How to Get Rid of Ants in Your House the Easy Way

Table Of Content

• Inject Boric Acid Into Nests
• What’s the Difference? Identifying Termite vs. Carpenter Ant Damage
• How to Identify and Control Winged Carpenter Ants
• How To Identify and Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
• Carpenter Ants vs. Black Ants: What’s the Difference?
• Signs of Carpenter Ants Infestation
• 9 Most Common Signs of a Termite Infestation (And What to Do if You Have One)

These pests are most commonly found in cool, damp climates in the northern regions of the country. If this sounds like more work or more of a mess than you're willing to make, then call in a professional. Even if you successfully get rid of the carpenter ant nest, there still might be more in your home. Call an exterminator to check that the nest is destroyed and to look for possible other nests. You should also call a pro if you haven't been able to find the nest, but still see carpenter ants. Carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) can do significant and expensive damage to buildings through their habit of boring out tunnels (galleries) in soft, decaying wood.

Inject Boric Acid Into Nests

Use a selective pesticide that targets only ants wherever possible. Fortunately, most common indoor ants do not do much real damage. There is one houseguest that no one wants, but nearly everyone gets - ants! A recent survey conducted by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) revealed that various types of ants are everywhere. In fact, ants have been deemed the #1 nuisance pest in America.

What’s the Difference? Identifying Termite vs. Carpenter Ant Damage

So it’s important to positively identify the ants so you can buy the right bait. Baiting is one of the most effective ways to get rid of ants. The bait mixes a poison like boric acid with a sweet food like honey, or an oily one like peanut butter, in the proper proportion.

How to Identify and Control Winged Carpenter Ants

When you get to the suspected area of the nest, listen closely—you may be able to hear a faint rustling sound. You can also tap on areas of suspected nests to listen for hollow sounds of damaged wood. Once you have dealt with infestations in your walls, there is a number of steps you can take to prevent new infestations without using pesticides.

How To Identify and Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

You might be tempted to apply a bug barrier spray around the foundation of your home to discourage entry, but Hansen doesn’t recommend it. For starters, the spray wears off and addresses only one potential source of entry for ants. If you have pets, check the packaging carefully and be mindful of where you place ant baits. If you want to avoid synthetic chemicals of any kind, there are a variety of natural controls you can try for eliminating or repelling ants. Lisa Jo Lupo is a pest control expert with over 25 years of experience in the pest control industry, writing about pest identification and management. However, further differences are seen within the species depending on its habitat.

Thus, we’ll also offer our recommendations for the best pest control companies that treat carpenter ants. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a naturally occurring mineral made up of fossilized skeletons of diatoms, a form of algae. It is applied to ants in the same way as boric acid and works by the same principle. Powdered DE is puffed into holes drilled in the carpenter ant nest, where it breaks down the exoskeleton of the insects and causes them to dehydrate. Diatomaceous earth is an entirely non-toxic substance commonly sold as an organic garden pesticide. Its effectiveness depends on precise application, and perhaps repeated treatments, until a colony is eradicated.

Rather, be sure to contact a licensed pest professional to assist in proper identification and treatment of the species. Just be careful when moving anything harboring these ants, as carpenter ants can bite. These steps will help to keep these ants far away from your home, so they won’t eventually make their way in. Sometimes, especially during a hot, dry summer, finding carpenter ants indoors doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a colony destroying your home from the inside out.

9 Most Common Signs of a Termite Infestation (And What to Do if You Have One)

For more information regarding barrier treatments, including our comprehensive Pest Protect 365 plan, contact your qualified local pest control experts at Anchor Pest Control. Avoid the temptation to simply use ant-killing pesticides to spray visible ants marching along trails inside your home. Pesticide sprays can eliminate a few visible ants, but more will quickly replace them, and you'll never make real progress to eliminating the infestation.

Here's How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants for Good, According to Experts - Prevention Magazine

Here's How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants for Good, According to Experts.

Posted: Fri, 10 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Carpenter ants reside both outdoors and indoors in moist, decaying or hollow wood. Termites, on the other hand, have veiny wings, all four of which are the same size. They have straight antennae (no “elbow”), only have two body segments, and their midsections are thicker.

Termites, however, are brown, not black, and don’t have segmented bodies like ants. There are several reasons that one may find black carpenter ants in your house, the least troublesome of which is that they’re just exploring. If you’ve only found a few wingless stragglers crawling around your home, they’ve likely crawled through a door or window in search of food and other resources. There are other signs of swarming carpenter ants, too, including signs that people might notice after having been away, meaning a swarm occurred while they weren’t present. If you spot small holes in wooden surfaces like baseboards or window or door frames, these could have been made by tunneling carpenter ants. Piles of what looks like wood shavings or sawdust in these same areas—by baseboards, window sills or door jambs—is another common sign of the presence of carpenter ants.

If your home offers them a suitable place to nest, it is not uncommon for the ants to create a satellite nest to help expand the colony in an area providing them with reliable food sources. An ant colony’s constant search for food to feed its thousands of members prompts these pests to find their way onto our properties. Worker ants set out from the nest each day to gather food, leaving a pheromone trail to help other ants find a way to the food sources. Ants work together to ensure the colony’s success, which is why if you see a couple of ants, know there are hundreds or thousands more nearby. Ants are mainly known as nuisance pests that we don’t want living in our yards and homes.