Carpenter ants are a frustrating and annoying infestation that can ruin your home forever, the cost of repairs after a major infestation can be horrifying and really screw up your finances. Carpenter ants have extremely powerful jaws and the workers have enormous and razor-sharp mandibles that can chew through pressure-treated wood. If one of them bites you, you’re gonna know it. Now carpenter ants don’t usually bite but if you happen to put your hand on one or roll over onto some in your bed then they will bite you and believe me, it hurts. They pierce your skin easily and they can spit formic acid into your blood that could cause a severe allergic reaction. Formic acid is a colourless irritant, it is also a volatile acid that is made from carbon monoxide and steams catalytically converted into an acid. This is chemical ants make inside their bodies and have a great deal of so avoid them and if you have them don’t waste time, treat them right away.
Carpenter ant bites are really bad, they can swell and become bright red and bulbous like a zit, it comes with a painful itching and burning sensation if the ant sprayed you with its formic acid and don’t forget those allergies! These ants, while not incredibly dangerous to humans, are still a threat to your family’s safety. You may not be worried about a bite but your pet or baby or toddler will absolutely have an issue with it.
So if you think you have carpenter ants you need to act fast and deal with them before the situation spreads. Most colonies don’t begin in your house. They start on your property outside and then feed your interior infestation with ants from the larger colony. So taking out the external, primary colony will make your job much easier. And lucky you, finding it should be easy. These ants do not live in anything but wood. They only live in wood. So if you have the wood on your property, maybe wood mulch in the garden or an old stump in the back yard. Maybe that leaky shed that leans to one side. If you want to get rid of the primary colony then you will have to haul away all the wood on your property and make sure to dispose of it carefully, don’t let the ants escape so wrap the wood in plastic bags and take it to the dump or to a natural setting and let the ants continue their existence while you return home and deal with them on the inside.
Ants in your home are very hard to find. You may notice them from the dead winged ants under your windows or you may find frass under a hole in the wall. Frass is made of wood dust, fecal matter and ant parts so whatever you don’t touch it. Ways to kill these ants are relatively easy but can take a lot of time. The best first step is to get or make boric acid bait. You can make it at home with flour, water, sugar and borax soap. Mix it all together and make little balls you can place near the areas of high activity. You can then buy some silica dioxide dust or diatomaceous earth which is also able to create a cloud or plume of fine silica dust. You can dust the areas of activity and do crack and crevis treatments by pluming the dust into holes. Make sure they have no access to your food so store everything in glass or metal, no paper or cardboard and never in wood. It will take time but the ants will die from repeated treatments.
