In general, most carpenter ants will shut down as winter sets in and outside temperatures drop. But if there is a nest located on or in your home, it could very well keep warm enough to enable the ants to keep active. And if this happens, treating is strongly suggested. But what's the best treatment for these winter time ants?

In general, most winter time activity will be members of the ant colony foraging for food. So it only stands to reason the best approach to get them where they nest is to use a bait. The best bait for inside the home is our CARPENTER ANT GEL. Place small dabs out where you see activity and once they find it, they'll no doubt take some back to their nest where it will be shared with others. In the days following the sharing of the bait, the nest will shut down and die.

Now if you see a lot of ants in one area and have an idea of where they may be nesting, you might consider treating the rooms with PHANTOM AEROSOL. This aerosol contains a slow acting ingredient and like the gel, won't spook or alarm the colony. But after just a few days, ants that walk over treated areas will in turn contaminate the nest. This will usually kill it in 1 to 2 weeks and your problem will be solved.

No doubt carpenter ants can be a problem even in the winter. And whether you do the work yourself or hire a service company to treat, it's strongly advised that something be done. Leaving them to chew and gnaw away at your home could amount to costly repairs that can easily be prevented with one of the two treatments listed above.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Carpenter Ant Gel: http://www.bugspraycart.com/bait/gel/maxforce-carpenter-ant-gel-1-oz

Phantom Aerosol:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/aerosol/pt-phantom-17-5oz

Carpenter Ant Article:  http://www.carpenterants.com/carpenter-ant-control

If the ants are large it would be a good guess they are in fact carpenter ants. But before you were to do anything extensive pest control wise, you really need to know for sure since treatments for carpenter ants will cost more compared to treating any common ant. And as our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL ARTICLE explains, these guys don't "go away" during the winter. They merely get dormant or in a state of hibernation so it's entirely possible there is a nest somewhere on the camper or close by.

At this point I'd say to focus your attention on solving the moisture problem in the camper. If you work on it now you should end up ripping up some of the flooring and gaining access to areas you can't see into right now. At that time you'll no doubt find some ant nests in the damaged area if you do in fact having some nesting inside the camper. And if any nests are found, you can treat them as explained in our article.

But if no activity is found, I'd wait till next spring and summer to see if they return. And if they do, at that point you could take a more pro active approach using the baits and sprays if needed. But applying any now would be waste because all these products require the ants to be active in order for the treatments to be affective.  Since it's winter, as long as the camper is kept inactive and cold, the ants will be dormant and inactive as well.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Carpenter Ant Control Article:  http://www.carpenterants.com/carpenter-ant-control

Most all ant colonies will send out swarmers or winged ants when they attempt to grow and expand. Most of these winged reproductives will die but some will mate and new nests will start to grow. In most cases these swarmers are attracted to certain physical characteristics of a home or landscape when you see large quantities like you have seen on your house. It could also be there is a nest close by. Just why they choose your house is never easy to understand but it could be the color, shape or size that attracts them or it could even be an odor. Regardless of why they seemingly like your house, there is a good chance you're about to have more than just swarmers. In all likelihood, a female and male have successfully mated and a new colony is almost assuredly about to start. To stop it from prospering, I suggest you start doing some pest control around the structure if you're not doing any now.

At this point I suggest you take some time to read through our INSECT CONTROL article. In the reading you'll learn all the reasons why doing pest control as a preventive measure makes sense. Doing preventive pest control will almost always stop problems from forming, requires very little product applied to be effective and is far less costly to do compared to the cost one must spend when trying to get rid of an existing problem. At this point, it would be wise for you to put 1-2 products to use right away that will both stop any ant colony from forming and keep out perimeter pests for some time to come.

For starters, I suggest a good application of BIFEN GRANULES around the home in the turf. These are slow releasing, odorless and work on just about any pest. Ants that walk over a treated area will die and they won't be able to nest where the Bifen is applied. Applying this product 2-4 times a year will do a great job of keeping unwanted pests from the yard and it's both easy to do and low in cost.

After the granules are applied, it would be wise to spray the exterior of the home with a good liquid residual. Since it's unclear just what species of ant may have been swarming, there is a good chance a nest will form above ground. Liquid spraying the home with CYONARA RTS will take care of any insects present and should last several weeks after applied. It can also be sprayed out over the yard. I mention the Cyonara because it comes with it's own hose end sprayer so you'll be able to use the water pressure of the home to get up high and make the treatment easy to do. Alternatively you could get a concentrated form of the CYONARA and mix it in a PUMP SPRAYER and do a similar job. In the long run the concentrate would be less costly to employ but the difference in sprayer will mean more work with the concentrate for your initial application. However, once this current situation is treated, you really shouldn't have to spray nearly as much in the future so the pump sprayer option will fit the tab nicely.

