How to remove carpenter ants from your home and property

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Published: 06/09/2019

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Insects have never been long-awaited guests in a person’s home, and he has always tried and is trying to get rid of them. One of these uninvited guests is the European carpenter ant, a carrier of dysentery, plague, polio and other dangerous diseases.

• 1 Description, reproduction
• 2 Signs of ants in the house 2.1 How to find a nest?
• 2.2 What to poison?
• 2.3 Traditional methods of killing ants

Content:

• How to prevent ants
• How to deal with ants in a wooden house
• Recipes for insect control
• Chemicals
• Technical news
• Disinsection service
• Video on how to get rid of ants in a wooden house

In Russia, red and fiery red ants are widespread, as well as the most harmful carpenter ants.
They can enter our home through the smallest cracks, damage to walls, floors, and live perfectly well in them. In this article we will consider in detail the question of how to get rid of ants in a wooden house. Ants are dangerous from the point of view that they can walk anywhere, then come to us to feast on our food, and then spread bacteria directly in our products. Also, ant bites are not anything good and can cause allergic reactions (the ant injects formic acid when biting, which in turn causes irritation).

But ants pose an even greater danger to a wooden house. In just one year, a colony of carpenter ants can turn a felled house into dust. And they eat not just a log, but the entire log. Although “they eat” is not entirely correct, because they use wood to create a nest, gnawing numerous tunnels in it, which subsequently destroy the tree. If you knock on wood, the log with its inhabitants will sound dull.

Therefore, you need to fight these insects as soon as you notice their presence. There is definitely no place for ants in a wooden house, and there are many tips on how to get rid of these uninvited guests.

By the way, one of the signs of ants in the house is the appearance of aphids on your flowers, plants and trees. Aphids are cultivated by ants in order to feed on the sweetish liquid that the aphids secrete. Aphids also have their own interest - it is the ants that spread them to fruit-bearing plants.

The benefits and harms of the wood ant

If we talk about the harmfulness of these insects, then there is a double opinion. Yes, they sharpen wood and can be a big problem for the house, damaging its wooden structures (doors, panels, window sills).

In addition, if the house is built of wood, as is now popular due to its environmental friendliness, then woodworms can pose a real threat to its walls if the reproduction of their colony is not stopped in time.

On the other hand, they can also bring benefits to humans, which is the extermination of pests. These pests include moths, bedbugs, some types of flies, and spiders. In this situation, ants are the orderlies of human housing. But whatever their benefit, it is still recommended to remove wood ants from the house, especially where there are small children.

How to prevent ants

Those big ants in a wooden house that we periodically see are forest dwellers; in principle, they do not tend to eat at home, but they are primarily attracted to food. Therefore, food products must be closed, be sure to remove all crumbs and leftover food, and the trash can must be sealed.

Carpenter ants are characterized by a humid environment, so in order to protect your home, it is a good idea to avoid humidity; the basement and attic should be well ventilated.

You also need to eliminate all kinds of gaps, holes and cracks in walls, doors, and floors.

Preventing an ant invasion also involves inspecting your garden plot. You need to carefully inspect all the trees (including stumps and firewood) around the house. If you find infected wood, you need to get rid of it immediately.

Prevention

1. If branches of an old bush or fruit tree touch the window, they must be cut down. a black carpenter ant can easily get into the house .
2. If leaves are falling in the yard, or branches broken off by the wind are lying around, be sure to remove them from the yard in a timely manner. Do the same with garbage, take it out of the territory. The trash can in the house must be covered.
3. The house should be wet cleaned frequently, especially in summer. Keep all work surfaces in the kitchen clean.
4. The kitchen should always be clean. Unwashed dishes, sticky window sills, and dirty towels can become bait for parasites.
5. Monitor the serviceability of the sewer system, promptly repair leaking taps, and prevent leaking taps, tanks and pipes.
6. Doors should not sag, there should be no unevenness or cracks in baseboards and floors.
7. Door and window openings must be protected with special nets.

How to deal with ants in a wooden house

Realizing the danger to the building, a logical question arises - how to remove forest ants and how to deal with ants in a wooden house so that they do not appear again. First of all, it is necessary to get rid of the root of evil, so to speak - the uterus. The queen lives in a nest, that is, in an anthill. But the ants that can be observed in the house are just workers who carry food into the anthill. They cannot reproduce. And our goal is to eradicate the entire colony completely. If there is no queen, the rest of the ants will leave.

To find the queen, try feeding the ants. Watching carefully, you will see where they take food, that’s where their home is.

Ants’ favorite places to lay a nest are between beams, in cracks in walls, baseboards, and even in wooden furniture.

The nest needs to be destroyed (you can pour boiling water on it, it will take about ten liters).

By the way, carpenter ants are nocturnal, that is, they are active at night. If you were unable to find the nest during the day, try to do it in the dark using a flashlight.

Features of reproduction

The majority of the family consists of females who do not have the ability to fertilize; they are divided into certain clans - some are engaged in construction work, others are engaged in obtaining food, ensuring home safety, caring for the uterus, and feeding larvae.

A small proportion are young males and females. Every year, with the onset of warm weather, they begin the mating process. Woodworms are distinguished by the presence of wings; the flying female and male fly up and mate in the air. A successful mating process ends with the death of the males, as well as the search for a new home by the females, where they lay eggs.

The uterus independently raises, feeds and raises the first children. After which she is engaged in the formation of working individuals from them, which subsequently begin construction of the nest, and the female lays eggs further for procreation.

Reproduction is endless, and the colony is replenished with new individuals weekly. Gradually, each queen's duties are transferred to the worker clan - they care for the larvae, feed from and serve their queen-queen. Further, the queen of the family is responsible only for laying eggs.

