insecticides for carpenter ants

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Good Morning,

We recently had a water connection break in our 6 month old home. The flood of water from under the kitchen sink ended with approximately 6 inches of water in the basement. Within 3 days of this incident we have noticed large black ants in the basement initially however now we have noticed them on the kitchen counters, in the bathroom, laundry room. They appear to be foraging as in the video and also are only one or two at a time. Is it possible for the appearance of these ants to be secondary to the water damage? Can I buy these chemicals and treat myself or do I need to call an exterminator? I live in the state of Connecticut.

You can definitely get the products listed in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL article and do the treating yourself. As for the problem at hand; it sounds like you have an active nest somewhere in the home. It’s not likely the ants came because of the water but in my experience, I’ve seen where water leaks like you describe will many times “displace” an existing nest. And in most of these cases, the residents of the home had no idea there was ever a nest in their house. In many cases it’s the flood or water issue that triggers the ants to get extra active and that leads to the realization of the problem on hand.

At this point you have a few ways you could treat. Typically when people are seeing 1-2 ants inside the home, a good exterior treatment with some PHANTOM  and some CARPENTER ANT GEL inside will usually do the job. But I don’t think this is what you should do given the facts of your problem.

So in your situation, I’m fairly sure there is a nest somewhere but it doesn’t seem as though you have any idea where this nest might be. For that reason I feel the direct approach of dusting with DRIONE should be overlooked even though I always recommend doing this whenever possible. But really, you need to know where the ants are nesting for this to work and for now, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

So what I recommend you do is a thorough application of PHANTOM AEROSOL into every crack and crevice combined with a thorough liquid treatment of the PHANTOM CONCENTRATE. As our article explains, this active is very slow to work and will not spook or scatter the ants. This characteristic will enable the product to get into their nests in the days following your application so that when it finally gets active, it will have a big impact that should kill all nests in or around the home.

The key to Phantom being successful will be based a lot on how thorough you are in your application. You must be sure to spray all baseboards with the liquid as well as the exterior foundation of the home. I expect a thorough treatment to use 2-3 gallons of finished product.

Next, the aerosol must be applied to all the cracks and crevices around the counters, cabinets, windows, door frames and basically anywhere you’ve seen them if you are to insure enough of the colony gets exposed to the Phantom. This way in the days following the treatment, ants will walk on the treatment of Phantom and when it finally kicks in, hopefully enough ants will have been exposed to knock out the colony.

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

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

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

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

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

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

carpenter ants running around house

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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…)

carpenter ants on decking

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Hello,

We have discovered an infestation of carpenter ants in our decking outside (which we plan to remove).  I would like to order Termidor, but would like some instructions on use.  Can we use a regular sprayer?  How should it be applied?

Carpenter ants will readily forage onto anything that has wood including homes, garages, trees and most certainly decks. Since they can travel far as explained in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL article, the nest may not even be located on your property. Still, allowing these ants to forage on the deck would be a mistake. Our advice is always the same when it comes to this ant.

First, do a good inspection of the premises to see if there is a nest anywhere close. The video we have featured in the article that explains how to track their trails to a nest should prove to be very helpful in accomplishing this task. If any nests are found, treat them with the PYGANIC or DRIONE dust for quick and immediate control.

Second, whether you find a nest or not, the turf around the home should be treated with the CARPENTER ANT GRANULES. This bait will be found and fed upon by any foraging onto your property and can do a great job of reducing this activity. Remember, ants foraging on your property is essential for them to create a new nest. Interrupt this behavior and you interrupt their ability to establish nests.

Third, spray the house with something like the TERMIDOR using a good PUMP SPRAYER. This material can be applied to the foundation as well as the decking and once the ants walk over it, the nest will be shut down within a few days regardless of where it might be located. All it takes is one ant coming in contact with the Termidor and impact will be devastating to the colony.

In summary, you could attempt to use just the Termidor to solve this problem but many times there are more than just one colony active in any one area. That means foraging ants in your turf could start new colonies if you don’t apply the granules so don’t neglect this important step.

carpenter ant yard treatment

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I bought some Cypermethrin from you guys about a month ago to handle carpenter ants. That in conjunction with some Drione that I had (thanks for your videos) took care of three nests and all was quiet. The past few days, I am starting to see some adults walking around aimlessly searching near where the nests were. There is no activity in the nests or their entrances. Would these be scouting parties from other nests looking to establish new colonies?

As explained in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL ARTICLE, most all carpenter ant nests are networked to the surrounding environment. This insures their survival and why it’s imperative that all the “satellite” nests in any one network are either directly treated or baited to insure quick and complete control when treating for carpenter ants around your property.

Based on the limited information you provided, it sounds as though there are either stragglers or scout workers coming from missed nests that were part of the original network. If the activity is from stragglers, chances are high they’ll die off in a few days and disappear. And though you mention the CYPERMETHRIN and DRIONE DUST being applied, I don’t see any mention of bait like our MAXFORCE GRANULES or CARPENTER ANT GRANULES. Either of these should be used around the property to insure complete eradication so that if there is a local network nest in the area, it won’t be able to survive. Ants from that nest would undoubtedly forage toward the house as they have been doing in the past except that this time they would find the bait you have applied and die after some was ingested. That’s not to say the Cypermethrin won’t help control these foraging ants because many times it will. However, networked nests are slow to give up old habits and many times will keep trying and trying to find their old nests till they find their way back through an area where maybe the spray isn’t strong enough anymore. Once inside the barrier, they’ll attempt to start a new nest.

So in summary, I would say a Bait application outside the spray you’ve applied would be wise to do. If not, you’ll need to keep a close watch on the area to make sure the few ants you’re seeing don’t start a new nest or worse yet, that they are part of a nest you’ve missed. Leaving an active nest close to the home is a sure receipe for reinfestation.