Kill Carpenter Ants
A Few Tips On How To Kill Carpenter Ants
The issue is clear, as the sawdust piles grow higher and the faint brushing sounds within the walls seem to get louder every day, and you wonder if you need to kill carpenter ants. Most people go directly to the termite theory when experiencing these noises and signs, but there is a distinct difference between the habits of carpenter ants and those of termites. Termites eat the wood that they embed in, while carpenter ant do not. Both are completely destructive and absolutely cannot be permitted to stay.
It can be quite challenging to kill carpenter ants, as the heart of the nest is so rarely found. There are effective methods for a slow, chemical poisoning through perpetual liquid feeders, but the danger with this lies in the placement of the feed trap. They can be pricey, but it is recommended that you place at least three of them in areas where ants have either been seen, or where they have left deposits of waste. The idea is to arouse the pheromone release to worker ants in the proximity, who will then spread the word through this advanced hormonal communication tactic. If the feeding goes well, the ants will begin to drop off at an acceptable pace, staying ahead of the queen ant’s instinct to double up on her egg laying pace when the colony is under distress.
Pesticide sprays are not generally effective when used to kill carpenter ants. The reason for this hits back on the afore mentioned issue of the queen’s instinct for issuing a greater number of eggs when the colony is getting smaller. Killing the carpenter ants one by one, without giving them the opportunity to alert more ants of a food source could cause an over breeding frenzy within the confines of the secret dwelling. For that one ant who didn’t return, the queen could lay upwards of ten replacement eggs. This is an issue.
Most professional exterminators will not openly spray the premises of an infestation site without a clear shot at the heart of the colony, for the same reason. The only ways to kill carpenter ants efficiently is to offer a consistent source of poison, or to extinguish them all at once.
There are also a few theories about hitting the carpenter ant where it hurts the most, this being their dependence on the aphid as a food source. These ants actually forage, up to 300 yards from the nesting site, for baby aphids to abduct and bring back to specialized nursery cells. They then feed, groom, nourish, and raise the aphids in return for the secretion of honeydew that only the aphid can make. Some feel that by killing the aphids, they can kill the carpenter ants. The theory is hard to prove, however, as spraying a 300 yards radius could prove extremely expensive.