What to Expect From Carpenter Ants and other Ant Treatments

Written by Don Forbes - Owner of JEB Pest Control 231-582-0170

They are the big black ants that you see running around. They will vary in size but are usually larger than a 1/4 inch, they are Carpenter Ants, so deny it no longer. Sometimes different varieties have red segments on one or more of their three body parts.

Many people are surprised to find that they have Carpenter Ants in the Winter months. Usually when we get a warm, thawing day as Winter draws toward its end, folks start to see Carpenter Ants and can’t believe they have them at this time of the year. The reason is quite simple; they have a nest in your home and have been there all along . The warming of the home’s structure has released them from their semi-dormant state and they are ready to get going and search for food! Wouldn’t you be if you were cooped up in a nest all winter long? It is way too cold for them to go outside and look for food because they like it 60 degrees or better, so your home will do just fine. Why not, they are living there anyway?

Carpenter Ants do not eat wood as many believe, but they do tear galleries through it to make their nests, so they might as well, the end result is the same. It usually takes them a while to do extensive damage but that doesn’t mean you should be complacent in taking action. Waiting until the weather is conducive for them outside, (60-70 degrees) and the snow is gone, is the best time to treat for them. Treating them with the product Terro until the weather co-operates is what this bug guy suggests. It will usually slow them down, making it tolerable until they can be treated properly. Many have let them go for years by using Terro thinking they are solving the problem because they seemingly go away. If you tried to poison me, I’d go away too. The result is that you are not completely destroying the nest and when the weather gets nice they start doing their feeding on the outside and don’t bother you anymore, especially if you keep a clean house. There is much more food available outside! So, many people have Carpenter Ants in their home and don’t know it because they have "never seen them" and think that they are “going away” when in reality they slow down and continue later when it’s warm.

When Spring and Summer comes they are working at full tilt and walking back and forth to your house from wherever they find food, to and from their main nest that is usually outside in an old stump or tree.  They call the nest in your house a satellite nest, but who cares what they call it, let’s get rid of it!

We treat around the complete perimeter of your home so no ant can approach it without walking through the product. The product is a non-repellant and that means that they cannot tell it is there, so they continue to go about their business until most of the workers have the product on them. It is slow acting so they live long enough to “transfer” the product to all of their friends in the nest. Then, over the course of two to seven days the whole nest is annihilated!!! Sorry ants, should have stayed outside!

There are only two problems that I’ve experienced with this approach to treatment. #1. There are mating ants that have wings. You may have seen them and that’s how you discovered you originally had a problem with ants. These ants come directly from an egg casing and have never been touched by another ant except the outside of the egg casing. When the temperature and humidity is just right, these eggs hatch, the winged ants come out in droves of the otherwise "dead nest", causing a ruckus and making me look bad. The only way to solve this is to vacuum or spray these ants dead, until they stop coming out of the nest, as this is the last living thing left in the nest.                                                          

#2. Like all pesticide treatments, the ant treatment only lasts for a few months, and will not stop new ants from setting up nests after the product wears off. It is unlikely ants will set up again this year, as most of the ants have been killed back in you area by this treatment, but it is possible.

We guarantee our ant treatments for the year that they are applied, but after the Winter and Spring thaw comes again, it’s a whole new ball game and anything can happen.

I didn’t make the Ants, God has seen fit to give me the opportunity to help you control them and for that I am very thankful. God Bless You and we look forward to helping you control those pesky critters.

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