Carpenter ant success stories

[Gary]

I live in upstate New York. Every year we start seeing carpenter ants crawling around the living room. We usually see about 5 or so a day in the living room around this time of year and then more like 15 or so a day around the rest of the house towards April and worse through the summer.

I believe there are nests in the house somewhere. I think there is probably one in the cavities around a window in the living room as my wife had seen one or two go behind the trim under the sill and disappear. I have gone into the basement and seen ants crawling in the space where the tongue and groove subfloor don't quite meet and I think they are getting through the entire distance of the house this way. The 5/16" thick oak flooring upstairs does not quite meet the baseboard in some places and we have also seen ants come from the gaps.

I have two trees out front that are infested with them and need to come down this summer. My house is bordered by deep woods on two sides and has had pine tree branches laying on the roof when I bought it. I have since did some major branch trimming.

I know these things have satellite nests but I don't believe the nest in the house is a satellite because of how early in the year I see them, I think its the real deal. In the past I have tried baiting with every bait concoction I have read about, spraying the outside foundation with a perimeter spray and spraying nooks with drione dust. It seemed like the drione dust just ticked them off and forced more into the house.

Anyone have any success with locating and getting rid of these pests?

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) Anyone have any success with locating and getting rid of these pests? :) :) For what it's worth, The drione is a great tool for them if you are able to apply it in the nest. if you are wanting to do it yourself you should be able to have luck with either Advance Carpenter Ant Bait or Maxforce Carpenter Ant gel. Both would be found at a do-it-yourself type pest control store or a pest control supply house and you can buy them over the web. I have used the Advance granules in situations where I had no clue where the nest was, but it seemed to work every time I use it. I have not used Maxforce myself, but I hear from other exterminators that they have the same results as what I have seen with the Advance. The Maxforce is also labeled to be used indoors which might be the better choice since the ants in your area are probably not out foraging the outdoors yet.

[RB]

Chlordane used to work well.

RB

Gary wrote:

[AJScott]

You might want to cut those trees down now -- while it's still fairly cold out and the ants are still pretty dormant -- instead of summer. When the cutters start chopping down the tree in hunks and those limbs and sections of trunk start hitting the ground when its warm out, you're going to have a mountain of carp ants running around all over the place. They should die off if the queen ends up in the chipper, but if one of those ants that runs off is the queen, you're going to have new infestation somewhere else because the survivors will follow her. I got all my carp ant-infested trees cut down during the winter to make sure they all ended up in the chipper; I was starting to see a the occasional scout in the house from those trees, so it was time for them to go.

Personally, I don't bother DIYing when it comes to pest-bug problems should one of their nests end up in my house. I call my reliable exterminator and get it done right the first time around and be done with it.

AJS

[Jeff Cochran]

I'll second the Maxforce. We were inundated shortly after tenting for termites, and the Maxforce gel took care of it on first application. Been two years since we've seen any. (Termites are returning though..)

Jeff