In summary, using these two products periodically around the home will prevent any pests from getting established and this form of pest control is always the best approach when it comes to pest management in and around the home. This way should there be any type of insect swarm on or near the home, the pest won't be able to get established. You'll notice I didn't mention anything about spraying inside and that's because if you keep the outside perimeter of the home pest free, there is usually no need to treat inside.  And that's just one more reason why doing preventive treatments makes sense:)

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Insect Control Article:  http://www.bugspray.net/insect-control

Bifen Granules:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/453410.html

Cyonara RTS:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/cyonara_rts.html

Cyonara Concentrate:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/cyonara_ec.html

Pump Sprayer:  http://www.gotosprayer.com/sprayers/pump-sprayers/one-gallon-eliminator

First and foremost – DO NOT SPRAY ANYTHING INSIDE THE DISHWASTER! Some people will do this which can make the dishwasher smell for extended periods of time. Running the dishwasher through a cleaning cycle will get rid of the pesticide but the smell can linger. This alone can make the unit unusable so DO NOT SPRAY INSIDE. We recently had someone contact us after they did so using a smelly "off the shelf" spray they bought at their local home center store. In most all cases, ants in the dishwasher are there for one of two reasons. Either they're seeking water due to local dry, hot weather or they're seeking food. Many people commonly store dirty plates, pans, silverware, etc. in their dishwasher for more than one day. If you tend to accumulate dirty dishes for several days before running them through a wash cycle, you're asking for trouble. No doubt there will be some kind of insect lured to the smell and one of the most common insects that will sniff out these dirty dishes are ants.

Now that you know what "not" to do, just what can be done for an ant problem like this? The first thing you should do is read through our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL article. One thing we explain in our article is how this ant will generally forage great distances to harvest food or water. It's not uncommon for carpenter ants to forage from one property to another. In your case, the ants you're seeing aren't necessarily living on your home or even on your property. But regardless, you should attempt to locate the nest as our article explains. By finding and treating the nest directly, you'll surely get the fastest and most complete control of the problem. Our article provides a video and lots of great information on how to locate a nest and it's best to try this at first.

Now if you're not able to track the ants back to any one nest location and after a day or two of watching them you find you are still confused as to where they might be coming from, you still have treatment options. The simplest thing to do would be to set out some CARPENTER ANT GEL. This slow working bait has proven to be very effective on carpenter ants as explained on our product page. Make placements anywhere you see the ants and they'll readily forage to it within a few days.

Alternatively you can spray some PHANTOM LIQUID around the outside of the building on the foundation and other routes of entry. This treatment will effectively be putting a barrier in place that will affect any ants coming in from outside. You can spray inside as well focusing in on baseboards but since the liquid can be a little hard to use inside, we recommend the PHANTOM AEROSOL over the liquid. It goes on dry and invisible making it ideally suited for inside applications.

Phantom is slow acting and lasts at least a month when applied. It's unique active won't kick in for several days after the ants have picked up a lethal dose. By the time they realize what's happened it will be too late and in most cases all the nests will be shut down and destroyed. This will take 1-2 weeks to complete but it's highly effective and a good choice.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Carpenter Ant Control:  http://www.carpenterants.com/carpenter-ant-control

Carpenter Ant Gel:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page560.html

Phantom:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/phantom_insecticide.html

Phantom Aerosol:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/phantom_aerosol.html

There are many kinds of ants which will readily infest unprotected trees. Most will forage on trees feeding on smaller insects like aphids, whiteflies and mealybugs. But some are wood destroying ants like the Carpenter and Acrobat species. These ants will usually target older trees or trees that are diseased, deformed, damaged or vulnerable for one reason or another. If left to nest as they wish, the constant drilling and chewing will no doubt bring the end of the trees life much earlier than normal.

Treating the tree with a liquid spray is usually the most direct way to take care of the problem. One of the best products for this treatment is the BIFEN CONCENTRATE. Odorless, easy to use and because it demonstrates no phytotoxicity to plants, it should be broadcast onto the trunk of the tree where you see activity. Most any sprayer will do the job but if you don't have one that can reach high enough, the TROMBONE SPRAYER is perfect for most applications since it can reach so high. Treat every two weeks till you no longer see activity. Retreat during the summer to insure none return. In general, you should get 1-2 months of protection when treating for maintenance (no activity is present). But when ants are active, apply some more frequently till the nests are destroyed.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Bifen Concentrate:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/bifen_it.html

Trombone Sprayer:  http://www.gotosprayer.com/sprayers/pump-sprayers/trombone-pump

No doubt carpenter ants (and several other species like acrobat ants, fireants and some others) love foam and moisture. Put the two together and then move the piece outside and it's only a matter of time before you have some type of an insect problem. Having dealt with similar problems over the years, I have learned that the direct approach of dusting with the DRIONE DUST featured in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL ARTICLE is by far the best approach. It will knock them out on the spot and the problem will be solved. In most cases I've been able to use one of the HAND DUSTERS we have to get the dust where it was needed. Sometimes I've been able to crawl in through a maintenance hatch to access the main nest site; other times I've had to reach blindly to make the application. The Drione is like smoke so it will float around and get good coverage even if you aren't sure you hit the spot dead on.

Alternatively, if you're not able to get close enough to where you think they are nesting, you could opt to spray the area down with the PT-PHANTOM AEROSOL. This product works well on most any ant as it's slow acting and doesn't "spook" them like other sprays. The way it works is that the ants will walk over treated surfaces and as they do, they'll be picking up trace amounts which will be brought back to their nest and "shared" with the other ants. The net result will be the whole nest will be killed when the active finally kicks in and starts to work. This is usually in 3-5 days after you treat.

One other thing. In cases like this I like to take a mirror and place it on the ground just under the tub so I can look at the reflection of the bottom side. I like to do this before I start plodding around and spooking them. Many times watching them this way will reveal the exact location where you'll need to direct your treatment so it's worth the effort.

Here are direct links to the products and information mentioned above:

Drione Dust:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page91.html

Carpenter Ant Article:  http://www.carpenterants.com/carpenter-ant-control

Hand Dusters:  http://www.gotosprayer.com/dusters/hand-dusters

PT-Phantom:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/phantom_aerosol.html