“Carpenter ants” it’s a widespread annoying sound nowadays. We need to struggle a lot to keep our house and lawn clean from this annoying creature.
Finding Carpenter Ant Nests
First, we have to detect the nest or colony where the ants live to deal with this challenge. There are some steps to track down the nest accurately.
Step-1: Frequent moisture area: Damp and bare wood is the attractive central place for the ants. Find out these types of a problematic area which can attract the carpenter ants.
Step- 2: Look for sawdust: Near the sawdust, the ants always build their nest. So, if you can see any sawdust, it will be effortless for you to find the nest.
Step-3: Sound: Carpenter ants can make a rusting sound if anyone disturbs them to communicate with each other. Try to tap that area where you think that they may live.
Step- 4: Follow them from the back: When the carpenter ants are moving actively, you can apply this technique. Give a sweet type of food that will attract them in, don’t use any like to scare them, spend some more time at that place, and see they make a line. Follow them from back, and definitely, you can find out the nest.
How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
When you can detect the carpenter ants inside your house, most of the time, they already spread their nest to the whole house. Generally, house ants typically less than 1⁄8-inch long can spread their nest so quickly in your home. So, before starting the real damage, try to track the ants and take proper measures to get rid of that ant species.
With this positive thinking in our mind, there are five tips that I will give you to protect your house from the carpenter ants-
- Clean your house: Ants like the taste of sugar, protein-type food, whatever they can find. They bring that type of food from the food source to the colony. For this process, they make a tunnel inside the wooden surface to the food source. More than hundreds of ants will follow the main one back to the house.
For this reason, please try to clean, especially your kitchen, if you use such items as sugar, maple syrup, honey, soda. Please keep all the food in a perfect container and seal it.
- Remove rotten and dump wood: Ant species can make their gallery and satellite colony inside the wooden surface beside the original outdoor colony. For making this colony, they always prefer bare and weak wood. They always make their nest inside the shower, window, and most of the time in the basement where they can get the proper attraction.
Fix that area as soon as possible, and remove the bare and damaged wood by water quickly.
- Use vinegar: Vinegar is another excellent source of natural carpenter ant killer and also multi-surface cleaner. The smell of the vinegar prevents the ants’ return and can damage the tail from the body. Mix 1 to t ratio of water with vinegar. Pour it in a spray bottle. Shake the solution until it is mixed properly. If you want, you can use both white and apple cider vinegar for this purpose. Spray along door frames, baseboards, window sills, and directly on the nest if it is possible for you. Repeat the process daily when you see the ant traffic.
- Apply ant baits: The most significant and effective method is to control the ants using different potent baits. Set the baits according to the standards and quality. Also, think about the place before applying the baits because some baits are effective indoors and outdoors.
Try to use surgery type of bait, which will attract the ants. They will carry it to the colony; the queen and the larva also damage by using this process. If you use this process, you can control the growth.
- Cinnamon and cinnamon oil: Pour the cinnamon into the water and boil it. After the color of the water changes, then let it cool. Use a spray bottle and apply this water throughout the ant’s problematic area. When you use this water around the baseboards, windowsills, near doors, and also alongside countertops, it will help to prevent carpenter ants from entering your home. In the same way, you can use cinnamon oil also. This oil can damage the tail of the ants.
- Apply boiling water: When you see the nets and if the nest is outside your house. Then this easy and natural method is applicable to attack the colony. Boil a few liters of water, and then pour it directly inside the nest. Before pouring the water, take proper precautions. Otherwise, it will be dangerous for you. Not only the single time, to eliminate the whole colony applies this technique two or three times.
- Use baking soda: This is another natural process to protect your house from ants. Use the same amount of baking soda and powdered soda. Mix it perfectly. Apply this mixture in the location where you can see more ant traffic. You can use this outside also, especially near windows and doors.
- Make the outdoor attractive: Ants can provide an important ecological function for the outside species, such as provide food for the birds. To keep them outside, give the food source outside. Food is favorable to the insects living on the trees, consuming honeydew and sweet stuff finding on the plants. So, when the homeowner sprays outside the house, they will definitely destroy the outside food sources.
After that, they try to find their food source inside the house, like- beautiful indoor plants. Clean the leaves so that the ants should not make the indoor plants the source of food.
- Essential oils: Like other types of ants, carpenter ants have pheromone trails to navigate and communicate. This tail is applicable for finding their food. Essential oil is effective for damaging this tail. This process ultimately detached and disorients the ants. The essential oils like- lemongrass, clove, peppermint, cedarwood, orange, tea tree, and lemon oil are all useful for this purpose.
Use a kitchen towel or cotton ball, soak it inside the essential oil you want to use. Then apply it on baseboards, windowsills, door frames, the perimeters of countertops, and any vital entry points. Try to do this process daily until the ants destroy. You can use the essential oil as a natural killing spray.
- Stay away from spray: Try to avoid using the spray. Some homeowners using the spray to make a strong barrier and protect inside their house. They think that for using the spray, the ants cannot enter inside the house. Spray around the house may discourage entry but not that much effective against the ants.
Some of the sprays contain chemicals that are endocrine-disrupting compounds. Those chemicals are not health-friendly. And also have neurobehavioral effects on the children, including reducing the IQ level and increasing the rate of ADHD.
- Water and soap: The mixture of soap with water is very toxic for the ants. Use two parts water with one part dish soap, like a 1:2 range. Mix it properly. Use a spray container. Spray until the ants kill, and the pheromone trails eliminate from the body. Use this more than one time a day until the ants stop returning.
- Use Diatomaceous Earth: Diatomaceous Earth is made from crushed algae fossils. It is another natural pesticide that can damage the exoskeleton of ants. When the ants build contact with the fossil, they ultimately die. Spread the DE inside the nets, the ants will intake it, and in the long run, they will die.
- Non-toxic insecticides: There are lots of non-toxic pesticides on the market. You can go through my article, from where you will find lots of non-toxic pests. Read the instruction correctly and use these pets to control the ants. Apply these pests alongside the fence line and your home to make a natural barrier for the best result.
Carpenter ants can play an essential role in the ecological sector of the forest area. They are also food for the other creature. But when they come to destroy our home and infrastructures, at that time, we are concern about protecting our house from the ants.
Carpenter ants are such annoying and difficult species but not impossible ones. I am confident that if you identify the nest and then apply the above natural and chemical elements, you cant protect your home. Health is the main issue for everyone. So, use different types of baits like- powder, spray, or gel according to your needs, but be careful about the kids and pets inside your home. Please read the instruction given inside the products and then use them. Learn about the chemical components also and use them properly and live a comfortable life.