Carpenter ants get their name from the way they destroy the wood that makes up your house and furniture. These ants do not eat wood as termites do. They chew and excrete it to create paths for themselves and other ants.
You can identify these ants by the appearance of random mounds of particles that resemble wood shavings. Here are some tips to get rid of carpenter ants if you’re seeing these tiny organisms crawling around your house.
Make a Bait
To locate the nest, make a bait. Setting out bait for the ants to take back to the nest will allow you to locate the nest simply by watching them. The ants are drawn to sweets, so a small amount of jam or jelly will be enough. You can combine equal parts sugar and baking soda in a shallow dish for the bait. The ants will be drawn to the sugar but will be naturally killed by baking soda.
Remove the Scent Trails
Carpenter ants use pheromone trails to find food and to travel. You can wipe clean surfaces with a cotton ball or a clean cloth soaked in essential oils like tea tree, lemon, orange, or cedarwood to stop these trails.
Destroy the Nest
After you have found the nest, you can use the following products to kill the ants or to stop them from finding food:
- Dishwashing Liquid
A simple and successful way to get rid of carpenter ants is to use liquid dish soap. Since ants breathe through their skin, suffocating them with a solution of water and dish soap works well.
- Boric Acid
Boric acid is an odorless, white powder. It has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral effects. The dry powder sticks to the exoskeleton of the ants, and when they groom their legs and ingest the boric acid, it acts as a stomach toxin, killing them.
- Peppermint Essential Oil
Peppermint essential oil is a natural insect repellent that keeps ants away from your home. When ants enter your home in search of food and water, they leave a scent trail so that other ants can find them. The peppermint oil’s strong aroma interferes with their ability to follow the path and prevents them from smelling any food sources.
- Diatomaceous Earth
It is a well-known natural insecticide made from crushed algal fossils. The exoskeleton of ants that come into touch with this abrasive material is damaged, and they die as a result. DE should be applied to ant issue areas and, if possible, directly to their nest. Carpenter ants are particularly susceptible to diatomaceous Earth, and they frequently die due to their consumption.
If everything else fails and these natural home remedies don’t successfully clear your home of these ants, you may need to get pest control services to get rid of them.
Contact a pest control company in your area. If you don’t have a pest control company near you, contact Top Line Pest Control today! Give us a call at +1 (604) 551-6504 or visit Topline Pest Control to schedule a meeting.
