Carpenter Ants Control

Ants are social insects that live in colonies. There are three kinds of ants in a colony: The queen, the female workers, and the males. The queen and the males have wings, while the workers don’t have wings. The queen is the only ant control that can lay eggs. The male ant’s job is to mate with future queen ants and they do not live very long afterward. Once the queen grows to adulthood, she spends the rest of her life laying eggs! Depending on the species, a colony may have one queen or many queens.

Ants may enter your home searching for food and water. They enter through the smallest opening mostly they like sweet base food or protein foods, once they find the food source, ants will leave a pheromone trail for other ants to follow. The most common ants in BC are Carpenter Ants, Pharaoh Ants, Pavement Ants, and Odorous Ants. For the best control, you have to understand their behavior. If you are in doubt about their types, Call TOP LINE PEST CONTROL we will be glad to help you.

Ants are social insects and live in large colonies. There are three types of Ants in a colony, Queen, worker, and male. Queen Ant lays the egg, while worker ants care for the larvae, and forage for food. Ants species differ in the number of Queens per colony. Depending on the species, there may be one queen or many queens in a colony. Ants colony multiply by swarming or budding, they may also extend their colonies by developing the satellite.

The queen and the males have wings, while the workers don’t have wings. The queen is the only ant that can lay eggs. The male ant’s job is to mate with future queen ants and they do not live very long afterward. Once the queen grows to adulthood, she spends the rest of her life laying eggs! Depending on the species, a colony may have one queen or many queens. Ants may enter your home searching for food or water. They enter through the smallest opening mostly they like sweet base food or protein foods, once they find the food source, ants will leave a pheromone trail for other ants to follow. The most common ants in BC are Carpenter Ants, Pharaoh Ants, Pavement Ants, and Odorous Ants. For the best control, you have to understand their behavior.

Carpenter Ants:

Carpenter Ants are the largest ants found in British Columbia. Their color varies from black, brown and light brown depending on the species. Their colonies can live from 3 to 7 years. Carpenter ants are most active in the evening hours searching for food both inside and outside in the house. Carpenter Ants do not eat wood, but they do excavate into the wood to expand their nests.

They can also build nests inside walls without excavating wood. When they chew into the wood, the damage is characterized by smooth galleries that run with the grain of the wood. The main nest is always, a permanently moist area, Particularly where wood is in contact with soil. About 80% of the time. The main nests for Carpenter ant colonies are outdoors, such as in rotting stumps, the heartwood of old trees, in landscape wood. Satellite nests can be inside walls, in ceilings, around roof gutter braces, under roof panels, in hollow doors, window sills and in ceiling insulation.

• Preventive measure for carpenter ants.
• Trim all trees and bushes so branches do not touch the house.
• Control or correct moisture problems such as leaky roofs and plumbing.
• Paint or seal expose wood before it becomes wet.
• Replace water damage, Rotted, and previously Ant infested wood.
• Store firewood above the ground and remove dead stumps from the property.

Read our article about Carpenter Ants.

Preventive Measure for Carpenter Ants:

• Trim all trees and bushes so branches do not touch the house
• Control or correct moisture problems such as leaky roofs and plumbing
• Paint or seal expose wood before it becomes wet
• Replace water damage, Rotted, and previously Ant infested wood
• Store firewood above the ground and remove dead stumps from the property
• Reduce humidity levels in your home by using de-humidifiers

Are Carpenter Ants Dangerous?

Carpenter ants are not dangerous to people, but they are dangerous to the structures of homes and other buildings. A carpenter’s ant infestation can negatively affect the structural integrity of a building.  Damage from carpenter ants can be very time to consume and costly to repair which is why getting help for a carpenter ant infestation sooner rather than later is so important.

Control:

If you see 10 or more carpenter ants in your house at any time of the year it indicates their presence. The presence of carpenter ants indoors between Jan and April may also indicate an indoor nest. The first step in controlling Carpenter Ants is Inspection, to determine if they are located outside and simply foraging inside for food, or if you have a colony or satellite colon inside the home. Once complete inspection and identify nest location next step is to use different methods for control.

1. Baiting
2. Spraying
3. Treating voids. (Foams or Dust)

The final step is to prevent further infestations by ant-proofing your home and yard, by cleaning away rotting trees and lumber piles, fixing plumbing leaks, etc.

Pharaoh Ants Control:

Pharaoh ants are very small and yellow in color. They require heat to survive and reproduce. This species is polygynous, meaning each colony contains many queens, leading to unique caste interactions. This also allows the colony to fragment into bud colonies quickly. Colonies do not display aggression toward each other. Pharaoh ants are a tropical species, but they thrive in buildings almost anywhere. Pharaoh ants have become a serious pest in almost every type of building. They can feed on a wide variety of food including grease, sugary food, and dead insects. They can also gnaw holes in silk, rayon, and rubber goods. Their nest is very small and usually found in wall voids, under floors, or on different types of furniture. Ants Baits are a very successful method to control pharaoh ants.

Pavement Ants:

Pavement ants are dark brown in color. Their nest is in the soil, beneath slabs, patios, sidewalls, and driveways. They always pile soils either on top of or next to pavements. In summer the ants dig out the sand between the pavements to vent their nests. They eat almost anything, including other insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meat, nuts, ice cream, and cheese. They are also a predator of codling moth larvae.

• Preventer measure for Ants control.
• Ensuring there is no available food.
• Clean food debris from under kitchen appliances.
• All garbage bins must tightly be sealed.
• Close all cracks and crevasses in walls and door frames.