large black ants around toilet

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Last year we had a large number of big black ants coming out from under the toilet on our 2nd floor bathroom. What I mean by large numbers is 19 to 20 @ a time. I had to tape around the bottom of the toilet to keep them from coming in. This year I keep finding dead, big black ants with wings mostly in the kitchen. Every spring our home is invaded with these ants, yet this year is the first time I’ve seen so many with wings. Do you think we have nests in our home?

I would say you most likely have at least one nest in  your home. And based on the amount of activity you’re reporting, I suggest you either hire a service company to treat or get the products they’d use from us and do the treatment yourself. Since it sounds like one nest is located in the floor under the toilet, that’s where I would do the initial treatment.

First you should read our CARPENTER ANT ARTICLE. It covers all you’ll need to know about these ants so you should be able to decide if you want to handle it yourself or hire a service after reading what’s involved. In the article you’ll learn about DRIONE DUST which no doubt should be used to treat the floor void under the toilet. This product alone could end up solving your problem if you hit a nest in this area. And based on how many ants you’ve seen around the toilet, I’m sure there is at least one nest in this location.

In our article you’ll also learn that seeing ants with wings means the nest is sending out “reproductives” whose responsible for starting a new nests. This usually happens a year or two after a nest is established so it falls in line “time wise” with what you’re reporting. In other words, if the nest started last year, this year is when you would first start seeing swarmers.

Once the void is treated, I would also treat any other room with PHANTOM AEROSOL to make sure you don’t miss any nests. Lastly, I’d spray the outside foundation with PHANTOM CONCENTRATE. Getting the home treated with Phantom would insure any other nests are not missed in case there are some satellite colonies you’re unaware of location wise.

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

Drione:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/dust/drione-dust

Phantom EC:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/phantom-21-oz

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

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

signs of carpenter ants

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I have a lot of big black ants walking up and down a fence post attached to my house. It looks like they’re crawling into a joint where two boards meet and there is a lot of sawdust coming out of this joint. I think these ants have done damage to the wood there but before I do anything I’m wondering if I should be prepared to spray something. This joint is only 5 ft from my house and if I don’t do anything, I’m sure the ants will get into my house.

Carpenter ant signs include leaving a sawdust or frass which is essentially a by product of all their chewing. As explained in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL article, they do a good job of chewing through wood but don’t in fact eat any of it. Based on your description, it sounds like you have them in this fence and probably at this joint too.

I suggest you get some DRIONE DUST and CYPERMETHRIN. Fill one of our HAND DUSTERS with the Drione and have it alongside you when you take the fence apart so it’s ready to use. I’m pretty sure you’ll uncover a nest and the Drione will be ideal to use for the treatment. Once you complete the work at that joint, I suggest you dust each of all the other joints you have to insure there aren’t any other satellite nests on the fence. The Drione will do a much better job than a liquid spray treatment.

Once the fence has been treated, finish the work by doing a foundation spraying using the Cypermethrin. This will insure straggler ants won’t find their way into your home.

Large black ants with wings

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I’ve been seeing large black ants with wings around my bedroom window. I didn’t see them last year but I did notice some big black ants walking outside the house on the wall just below that same window. Now I’m thinking these are related. Do I have some kind of ant problem?

You’re describing carpenter ants and I’m pretty sure the ones with wings are what we refer to as carpenter ant swarmers. These are special ants also known as reproductives which colonies send out every spring and fall to start new colonies. Since they will only emerge from established nests, it’s reasonable to assume you had an active nest last year which is now releasing these ants to go and start new colonies somewhere else. Because the nest is on the home, some are finding their way inside instead of outside where they really want to be. Since carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage to wood, you’ll need to treat the nest as described in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL ARTICLE.

Since you’re finding them close to the window, one would naturally think the nest is somewhere in the vicinity. In fact this is a common location for carpenter ant nests to exist. But to be sure you need to follow the directions we outline in our article on how to track ant trails and locate where they live. As you’ll learn, most any carpenter ant problem will involve multiple nests and if you wish to get rid of them you’ll need to get all satellite nests. Hopefully you’ll be able to locate the nests and if you can, treating them with DRIONE will provide the quickest control. If you’re not able to locate nests and are at a loss for where they are living but see active worker ants, a thorough TERMIDOR application could resolve the problem. If all else fails, call a service company to do the treatment. Carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage and any activity on or around a structure is a sure sign of a nest close by. Letting it survive for any length of time could result in costly damage and therefore a thorough treatment of the area should be done to insure this isn’t the case.

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

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

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

Termidor:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/termidor_sc.html