It should be noted that one fertilization for a female is enough to reproduce offspring throughout her life. The maximum lifespan of the woodworm queen is 28 years. Working members of the family live inside the nest for about 5 years, builders/hunters/food getters - no more than three years.

Recipes for insect control

There are many ways to send these uninvited guests away.

House ants really don't like the smell of some plants. Rub a clove of garlic or a mint leaf into all the crevices in the kitchen. If the ants came only for reconnaissance, then this will scare them away.

If you missed the scouts’ visit, and a colony of insects has already settled in your house, you will have to treat the uninvited guests with a sweet but poisonous delicacy.

For 10 grams of water, add 1 teaspoon of boric acid and the same amount of sugar or honey. Wipe all corners of your kitchen with the prepared mixture. The ants on their paws will carry the solution into their houses, and will never crawl out of there again.

There is another effective way to fight ants; our grandmothers used it. For it you will need:

• 1 yolk
• potato
• sugar
• boric acid

Boil an egg and one potato. Then mash the yolk and potatoes, and add one teaspoon of boric acid and the same amount of sugar. Mix everything thoroughly and roll up small balls that need to be placed throughout the kitchen and in places where insects have been noticed. And after 10 days there will be no trace of the ants left.

The following folk remedies for combating these small pests are also very popular:

1. Ants are repelled by the strong smell of coffee and cinnamon. You can plant mint and lavender bushes around the house.
2. In order to protect the local area from ants, you can use tar. Tar is applied to tree trunks and also to bush trunks. Tar is a sticky substance and another plus is its smell, which ants cannot stand.
3. Burning ash will help get rid of anthills; when burning leaves and tree branches, the resulting ash can be poured onto the anthill.
4. Winter garlic arrows are also a good remedy; you can rub them on all the places where ants have been noticed.
5. Regular sunflower oil is also suitable for fighting ants. You just need to pour oil into the anthill. The oil will clog the passages and the ants will already leave their home.
6. Coniferous concentrate, which can be purchased at any pharmacy and is inexpensive. To prepare, take 75 grams of pine concentrate and add 10 liters of warm water. This mixture must be poured into the anthill. The ants will leave this place for a long time.
7. Tobacco dust and cinnamon are also an excellent remedy, pour into the anthill, and you also need to sprinkle all the paths of the ants. Ants do not tolerate these products.
8. Minced meat is mixed with a spoon of ground borax. Small balls are rolled and placed next to the anthill. The ants eat the minced meat and die.
9. Grind the rhubarb and scatter it in a large concentration of ants. The ants simply go away, and the question of how to remove ants will not be a concern until next season.
10. Cornmeal or cornstarch is sprinkled around the anthill area, as well as along the trails. It is believed that the ant eats the corn delicacy, but cannot digest its coarse fiber, and as a result, dies.

Scented woodworms

The odorous species is characterized by its small size in comparison with the previous genus, but a fairly large family size. The body has a shiny black color. The working individual reaches a size of 5 millimeters in length. The female is slightly larger than the males and is 8 millimeters long. They are distinguished by the presence of a heart-shaped head with a depression at the back of the head. Such individuals are most common in European countries and Siberia.

They are engaged in the construction of anthills inside old trees and stumps. Chewed wood is used as a building material, which when mixed with saliva becomes a sticky substance.

The colony of the family contains several fertile females. The young queen carries out the process of creating a family through social parasitism, climbing into the nest of a similar type of arthropod, destroying the queen and taking her place. Working representatives of the clan provide her with care and feed the larvae. As a result, the family is gradually colonized by odorous representatives, and the enslaved ants die.

Smelly black ants received their name because of special glands that are capable of releasing a specific odor, thanks to which arthropods can communicate with each other, transmitting a signal of danger, the need for help, and notifying about the location of food.

Chemicals

Also on the market you can find a huge assortment of baits, ant traps in the form of gels, powders, and pencils. Such traps are placed on ant paths, after which the colony is destroyed.

It is worth noting the options for toxic substances in the form of sprays. But here you need to be very careful; before the procedure you should wear gloves, goggles and a respirator. These measures will protect you from poisoning. It is also necessary to empty the house of its inhabitants, including pets. Dishes are put away in closed cabinets; it is better to cover furniture. After which you can begin processing. The room is left closed for several hours, and if possible, for several days. After this, be sure to ventilate the room for 2-3 hours. After which you should do wet cleaning. Particular attention should be paid to places where hands touch.

The most popular mosquito spray for many years has been Dichlorvos. But caution in handling this toxic drug should not be neglected, as this can lead to serious consequences.

Technical news

It is also proposed to use a device - an ultrasonic repeller, which is designed to repel most insects, including rats and mice.

But so far the effectiveness of this device is in doubt, since there are reviews of people for whom the repeller helped solve the problem, and there are also those for whom the purchase of the device was in vain.

Disinsection service

But still, the ideal option is to call a special service that will destroy the entire colony of ants along with the queen. The pest control service is not a waste of money - they are professionals who know how and with what methods and drugs to defeat this scourge, and do it in the shortest possible time. Here you need to keep in mind that very toxic substances may be used, and you will have to leave the house for 1-2 days at the time of treatment.

Ants in a wooden house are as diligent in seizing territory as they are in their work, and if they have settled in the house, they will not leave of their own free will, so you need to act immediately and drive them out.

Black wood borer - distinctive features

Black wood borers are large representatives of the genus that are found throughout the world in coniferous and mixed forests. The body is black with a shiny tint. Soldiers have a body length of approximately 15 millimeters. Anthills are built in old trees and stumps.

It should be noted that this genus is included in the Red Book and is under legislative protection. Black wood borers are quite useful insects for the forest, as they clean it and loosen the soil.