carpenter ants running around house

Hi, we recently found sawdust in our closet. So after researching we put and “puffed” boric acid around. Now they are running all over the house. What did we do? And how can we stop it now?

I wished you had read our article before you treated. When you know where these ants are centered, the only dust that should be used on them is something like PYGANIC. It’s fast acting and won’t allow them to relocate like it sounds like might be happening now. Boric acid is a stomach poison and won’t do a good job on this ant unless they ingest it so for now, I expect you’ll be seeing ants for some time. Your dusting most likely disturbed them but it doesn’t sound like it was enough of a direct hit to knock them out. If you are lucky, enough of the dust will have made it’s way to the heart of the original nest and may at least cause them to suffer severe losses. This could lead to their ultimate demise. If not, they will at least attempt to relocate and if they have enough supplies and members left in their colony, they could very well establish a new nest. Only time will tell.

For now, the only thing I’d suggest to do is set out some CARPENTER ANT GEL. Foraging ants will need food so make small placements in any room where you see activity. Chances are high some will accept the offering. Once they feed and return to the old or new nest (if either exists), the ant which fed will in time contaminate other members of the colony and eventually kill it. Other than the bait, there really isn’t anything you can do. (And don’t kill any ants you see; if you place out the bait the more ants foraging the faster the nest will be shut down…)