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 QUESTIONS ABOUT CARPENTER ANTS & TREATMENT

• How does Bugaboo Pest Control eliminate carpenter ants?

• $$$ How much does it cost to get rid of my ants?

          Carpenter Ant Treatment Prices

            Little Tiny Ant Treatment Prices

            Termite Treatment Prices

• Are your products and procedures safe for my pets and children?

• Do I have to vacate?

• More carpenter ant information

Carpenter Ants are a problem to humans because of their habit of nesting in houses. They do not eat wood, but they remove quantities of it to expand their nesting facilities. This can result in damage to buildings and, if the main structural beams are hollowed out, can result in an unsafe condition.

Most Carpenter Ant species establish their initial nest in decayed wood, but, once established, the ants extend their tunneling into sound wood and can do considerable damage to a structure. However, this damage occurs over 3 or more years since the initial colony consists of a single queen. Workers are produced at a slow rate, so that a colony consisting of 200 to 300 workers is at least 2 to 4 years old. Most problems in Washington and Oregon caused by Carpenter Ants are due to Camponotus modoc. This species commonly nests in standing trees (living or dead), in stumps, or in logs on the forest floor. Since many houses are being built in forested areas, well established, vigorous colonies are readily available in the immediate vicinity to attack these dwellings. This is especially true when the homeowner insists that the home be built with a minimal removal of trees.

Carpenter Ants typically have a parent colony in outside nesting areas, such as live or dead trees, stumps, logs or decorative landscape wood.  When the colony grows larger and needs room to expand or the old nest becomes less suitable, they expand to form satellite colonies. These satellite colonies are placed in nearby structures presumably because the heated, protective structures are more conducive for the older stages. 

The parent colony contains the queen, young larvae and workers, while the satellite contains the mature larvae, pupae, workers, and/or winged reproductives. The ants move back and forth from parent nest to satellite nest to feeding areas (in nearby evergreen trees and shrubs such as Douglas fir, true fir and cedar). Sometimes they can be seen carrying mature larvae (white and grub-like) or pupae (papery cocoons).

Ants are generally active along ant trails in western Washington from April to mid-October.

The ants usually maintain a trail between the parent and satellite colonies. These trails follow natural contours and lines of least resistance and also frequently cut across lawns. The trails are about 2 cm. wide, and the ants keep them clean of vegetation and debris. Traffic on these trails may be noticeable during the day, but peak traffic occurs after sunset and continues throughout the night, sharply decreasing before sunrise.

The parent colony is often located in a tree, stump, or in stacked wood within 100 meters of the house. Wood and stumps buried in the yard when the house was constructed or numerous stumps and decorative wood pieces brought in to enhance the beauty of a yard or driveway may also be the source of a parent colony. The colony does not produce reproductives (winged males and queens) until it is from 3 to 6 years old and contains about 2,000 workers. The natural food for these ants consists of insects and other arthropods and sweet exudates from aphids and insects. They are also attracted to other sweet materials such as decaying fruits.

Carpenter Ant Life Cycle

Reproductive ants (winded males and females) leave the nest anytime from early January through June (different colonies leaving at different times). Mating takes place in swarms noted in May (others in June, July, August and September).

Mated queens find a suitable place to live and chew off their wings, excavate a small home and begin laying eggs. Mated queens lay eggs which become workers or queens. Unmated queens or queens which have run out of sperm can produce only males.

By the end of summer either workers have emerged or the larvae from late eggs become dormant. No feeding occurs during the winter months (November, December, January).

The dormant phase ends about mid-January, when the queen begins laying eggs again.

Large ants that nest above ground in cavities. Cavity (nest) excavation can cause damage when it occurs in our buildings and homes. Carpenter ants are more important as structural pests in temperate climates whereas termites tend to predominate in warmer, more tropical regions. These ants are scavengers so must forage outside the nest for food. They do not eat wood. For additional information about carpenter ant biology and control options download bulletin EC 627 (see above).

More carpenter ant information: Carpenter ants are important in the balance of nature because they burrow and nest in dead trees and enhance decay of the wood. They achieve pest status when a colony invades and damages the integrity of the wood within a house. This fact sheet will explain how the biology and behavior of carpenter ants relate to control strategies when a homeowner is faced with this problem.

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Description and Habits: The black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, is the most common carpenter ant species in Nebraska. Foraging workers are 1/4 inch to 5/8 inch and black in color. Another species, the rust-colored carpenter ant, Camponotus ferrugineus, is a bit smaller and has a reddish-orange thorax with a black head and abdomen. The most diagnostic characteristic of all carpenter ants is they have a one-segmented pedicel (the segment between the thorax and the abdomen). The profile of the thorax is evenly rounded and not bumpy.

