Carpenter Ants At Your Home? What You Can Do
Carpenter ants are larger black ants that like to chew through rotting wood such as wood that is rotting on your home or trees that are in your yard that may be rotting. If you have rotting wood, there's a good chance you have carpenter ants. Carpenter ants will chew through the wood and then nest there with their colony. If you see one carpenter ant in your home, you could have a lot more than just one ant. If you have ants in your home, or even around your home, you could have an infestation. Read on for what you can do if you have carpenter ants in or around your home.
Set Traps
Carpenter ants are a lot like other types of ants, but they are going to need different types of traps. Most smaller traps aren't going to work for carpenter ants. Sprinkling diatomaceous earth instead around where you've seen carpenter ants, or wherever you've seen any chewed wood. You can find traps for carpenter ant traps at your local hardware store as well that can be used and set where you've seen these ants. Keep these ant traps fresh by replacing the traps often, and discard dead ants that you see around the traps as well.
Replace Rotting Wood
Replace rotting wood on your home, as this is what carpenter ants are going to be attracted to. If you have rotting wood, you could also have other pests such as termites in your home if you have rotting wood, so it's imperative to replace the rotting wood. Remove the wood and burn the wood, as it can help get rid of ants and termites that may be inside of the wood. If you aren't sure if the wood is rotten, you can knock on it and it will sound hollow. You may also notice holes in the wood or sawdust around the wood.
Cut Down Dead Or Rotting Trees
If you have trees in your yard that have dead branches or where the bark is starting to rot away, you could have a tree that is infested with carpenter ants. These ants can chew through the tree and cause it to die completely. Cut down these trees in your yard to get rid of these and any other pests that may be living inside. Remove the trees from your yard to prevent them from going to your house next.
Carpenter ants are pesky ants that could end up inside your house to nest in the rotting wood of your home. Make necessary repairs, remove dead trees or wood outside of your home and call a pest control company for ant removal.