ants or termites?

[jIM]

My wife and I are living in an apartment "between" houses. We close on our new house in 36 days...

our apartment was occupied by ants or termites before we left. Not being a scientist, I cannot tell the difference.

some questions:

any ideas for verifying the furniture in the apartment is not "infected" prior to moving to new house?

the first several months problem was with toiletries and food, and apartment management came hired an exterminitor. I believe they baited where the "ants" were thought to be coming from. For about a month no ants were seen.

A few weeks ago a loaf of banana bread was attacked by "ants"

Yesterday a drawer full of paper was attacked. Thinking that ants don't eat paper, my thought is a termite problem.

I think the apartment is a lost cause (we got what we paid for). My primary concern is the couch, box springs, recliner and one dresser we have in the apartment. How can I be sure this problem does not follow me to our newly built house?

[Michael Daly]

Termites only live in moist soil or wood - they won't wander very far or for very long from those. If you've been having problems with bugs attacking food and other sources, they must be ants.

Mike

[PDQ]

You probably have ants. If big and black - carpenter. if small - maybe leaf cutter.

Best solution is fumigate all furniture after it is out of the apartment and before it is in your new digs.

No point in event chancing a few unwanted guest pests.

Call your local exterminator and see what is best for you.

[jIM]

what is involved with fumigation? Can terminex do this, can it be done in an apartment parking lot?

jIM

[SJF]

Best solution is fumigate all furniture after it is out of the apartment and before it is in your new digs.

No point in event chancing a few unwanted guest pests.

Call your local exterminator and see what is best for you.

[barry]

Right you are. Termites won't nest in (relatively quite dry) furniture. Carpenter ants nest in wet wood, where the queen is, and forage for various foods elsewhere.

OP could consult Ag Ext agent for help in id-ing pests. Anyone not trying to sell stuff.

J

[jIM]

I'm confident they are ants, but I'm not going to bet on it... they were the brown kind and real little- not like the large black ants I see at parks around picnic bences, but brown/tan ones.

I think my furnture is dry. never been outside while I've owned it. Help me understand "wet" conditions. I assume if they are in my apt, there must be some moisture trapped inside the walls, under the floor or somewhere? Could caulking all the holes fix this then?

I could careless about the apt, I am concerned with furniture. can I caulk my couch ( a joke, I know that really doesn't make sense). Maybe put couch in a bubble?

jIM

[Michael Daly]

If you can capture one, take it to an exterminator for identification.

I wouldn't want to sweat the termite problem if it's only an ant problem.

Wet means wet - you can feel it. If your furniture was wet, you'd know. Think of sticking your hand into the ground when there's no drought. Wet isn't standing water - termites can't live below the water table, only between the water table and the surface. They can get into a house if there is wood in contact with wet soil. That's why, if you live in a termite area, you want a foundation that is concrete/brick/etc at least

18" above the soil (though I've heard in some areas they mandate at least 24" or more).

Mike

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) what is involved with fumigation? Can terminex do this, can it be done :) in an apartment parking lot? :) :) :) You won't be needing fumigation for the furniture for ants...even with a worse case scenario you won't need to waste the money or the chemicals for a fumigation. Sad part is you call terminix it wouldn't surprise me to hear they got a fumigation from you. The ants you described usually will readily accept a bait called Terro you can get at any store...if you are going to be where you are at for two more weeks, you can have a pro apply Phantom on the inside and Termidor on the outside and all ants will be gone for about a year and there won't be any chance of taking them with you.

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) They can get into a house if :) there is wood in contact with wet soil. They will get into a home with any type of soil...wet can attract them quicker, but they don't need it.

:) That's why, if you live in a :) termite area, you want a foundation that is concrete/brick/etc at least :) 18" above the soil (though I've heard in some areas they mandate at :) least 24" or more). :) :)

[Dave]

Neither ants nor termites are going to hide inside most types of furniture. However I did once move a cardboard box that had been stored in a garage into an apartment and an ant nest that was living in the box then tried to chew a hole in the wooden floor under the box. I would suspect that any furniture or other items that sit flat on the floor should be emptied and inspected carefully.

[Norminn]

Termites will infest anything made of cellulose, which includes furniture.

[~^Johnny^~]

I wonder if they'll eat cellulite?

[jIM]

so if these boxes are emptied in the road and we transport the items from the road and trash the boxes, low probability the ants will follow us?

I will look to bait the furniture- the apt complex baited and it has worked so some extent, but it appears they have not knocked off the whole colony yet...

35 days to close...

jIM

[HeyBub]

Unless you move the hive/nest, to include the queen, the workers will die shortly and not be replaced.

[Dave]

Yes, empty and inspect everything and it's very unlikely they will be able to hide from you. I think my box had a large flat book in the bottom and they built the nest in the gap between the bottom of the book and the bottom of the box.

[nospambob]

We had what appeared to be termite "dust" on the wood arm of a love seat. Found a place from the yellow pages and had it fumed and no more "dust".

[SJF]

We once ended a kitchen ant problem when we found a nest of ants inside a roll of aluminum foil wrap on a cabinet shelf. I wanted to start an ant farm but wife had already dumped the queen down the drain.

SJF

[jIM]

what is termite dust?