jul 9, 2005

Thanks to Bob and all the others . I think you pretty much solved my question as to " Where in the #!!%# are all these ants coming from ?" . My ranch is located in a heavy beetle kill tree area of Idaho where there are alot of springs . Shoot ! I still have a small river running down my driveway ditch from all the run off . I had the place logged this past year ,so maybe I just really got them stirred up good . I will head to the lawn and garden store to see if they have this Boric acid .I just put down new hardwood floors in the old place and at $17 bucks a square foot I sure as heck do not want the little buggers thinking that I am serving up a special dinner treat to them .
Thanks again ,
Allen

kenmac · Jul 9, 2005

Good info on the boric acid. I went into my storage today and saw small bits of styrofoam all over the place. I started moving things around and carpender ants started running every where.I have a small a/c window that is stored in the shed and I found that is where the styrofoam was comming from. My question is, what are the carpender ants doing with all the styrofoam they are taking out of my a/c unit ? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I sprayed the area with insect killer & will check tomorrow

arthr31 · Jul 9, 2005

hey there,

sometimes this ain't true. i built a shed last summer and then stored a bunch of tarps I use to cover firewood on the floor of the shed -- stacked upon one-another. anyway, a few weekends ago I wanted to clean up, upon pulling one of the tarps, thousands of carpenter ants whent flying. I probably stored this tarp in nov, after the wood stack it covered was used.

so, off scurried thousands of carpenter ants around the new shed. when i unfolded the tarp, found thousands of eggs and other ants... was terrible. i woulda soaked with diesel and torched if my 4yr old wasnt there /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

i sprayed with inspecticide (bee spray) and killed most of 'em. my son enjoyed taking care of the eggs outside of the shed /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

we've seen an abundance of 'em this spring / summer in east central MA. I found 'em in the house, started spraying with the aforementioned chemicals, don't seem e'm now... but, see some other types of ants, after my garden goodies...

Jim, got some monster trees to take down, any suggestions??? big ash and pine ?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

SPIKER · Jul 9, 2005

One other thing that works well is 20 mule team borax soap. use it all around they hate it... it will kill them too. not sure if it is a boratic acid type thing or not. but it does work.

much cheaper than other methods so you can brodcast in around the place. pour some down the side of the ranch;s basement/crawlspace walls & footings.

like others said not much you can buy NOW without a licence though. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

SPIKER

_RaT_ · Jul 9, 2005

Here is a product we used. Advance

slowrev · Jul 9, 2005

diazinon is no longer available.......sad to say.

Ben

PineRidge · Jul 10, 2005

Here is some good information on control and elimination of Carpenter Ants

I have personally used Cynoff successfully to control stinging insects for years although we have yet to try it on ants.

Junkman · Jul 10, 2005

( diazinon is no longer available.......sad to say.

Ben
)

I believe that it is still available to pest control professionals for limited use. web page I had some flea and tick collars for the dogs that contained the chemical and they worked great. I had asked the veterinarian about the long term exposure and his reply was that the dog would be dead of old age before the effects of the collar had caused any harm. The collars had about a minor percent of Diazinon in them, but it was one of the most effective tick control collars that I had ever used. Now I use Frontline Plus on the dogs. Who knows what will become of that in a few years when research is done on its chemical composition...

DrRod · Jul 11, 2005

They're nothing to take lightly. Our log cabin has a large porch with a dozen chestnut posts a foot across. When they moved some to fix a few porch boards, we found they were hollow from carpenter ants. Had we not discovered this, the porch could have collapsed from the weight of snow. We slipped a 4x4 or 6x6 post of treated wood inside each so the look of the place didn't change -- a clever solution.

Then at my regular suburban type house, we were re-modeling the bathroom and found the joists under the tub were about half gone from ant activity. Could have ended up with a tub full of wife crashing down through the garage.

Have tried most of the things mentioned here but still don't feel confident that I got them all.

DrRod · Jul 11, 2005

Arthr31 --

I have found that small saw mills will take good hardwoods on a fair exchange basis. I found a guy who delivers specialty woods for craftsman, art supply houses, custom decorators and the like and he has been a great help. It can take some patience, but he eventually needs some ash, hemlock, butternut, maple, etc. for some customer. Helps keep my place cleaned up and helps him make a living -- more than fair.

Check little local papers or the flyers that come from your rural electric company for small two-line ads.

JimR · Jul 11, 2005

(

Jim, got some monster trees to take down, any suggestions??? big ash and pine ?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

I wish I could give you a hand. My wife has me strapped to the house rebuilding until it is finished. Then I went and tore something in my knee last week. I'm waiting for that to heal now so I can get back to my farm project.

JimR · Jul 11, 2005

( diazinon is no longer available.......sad to say.

Ben
)

That's why I bought a lot of it way back when. I'm almost out now too. If you know a farmer that sprays, he most likely has a license to buy strong chemicals. I know my friend the farmer does.

Chuck52 · Jul 11, 2005

I bought a pint of diazinon concentrate (40% ?) a couple of years ago at the local Ace hardware. A capful makes a gallon of normal strength spray, so I'll be using it for a while yet.

I bet if you looked around in smaller harware stores and such you could still find some on the shelf.

Chuck