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Carpenter ant problems? See them foraging in the yard? Worse yet, have them in the home? Carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage and if you’re finding them close to or on your home, it’s time to take action because once they establish their scent trails, they won’t go away without a fight.
As their name suggests, carpenter ants like to chew on wood… READ MORE ON HOW TO CONTROL CARPENTER ANTS
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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.
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I have a dog and a cat. the cat is mostly inside and the dog goes out in the yard quite a bit. We have been seeing carpenter ants both inside and outside and I’m wondering if you have something organic we can use which won’t be a danger to them.
All of the products we have listed in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL article would be fine to use around any of the pets as well as any people if used properly. Our PRODUCT SAFETY VIDEOS explain most everything you need to do to insure safe treatments are made. That being said, there are some Organic Alternatives you can use in place of the products we have listed that might help feel more at ease.
As you’ll learn in the article, there are three main ways to deal with Carpenter Ants. The most direct way is to treat the nest with DRIONE DUST. The organic alternative dust would be DIATOMACEOUS EARTH which will work just about as well. It should be applied with one of the HAND DUSTERS we have listed to get the product uniformly distributed.
The second important part of carpenter ant control is spraying the foundation. Instead of one of the products listed in our article, you can use the organic alternative known as MULTI PURPOSE INSECT KILLER. This product won’t last as long as the actives we have listed in our article but it will kill carpenter ants and help keep them out.
Lastly, if you wanted to use some bait, the NIBAN FG would be a good choice which is listed in the Carpenter Ant article. It’s on the ORMI LIST which means it’s considered safe enough for organic processors so you should be able to
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I have been seeing large carpenter ants around my back deck and want to know how to get rid of them. They are quite strong and hard to kill compared to other ants I’ve had over the years. It looks like they’re living in the yard somewhere because I keep seeing them walking out into the grass but I don’t see any mounds or nests. How do I get rid of them?
Carpenter ants can be a real problem once they nest on or in your home. I’m not sure you have a nest in your house just yet and hopefully you don’t. Since carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage, they’re the one type of ant you never want nesting inside your house.
For starters, I suggest you read through our on line article about CARPENTER ANT CONTROL. There you’ll find most of your questions answered about the biology and recommended treatments for this ant. Based on the information you listed above, I think a good foundation spraying with TERMIDOR will keep them out. For the ants that are foraging around in the grass, apply some CARPENTER ANT GRANULES. This food based bait they seem to love and will quickly accept your placements. Once they feed, any nests close by will die and this should insure you don’t get new nests on your house.