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Carpenter ants » Pest Control Articles » How carpenter ants removed from a house?
How carpenter ants removed from a house?
Carpenter Ants (Camponotus Pennsylvanicus) are big-sized black ants that are known for infesting homes and buildings and causing damage. When carpenter ants encroach into a home, they feed on meats, syrup, honey, sugar, jelly and all food items that contain protein and sugar. When dwelling outside homes, they subsist on living and dead insects.
There is a popular misconception that carpenter ants eat wood when they damage them, but, in fact, they do not. They only penetrate through the wood to create a cavity to help them build their homes.
Carpenter ants are destructive pests and there can not be two opinions about it. But that does not mean you should immediately panic and rush to a pest control operator to schedule a treatment.
As a first step, you should assess the magnitude of the problem and to plan treatment, it is essential to locate the main nest. In fact, you will find that bulk of all main nests is strangely located outside the homes, where there is ample moisture. There may at best be a couple of satellite nests inside your house. These satellite nests are quite often seen inside walls, in ceilings, under outdoor siding, close to wooded areas, near roof gutters, in bathrooms.
Inspect the basement and also the top of water pipes and electrical lines, which ants commonly use as pathways. At times you can detect a nest in the walls by listening to the rustling sound made by the working ants. Do not ignore tree branches touching your house, which also act as ant bridges.
The measures you take should not only prevent carpenter ants spreading but also make sure they do not return. Your control program can be effective only if the conditions which allowed the carpenter ants to invade in the first place are eliminated.
If all nests are properly identified and removed, all stray ants captured, all access points are caulked and all damaged wood replaced - then no chemical treatment is required. If the infestation is accessible and has not become an acute problem, then chemical treatment can be dispensed with. In fact, a good shop vacuum can be used to capture most of the ants.
A chemical control should always be the last resort. Usually these chemicals are to be applied by professional pest control experts and the chemicals should not be handled by unqualified house owners. Selecting the least-toxic chemicals that will do the job is not always easy. Applicators are expected to use only safe and EPA approved chemicals.
The general practice is applicators will first treat the house and then apply a perimeter spray outdoors a couple of times to prevent reappearance of the ants. But the perimeter treatment can prove ineffective unless the nest is completely destroyed. You should therefore look for a pest control company that is committed to least-toxic methods.
You can place boric acid powder into the wall voids. It is moderately toxic and will pose no risk to children and pets if made inaccessible to them. Placing boric powder in wall voids will not interfere with living spaces because it does not evaporate. Another low-risk chemical that can be used in wall voids is Eugenol - a derivative of clove oil.
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