VINEGAR. Vinegar is an extremely effective natural carpenter ant deterrent. It disrupts their pheromone trails and the smell prevents them from returning. Mix a 1-to-1 ratio of water to vinegar in a spray bottle (both apple cider and white vinegar will do).
Preventing Carpenter Ants
Dry up leaks inside and outside the home, and repair any moisture-damaged wood when you find it. Next, deal with sources of nearby decaying wood outside the home. Chip up any tree stumps and make sure the debris is removed or mulched in an area well away from the home.
Fiction: Treated wood will stop carpenter ant damage and infestation. Fact: Carpenter ants don't eat wood; they excavate it. No matter what kind chemical treatment is used, they remain unaffected because they aren't ingesting it.
Carpenter ants dislike strong scents like garlic, lavender, essential oils, and vinegar. These items might seem harmless for the nose of a human, but ants find these smells incredibly irritating. But aside from its irritating smell, vinegar also affects the behavior of carpenter ants.
Carpenter ants are omnivorous and spend a great deal of time foraging for food to feed not only themselves but the colony as a whole. Ants have many natural predators as well. Some are much larger creatures, such as birds, reptiles, and mammals, but others are fellow arthropods.
The most common solution is to use an insecticide that contains pyrethroids. The trick is getting insecticidal spray or dust into the nest. You should never spray liquids around electrical outlets or junction boxes, but insecticidal dust can be used in these areas.
Cedarwood has a reputation for keeping certain insects away. Carpenter ants will not eat cedar, but that does not mean that they won't use it for a nest.
Termites can cause damage to homes quicker than carpenter ants can, creating significant damage within two to four years. Damage from carpenter ants can take a number of years and is usually easier to detect as these ants hang around areas where there is moisture and can be seen scurrying around.
The main difference between the two is that termites actually consume the wood for sustenance, while carpenter ants don't. This makes carpenter ants less destructive than termites, since the damage they cause is limited to just excavating tunnels, whereas termite damage involves continuous, non-stop eating.
Carpenter ant infestations, whether minor or severe, can be handled by utilizing many of the same measures as other ant species. Ant bait, insecticide dust, and insecticidal spray are the most common ant management techniques.
Terminix recommends drilling 1/8" holes every six inches in the area where you suspect the nest might be. Then, use a bulb duster to "puff" boric acid through the holes. (The boric acid will kill the ants.) You might have to repeat treatments multiple times in order to destroy the nest.
They find wood that has been damaged by moisture from a roof leak, a door frame that gets wet from rain, or a downspout or gutter that is not working. Carpenter ants come into the house for food or water. Many times, workers come into the house, get food, and go back outside.
All carpenter ants have wings, while not all black ants do. Black ants also have a single set of wings, if they have any at all, while carpenter ants have two sets of wings. While this is a subtle distinction, it is indeed a key difference between these two bugs.
They are not a pest that will go away on their own. Don't assume carpenter ants are just another ant. These ants are unique and require specialized solutions. Don't assume there is just one nest.
Unfortunately, wood mulch also doubles as an attractant for a variety of pests including carpenter ants, earwigs, roaches, and termites. Both carpenter ants and termites can end up causing thousands of dollars of damage to your home. So you definitely do not want to lure them in!
Depending on the whereabouts of the ants' colony, structural damage can occur in just a matter of months. Rather than chancing the DIY route to getting rid of carpenter ants, hire a professional exterminator to do the job right for you, and banish these destructive pests forever.
Carpenter ants get their name because they excavate wood in order to build their nests. Their excavation results in smooth tunnels inside the wood. Much like termites and other wood destroying insects, this excavation can compromise the structural soundness of the wood over time.
Carpenter ants aren't even known to carry and transmit diseases, so they aren't dangerous from a health standpoint. The real trouble with carpenter ants, as you may have already guessed, is that they can cause structural damage if they get inside your home.
Carpenter ants prefer to nest in moist wood or structures already damaged by other insects. As a result, most carpenter ant nests are found in decaying wood in areas such as windows, chimneys, sinks, doorframes or bath traps and in hollow spaces such as wall voids.
Contrary to popular belief, carpenter ants do not actually eat the wood. Rather, they hollow it out in order to nest inside, which may result in structural damage. Also unlike termites, carpenter ants generally take years to cause significant damage.
Carpenter ants nest in both moist and dry wood, but prefer wood which is moist. Consequently, the nests are more likely to be found in wood dampened by water leaks, such as around sinks, bathtubs, poorly sealed windows/ door frames, roof leaks and poorly flashed chimneys.
The good news is that ants can still smell Vinegar after it is dried. Always remember that Vinegar is not a permanent solution to remove an ant infestation. It is reasonable to spread the solution thrice a week over the affected areas to remove ants slowly.
If you have flour, sugar, cereals, grains, or other foods sitting out or unsealed in your cabinets, these can attract carpenter ants into your home. The same goes for crumbs and various foods left sitting out on your kitchen counters.
How Long Do Carpenter Ants Live? Long Life is one of the carpenter ant's strengths. Queens can live up to 10 years and workers can live up to seven years. Carpenter ants live so long, waiting for a colony to die out is not a feasible solution.