Ants Problem (carpenter ants)

[dubbodown]

Hi,
This is probably a weird topic to post in this forum/site. It seems like our anandtech team always have an expert for every topic out there. Well...anyways...heres my problem....

I have ants all over the house. I read many different ideas on the net and seems like..... boric acid with sugar water is the most suggested solution. Another common suggestion I found is to track down the next and destroy it.....this seem to be easier said then done.

Any anandtechers have any solution to getting rid of these ants without having to spend big money on a professional? I believe these are carpenter ants, they're black, the typical black ants you would see on trees.

The weird thing is....I notice there are constantly tiny ants coming from the kitchen and now i notice that there are black carpenter ants coming from one of the vents in one of the bedroom on the other end of the house.

I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE ANY HELP!!!
Thanks

 

[compuwiz1]

Carpenter Ants are very strange. I've seen them come back and carry off their dead.

 

[Sphexi]

Call the Orkin man, only way to be 100% sure they're all gone.

 

[doze]

You can broadcast treat the entire lawn yourself

http://www.amdro.com/Amdro/Tips/application.html

Also spray the exterior of your house around the foundation, windows, doors etc.. you can get a large thing of bug spray from home depot for cheap

 

[Boo Boo]

sugar ants suck. carpenters love the wood.

time to let the orkin man start porkin ya

 

[Skeeedunt]

God I hate ants.

 

[miri]

i had a friend once that said he fell asleep with a glass of koolaid on the side of his bed, he awoke to thousands of ants making a trail across his chest to get to the koolaid.

 

[OutHouse]

since they are in your house you need to call a pest dude. they will spray the stuff that when the ants walk in it they take it back to the nest and kill them all. we did this and we were finding dead ants for months all over the house. the nest has to be destoyed to totally get rid of them.

 

[DrPizza]

Just starting to see this problem? How close to your house is the nearest pine tree? There's one close by, and it's got some dead wood in it. Carpenter ants love to branch out and start new colonies. Before you bend over and take it from the Orkin man, try ... (hang on a second, I've got to go out to the garage and find the brand...)

 

[DrPizza]

Ortho home defense max. Spray it on the foundation of your house around the perimeter each spring. If you're still seeing ants, then they're someplace inside your house. If you've caught it early enough, a few ant poison traps and some of that spray into the crevices that they crawl out of may eliminate the problem without a big bill.

 

[dubbodown]

 

[DrPizza]

blank post??

 

[dubbodown]

Thanks for the response and suggestions! I have been reading on the internet and compose a list of the most common recommendation. Yes, its seems like the only way to get rid of ants completely is to destroy its colonies which the queen live in. Seems like the only way to kill the queen is to have its workers bring poisson back to her. Its impossible to determine exactly where the nest is inside the house without having to tear down many walls in the house which is not what i like to do). The most common suggestions i got from reading the net is to use a mixture of boric acid and sugar water. I notice some of these ants killer/bait contains this "borax" ingredient. I went out and bought a box of borax and mixed it with sugar and water. I placed it where i see the most ants, hopefully this remedy works!!!

If anyone have actually tried a method that actually work! please let me know!! There are always baby ants in the kitchen, I can sweep up 10-20 every 3-4 hours easily. And at night time, I notice on the other end of the hosue in one of the bedroom, larger black ants come in through the vents! and I do notice these ants do carry their dead friends.....man are they loyal.

 

[DrPizza]

But, if you're just now seeing the ants, there's hope that there isn't a colony with a queen yet living in your house... Like I suggested, spray the perimeter with the Ortho stuff. That'll stop them in their tracks on the outside. Then, you can worry about the ants on the inside if they continue to be a problem.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Effective Control of Carpenter Ants -- Pest Management Regulatory Agency
Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants -- PestControlCanada.com

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

We called in a pro (independent exterminator) last year to treat our house for carpenter ants and some sugar ants. She identified the carpenter ants' entry point, put some traps, and left us with some 'dust' not sure what the 'dust' was, but what we did was pick up any carpenter ant and dust it with this crap and then let it go. Theory was that the ant will carry the dust back to the colony and eventually the colony will be killed. We dusted a total of 40-60 ants over a few weeks... Then they stopped and our carpenter ant problem was gone. We still have the dust and will very occasionally see one and we dust it immediately. Sugar ants was really not a problem, but a few sugar/poison traps got rid of them.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: dubbodown
Thanks for the response and suggestions! I have been reading on the internet and compose a list of the most common recommendation. Yes, its seems like the only way to get rid of ants completely is to destroy its colonies which the queen live in. Seems like the only way to kill the queen is to have its workers bring poisson back to her. Its impossible to determine exactly where the nest is inside the house without having to tear down many walls in the house which is not what i like to do). The most common suggestions i got from reading the net is to use a mixture of boric acid and sugar water. I notice some of these ants killer/bait contains this "borax" ingredient. I went out and bought a box of borax and mixed it with sugar and water. I placed it where i see the most ants, hopefully this remedy works!!!

If anyone have actually tried a method that actually work! please let me know!! There are always baby ants in the kitchen, I can sweep up 10-20 every 3-4 hours easily. And at night time, I notice on the other end of the hosue in one of the bedroom, larger black ants come in through the vents! and I do notice these ants do carry their dead friends.....man are they loyal.

I'm un sure if loyalty is their trait, but ants carcase is a source of food for them.

