We all have had our experiences with pest infestations, but do you know how to get rid of carpenter ants? Getting rid of these mini creatures that barge into our lives and homes that too totally uninvited is the most tricky and difficult part of the maintenance of your home. The annoying part is not just about the presence of these carpenter ants, but also the risk of health and property damage. If you are facing the same issue with carpenter ants and wondering how to get rid of carpenter ants, I have made the perfect guide for you. This entire article is devoted to a full-fledged guide about how to get rid of carpenter ants, which you can use in order to make your home safe.
Before we get to the tips and tricks of how to get rid of carpenter ants, you need to know a few facts about carpenter ants. Unlike other pests, carpenter ants (as the name suggests) are excavators; they usually don’t eat the wood but carve it out to make their nest. They feed upon all the other food items that they bring inside of the nest. These carpenter ants are also varied in their size and color, but in order to identify them, you just look for these ants hovering together in search of food. Another interesting point important to mention here is that their presence doesn’t really confirm a nest in your home, so the kind of methods you use in response to how to get rid of carpenter ants will vary hugely.
How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
Now let’s dive into the tips and tricks of how to get rid of carpenter ants, along with all the other information that you need to know for carrying out this exercise quite easily without making a lot of mess.
1. Identification of the presence of Carpenter ants
- One of the first things that you might want to do while knowing how to get rid of carpenter ants is to confirm their presence.
- This includes looking for signs that will prove to be highly efficient in knowing what we are tackling.
- For this, you must be vigilant if you find ant wings, shaved wood or furniture, or unexplainable holes in wood.
- These all will confirm the infestation so that you can further work on the methods concerning how to get rid of carpenter ants.
2. Find the source of Carpenter ants.
- In order to know how to get rid of carpenter ants, the very first step is to assess where the ants are actually coming from.
- You can start with a simple survey that will actually tell you where to look for the carpenter ant nest.
- If you find Carpenter ants In the winter months, then most likely it has a nest inside of your home, but if it’s springtime, you’ll be relieved to know that they might have come from outside.
- Furthermore, there’s one more possibility that you might see these ants inside due to the dampness that cripples our lives during the winter months, as these carpenter ants also want a warm place to stay during harsh months.
3. Look for the cause of the possible infestation.
- Now the next very important step in the answer to how to get rid of carpenter ants includes this one.
- This will involve looking for the reasons why ants have been infiltrating your home or office.
- The possible reasons can include dampness, humid yet cold places, lack of sanitation, high moisture, available food for carpenter ants, and a very close outside nest.
- Once you know the exact cause, you need to make sure that this is taken care of successfully so that it doesn’t bother you in the future.
4. Follow their trail.
- Now even after all this, you are not able to find the exact location of carpenter ants; this might help you in the process of getting rid of carpenter ants.
- You can spot the ants and then follow their trail to locate the specific point where the worker ants move.
- This will help you to locate the nest as well as the food source that they have come for.
- This will help you to mark the area where you want to work in order to get rid of carpenter ants.
5. Use insecticide.
- When it comes to the actual answer of how to get rid of carpenter ants, this is going to be the easiest method.
- Since it is not easy to kill each and every single ant you’ll have to work on getting rid of them all at once.
- You can start with the use of insecticide around the infested area.
- You will be able to find different variants of these, dust/powder form, some organic or others that have pyrethroids, Botanical insecticides can also be of good use.
6. Baiting method.
- In case you want a method that involves less sprinkling of chemicals all around your place then you can use this method.
- In other words, this method will involve the poisoning of the carpenter ants directly by slipping poisonous food around the nest
- Once infected, it will prove to be fatal as poison will eventually be carried out to the nest by the worker ants.
- This can involve the use of sugar as it attracts these ants a lot more and will do the work quite quickly.
7. Desiccant at disposal
- Another awesome solution to the question of how to get rid of carpenter ants is by the optimal use of desiccant.
- These are the substances that absorb moisture and work as dehydrants that actually prove to be fatal for these carpenter ants.
- This will also work as a poison that will infect all the worker ants once you spread the desiccant across the infected area.
- Boric acid powder as well as other desiccants can prove to be quite helpful when it comes to getting rid of carpenter ants.
8. Pest control
- If you feel like the matter has gotten out of your hands, then you can actually opt for full-fledged pest control.
- This will also ensure that all the other pests are out of your home.
- Further, this will ensure that your home will stay pest-safe for a good period of time.
- This can also be slightly costly, as you will be seeking professional help for this.
9. Repair the damages
- Even though the carpenter ants themselves don’t carry any disease, they can actually damage a lot of your property.
- After a good round of carpenter ant removal, you need to actually deal with the damage that they might have caused.
- It is better to repair or remove the damaged furniture.
- This will ensure that you don’t have to take the risk of dealing with damaged stuff.
10. Carpenter ant prevention
- Further, it is now your responsibility to ensure that no such condition occurs again, which can invite carpenter ants.
- Make sure that there’s cleanliness around, no dampness, and all the wood that you bring inside your home is checked properly.
- Well, it’ll be better to repair the holes and not let waste accumulate here and there.
- After doing this, there’ll be a reduced risk of carpenter ants, and you already know how to get rid of carpenter ants.
Conclusion
These are the possible methods that can provide you with the answer to how to get rid of carpenter ants. There is a likely chance that these can be a little too much when it comes to tackling infestations, but once you get your hands on this perfect guide, there’s no going back. Though it is not simple, you can actually get rid of carpenter ants by following this article written with the title ‘How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants‘. I hope this article was able to help you know more about how to get rid of carpenter ants.
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