Oct 21, 2011 – Ants Like It Cozy Too
QUESTION:
I would like to know what is the best way to eliminate carpenter ants inside in the winter, or can you? Thank you.
ANSWER:
Ants are tough adversaries no matter what kind and when and where they occur. Pity poor Florida, as this state seems to be the testing ground for every new pest that enters North America, and they are still dealing with the recently introduced Crazy Ants. Carpenter ants come into structures for a couple of reasons - in warm weather they look for drier places to be for their late stage larvae and their pupae, so they may relocate to voids within structures and bring these offspring with them. They also may relocate to drier places once winter weather hits. Since the ant colony does not really go dormant, although in cold climates the activity really slows down, they need to survive harsh weather. One of our top industry experts on carpenter ants states that nearly all of the time you find these structural colonies they will be "satellite" or secondary colonies that still are part of a primary or parent colony that is most likely outdoors within some wood. This commonly will be old root systems or buried wood in the soil, but could be a rotting log or tree trunk, landscape timbers, etc.
Now, once the really nasty weather hits there probably is not going to be much travel between the structural colony and the parent colony, and there also is always that chance that the colony in the home is NOT part of another colony. But, the adult insects are still active inside and probably getting pretty darned hungry, since they tend to live off fat stores in their bodies through the winter months. Outside there is not going to be anything for them to eat - honeydew, other insects - but inside they may continue to forage. So, baits could be one excellent option for indoor winter ants. Carpenter ants seem to readily take granular baits, and these could be placed within wall voids or other places where the ants will find them but occupants won't.
Carpenter ants are nocturnal, so if they do come out inside to forage it probably is at night, limiting the times the homeowners may see them, but knowing where they are trailing will be useful in control. You could use a non-repellent that has a good transfer effect along trail routes indoors, and sometimes even a microencapsulated product works well because the particles stick to the ants. Locating the exact location of the indoor nest is ideal, because this allows you to find a way to inject insecticide directly into that nest, whether it be an existing void like a wall void or a space under some attic insulation, or a cavity the ants themselves have created. If they are excavating the wood they should be pushing out the debris, so ask the homeowners if and where they are finding any little accumulations of sawdust or bits of insects or other debris of unknown origin. Directly above that point should be where the ants are located. You may have to drill through a wall, but could do so discreetly, and then inject dust or aerosol into that cavity inside, or use a void injector fogger to fog a residual insecticide into the nest.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I would like to know what is the best way to eliminate carpenter ants inside in the winter, or can you? Thank you.
ANSWER:
Ants are tough adversaries no matter what kind and when and where they occur. Pity poor Florida, as this state seems to be the testing ground for every new pest that enters North America, and they are still dealing with the recently introduced Crazy Ants. Carpenter ants come into structures for a couple of reasons - in warm weather they look for drier places to be for their late stage larvae and their pupae, so they may relocate to voids within structures and bring these offspring with them. They also may relocate to drier places once winter weather hits. Since the ant colony does not really go dormant, although in cold climates the activity really slows down, they need to survive harsh weather. One of our top industry experts on carpenter ants states that nearly all of the time you find these structural colonies they will be "satellite" or secondary colonies that still are part of a primary or parent colony that is most likely outdoors within some wood. This commonly will be old root systems or buried wood in the soil, but could be a rotting log or tree trunk, landscape timbers, etc.
Now, once the really nasty weather hits there probably is not going to be much travel between the structural colony and the parent colony, and there also is always that chance that the colony in the home is NOT part of another colony. But, the adult insects are still active inside and probably getting pretty darned hungry, since they tend to live off fat stores in their bodies through the winter months. Outside there is not going to be anything for them to eat - honeydew, other insects - but inside they may continue to forage. So, baits could be one excellent option for indoor winter ants. Carpenter ants seem to readily take granular baits, and these could be placed within wall voids or other places where the ants will find them but occupants won't.
Carpenter ants are nocturnal, so if they do come out inside to forage it probably is at night, limiting the times the homeowners may see them, but knowing where they are trailing will be useful in control. You could use a non-repellent that has a good transfer effect along trail routes indoors, and sometimes even a microencapsulated product works well because the particles stick to the ants. Locating the exact location of the indoor nest is ideal, because this allows you to find a way to inject insecticide directly into that nest, whether it be an existing void like a wall void or a space under some attic insulation, or a cavity the ants themselves have created. If they are excavating the wood they should be pushing out the debris, so ask the homeowners if and where they are finding any little accumulations of sawdust or bits of insects or other debris of unknown origin. Directly above that point should be where the ants are located. You may have to drill through a wall, but could do so discreetly, and then inject dust or aerosol into that cavity inside, or use a void injector fogger to fog a residual insecticide into the nest.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
