How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

Did you ever wonder if you can prevent carpenter ants from entering your house or home after the implementation of all the necessary plans and actions? Well, to be frank, the answer is a straight NO.

Why is it so? The reason is quite simple. It is because there are still quite a number of factors that are beyond your control. For example, if you leave your windows wide open, there is a possibility that winged carpenter ants fly into your home; or maybe there might be gaps or small opening that you never spotted and carpenter ants comes into your house from that doorways; and many other more…

The point to note is preventive actions can only help to minimize or reduce the risk and possibility of carpenter ants invading your home; you will not be able to totally eliminate that proportion, however slim that percentage it is.

That brings us to this question: how to get rid of carpenter ants?

To get rid of carpenter ants, you can either DIY, do it yourself or seek professional pest control expert for help.

You can go through several tips listed below and explore the various points. If the carpenter ants problem proved to be too nasty for you, then, don’t try to do it yourself as it can get worst and becomes quite messy. Spend a small amount of money and seek professional help would be a better alternative.


Trace the carpenter ants nest or nests.

This is the first thing that you need to do. You need to find out how many nests carpenter ants had built in your home.

To find out where the nests are, you can look out for sawdust trails that carpenter ants leave behind as they tunnel through woods. This sawdust trails will eventually lead to their nests. However, it may not be that easy to locate as well because sometimes, these sawdust trails are not visible as they are hidden deep underneath the wood surface.

Another ways to find out where the carpenter ants built their nest is to listen for crunching or crinkling noises. Using a screwdriver, probe the wood by tapping along baseboards and other wood surfaces and at the same times; listen carefully for the hollow sound of damaged wood. If a carpenter ants nest is nearby the probe area, you can hear a sound similar to the crinkling of cellophane produced by the carpenter ants.

Once you have located the first carpenter ants nest, continue to inspect and investigate the other part of your home and to ensure that there are no more carpenter ants nest in it. It is quite likely that there will be more than one nest and you should check carefully and thoroughly to ensure that you have found all of them.

After finishing all the inspection and you are certain that you have located all the carpenter ants nests, then, you are ready to move on to the next stage, that is, to get rid or kill the carpenter ants.


Get rid of carpenter ants.

The best and straight forward way of getting rid of carpenter ants is to reach and destroy the nests, but, it may not be simple as most of the times, these nests are deep inside the walls and are not accessible easily.

One way to reach them is to drill holes straight into the carpenter nest. For example, for wall voids and other hidden spaces, you can drill a series of small holes about 1/8 inch each and then puff boric acid into the nest areas The boric acid are easily available at most hardware stores and these strong powder will kill the ants once they get into contact.

Besides destroying the nests, take note of the path that carpenter ants travel as well. They may move along wires and pipes, so, spraying insecticide on these areas will help to eliminate them as well.

However, before you started to drill the holes, you will want to make sure that the drilling won’t hurt the building structure else you might be incurring further damage and cost.


Using Baits to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

If drilling holes is not feasible due to whatever reasons, you have no other choice but, to try using baits to get rid of carpenter ants.

You can create baits using mixing boric acid and sugar (carpenter ants feed on sweet substances) and place it near the areas where carpenter ants are usually seen. Once the carpenter ants feed on the baits and proceed to bring it back to the nests, it will help to kill the other ants.

If you have to use baits, then you need to be extremely patient because using baits will take a much longer time to see results. It is quite likely that you will continue to see carpenter ants in your household for the short term and you will need to refrain yourself from killing them. It is because if you kill the individual carpenter ants, you are indirectly cutting off the mode of transporting of baits back to the nests, and wasted your effort instead.

Getting rid of carpenter ants may be simple or difficult, depending on individual. Don’t try to do it if you think it is tough, seek professional help would be easier now than to clearing up the mess later.