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Having ants in the house is not so good. There is a high chance that almost every home houses carpenter ants, and this is because they can get in and out very quickly as there are many penetrations.

There are seams at foundations and siding of woods in most homes and buildings, creating passages for ant penetration. Carpenter ants live in colonies between Hundreds to Millions and usually in a hidden nest. They also establish their nest in wet woods or damp woods. Carpenter ants get their name from their home and structure, where they would excavate the wood and create smooth passages within the wood. They do not eat wood, and they only bite through the wood to create channels to make homes.

HOW TO CONTROL CARPENTER ANTS

When carpenter ants are established in a house, control measures are necessary to dispose of them. The selection of specific control measures that all give the best results relies upon their colony’s circumstances. For this reason, time would be very much spent in observing their means of access to the house and the location of their main runways before deciding which control measure is suitable. Measures that control carpenter ants infestation are explained below;

BAITS

Boric acid can be used as poisoned bait to control ants. It could be a dry powder or a liquid solution for insects that contains a food attractant. Boric acid is a stomach poison for carpenter ants and other insects. The dry powder is expected to stick to the ant’s exoskeleton. The ant would ingest the powder when it preps its legs to clear off the powder. The powder type of boric acid is infused into crevices and cracks, where it shapes a layer of residue. At the point when carpenter ants travel through Boric acid residue, borax sticks to their legs. They ingest the toxic substance while grooming, conceivably leading to death.

CONTACT INSECTICIDES AND FUMIGANTS

A viable strategy for control under specific conditions is opening a colony and killing the exposed ants with a contact insecticide applied with a hand sprayer. This technique can be utilized when infested wood is fairly accessible or when a colony must be uncovered so that buildings can be repaired. Treatment should be immediate and exhaustive so none of the insects will get away and become established elsewhere. The following are among the recognizable materials used to kill carpenter ants by contact; carbontetrachloride, fly spray, kerosene, diesel oil, and turpentine. Except for carbontetrachloride, these materials are flammable, and when they are utilized in buildings, particular consideration should be taken to prevent fire. Where provinces in logs and stumps are to be destroyed by burning, diesel oil or a comparative material can frequently be utilized to advantage, not so much to kill the ants by contact as to produce additional warmth to help with the burning process.

TREATING VOIDS

This involves looking out for openings and spaces within the house that could accommodate carpenter ants and taking measures to prevent their infestation. Some of the steps that can be taken to avoid and control them from invading includes;

• Trim tree limbs and branches that could connect their travel to your building.
• Stack firewood should be distanced from your building and higher above the ground.
• Fix moisture problems such as plumbing leaks and ceiling leaks.
• Cover up cracks and openings around the foundation, particularly places where utility pipes and cables enter the house from outside.