 

[irishScott]

Carpenter Ants live inside wood. Literally. Like termites, but they only hollow out the core with entrances on the ends, so it won't be obvious. With an exterminator, bait seems to be the best option. Good luck.

 

[chusteczka]

Do you have a leak in the roof of your home somewhere? If not, are the carpenter ants coming from an area of the house that has high humidity or moisture in the wooden framing of the home? Carpenter ants typically build their nest within moist wood since it is easier for them to chew through than dry wood. Fix the leak, the wood will dry out, and the ant colony will either die or disappear on its own.

 

[w3stfa11]

I've been having problems on and off with ants, both the carpenter kind and tiny red biting ants. Pain in the ass. I called the pest guy and he solved the problem, for now at least.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: dubbodown
Thanks for the response and suggestions! I have been reading on the internet and compose a list of the most common recommendation. Yes, its seems like the only way to get rid of ants completely is to destroy its colonies which the queen live in. Seems like the only way to kill the queen is to have its workers bring poisson back to her. Its impossible to determine exactly where the nest is inside the house without having to tear down many walls in the house which is not what i like to do). The most common suggestions i got from reading the net is to use a mixture of boric acid and sugar water. I notice some of these ants killer/bait contains this "borax" ingredient. I went out and bought a box of borax and mixed it with sugar and water. I placed it where i see the most ants, hopefully this remedy works!!!

If anyone have actually tried a method that actually work! please let me know!! There are always baby ants in the kitchen, I can sweep up 10-20 every 3-4 hours easily. And at night time, I notice on the other end of the hosue in one of the bedroom, larger black ants come in through the vents! and I do notice these ants do carry their dead friends.....man are they loyal.

where do you buy boric acid from? i've been looking for that for my ant problem. (small black ants, smaller than carpetner.)

i bought Terro, but the ants drink it like water. i've used it for 3years, and i still see ants the next day, week, month ,etc

i was think corn starch or baking powder + water. add a little water to form a gluey dough. it absorbs water, so the ants die of thirst?

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: dubbodown
Thanks for the response and suggestions! I have been reading on the internet and compose a list of the most common recommendation. Yes, its seems like the only way to get rid of ants completely is to destroy its colonies which the queen live in. Seems like the only way to kill the queen is to have its workers bring poisson back to her. Its impossible to determine exactly where the nest is inside the house without having to tear down many walls in the house which is not what i like to do). The most common suggestions i got from reading the net is to use a mixture of boric acid and sugar water. I notice some of these ants killer/bait contains this "borax" ingredient. I went out and bought a box of borax and mixed it with sugar and water. I placed it where i see the most ants, hopefully this remedy works!!!

If anyone have actually tried a method that actually work! please let me know!! There are always baby ants in the kitchen, I can sweep up 10-20 every 3-4 hours easily. And at night time, I notice on the other end of the hosue in one of the bedroom, larger black ants come in through the vents! and I do notice these ants do carry their dead friends.....man are they loyal.

where do you buy boric acid from? i've been looking for that for my ant problem. (small black ants, smaller than carpetner.)

i bought Terro, but the ants drink it like water. i've used it for 3years, and i still see ants the next day, week, month ,etc

i was think corn starch or baking powder + water. add a little water to form a gluey dough. it absorbs water, so the ants die of thirst?

terro bbqpwned the small sugar ants in my apt. i havent seen one since i got tnese traps, as for carpenter ants, i remember my house being infested with them when i was little- we only found them when we were changing the tiles in our bathroom and there was a nest of ants (queen included) around the wood right below the toilet- my dad vacuumed them, which i don't know was a good idea or not, but we didnt even know they were in our house till we saw that!

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: dubbodown
Thanks for the response and suggestions! I have been reading on the internet and compose a list of the most common recommendation. Yes, its seems like the only way to get rid of ants completely is to destroy its colonies which the queen live in. Seems like the only way to kill the queen is to have its workers bring poisson back to her. Its impossible to determine exactly where the nest is inside the house without having to tear down many walls in the house which is not what i like to do). The most common suggestions i got from reading the net is to use a mixture of boric acid and sugar water. I notice some of these ants killer/bait contains this "borax" ingredient. I went out and bought a box of borax and mixed it with sugar and water. I placed it where i see the most ants, hopefully this remedy works!!!

If anyone have actually tried a method that actually work! please let me know!! There are always baby ants in the kitchen, I can sweep up 10-20 every 3-4 hours easily. And at night time, I notice on the other end of the hosue in one of the bedroom, larger black ants come in through the vents! and I do notice these ants do carry their dead friends.....man are they loyal.

where do you buy boric acid from? i've been looking for that for my ant problem. (small black ants, smaller than carpetner.)

i bought Terro, but the ants drink it like water. i've used it for 3years, and i still see ants the next day, week, month ,etc

i was think corn starch or baking powder + water. add a little water to form a gluey dough. it absorbs water, so the ants die of thirst?

terro bbqpwned the small sugar ants in my apt. i havent seen one since i got tnese traps, as for carpenter ants, i remember my house being infested with them when i was little- we only found them when we were changing the tiles in our bathroom and there was a nest of ants (queen included) around the wood right below the toilet- my dad vacuumed them, which i don't know was a good idea or not, but we didnt even know they were in our house till we saw that!

At garden center, feeds stores. Or, get boric acid from any place that sells cleaning/washing machine detergent.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
blank post??

..i'll bet it's code for something. mabe attack of the ants.

 

[dubbodown]

Stop it, or I'll burn ya.

AnandTech Moderator