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Most carpenter ant workers are polymorphic—which means they are different sizes. Entomologist refer to larger workers as "major" workers and the smaller workers as "minor" workers. Each colony has at least one "queen," the reproductive member that produces all additional members of the colony. There may be more than one queen in a colony.

SWARMING ANTS WITH WINGS

When a colony gets very large (six- to ten-years-old and has more than 2000 workers), it may produce winged reproductives, called swarmers. They are often produced during the summertime and may overwinter in the colony. In our local area, we have people reporting swarms of black carpenter ants in May and June. The males often emerge first and are smaller than the females.

After mating, a single queen seeks out a suitable nesting site and lays only a few eggs that hatch into maggot-like larvae. She cares for the larvae that become the colony's first workers, forage for food, and feed the young while the queen continues laying eggs.

The diet of carpenter ants is quite varied and includes living and dead insects, honeydew from aphids, sweets, meat, and fats. They do not eat wood. Workers leave the colony in late afternoon or early evening, forage during the night, and return to the colony in the early morning hours.

Carpenter ants carry food back to the nest intact or ingested and later feed it to non-foraging members in the nest. These ants may forage up to 100 yards from the nest to search for food. Carpenter ants may become pests in houses by foraging for food. The greatest concern, however, is they may cause serious damage to wood in the structure. Unlike termites, they do not feed upon wood, but merely use it as a place to nest.

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Carpenter ants construct their nests in hollow trees, logs, posts, landscaping timbers, and wood used in homes and other structures. These ants prefer to infest wood that is moist and rotting, but wood that has been wet previously, may be soft enough to allow carpenter ants to hollow it out and produce a colony. Certain parts of a house such as: Around and under windows, roof eaves, decks, and porches are more likely to be infested by carpenter ants. Refer to the diagram on the back for the most common problem areas of a home.

Carpenter ants will use an old abandoned nest or wood that has been "hollowed out" by termites. Nests may be located in hollow doors or small void areas produced during construction.

Carpenter ants may move from decaying portions of the wood into sound lumber in the process of enlarging the nest. They cut galleries with the grain following the softer parts of the wood. The ants leave harder parts of the wood as walls separating the tunnels and cut openings in these walls to allow access between tunnels. Access to the outside may be through natural openings, or the ants may cut openings where none exist naturally.

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Carpenter ants keep occupied galleries clean. They remove wood in the form of a coarse sawdust-like material, which they push from the nest. This often results in a cone-shaped pile accumulating just below the nest entrance hole. This pile may include, in addition to the wood fragments, other debris from the nest, including bits of soil, dead ants, parts of insects and remnants of other food they ate.

Certain parts of a house are more likely to be infested by carpenter ants. Refer to the following diagram for most common problem areas of a home. 

Click on photos to enlarge

To prevent further carpenter ant infestations, trim all trees and bushes so branches do not touch the house and correct moisture problems such as leaky roofs and plumbing. Paint and/or seal exposed wood construction before it becomes wet. Replace previously ant- or termite-infested wood, rotted, or water-damaged wooden parts of the structure and eliminate wood/soil contacts. Remove dead stumps on the property and store firewood off the ground and away from the structure.

Carpenter ants will not kill living trees, but openings in living trees are attractive to carpenter ants; these openings should be closed. Stacks of firewood and old dead tree stumps also attract carpenter ants. The longer wood remains undisturbed, the more likely it will become infested. It is better to keep on hand only the supply of firewood you plan to use during one heating season. Store the wood off the ground and away from the house. Spraying of firewood to protect it is of little value and is not recommended.

Ant & Termite Treatment Price List

Carpenter Ant treatment price schedule   Call now to get started 503 289-0576    360 695-2847

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How does Bugaboo treat for ants? The key to getting rid of carpenter ants is focus on the colony. The colony (or colonies) can be located in several locations throughout a structure. Our experience enables us to evaluate the overall situation and investigate as to why the situation is there. We take the time to find the source and eliminate it.

WHAT AREAS DO YOU TREAT? Since carpenter ants can live in many locations, it is important to treat comprehensively.

12 Point Treatment Guide

The areas we treat differ between carpenter ants and other little tiny ants.  But in either case, our objective is to kill off all colonies in and around the structure. Therefore, in many cases our focus will be on the most likely areas where ants build their nests.  For example, many homes in our area have crawl spaces. This is prime location where ants nest. Also, areas nearby the structure such as trees, landscaping wood, fences, should be treated. Basically, any place where there is earth to wood contact, it should be treated. Generally speaking, we treat the interior, exterior, crawl space area, and outside such as trees, landscaping wood, decks, and fences.

TREATING WALL VOIDS

Drilling and injecting material into the wall voids is a common practice in the industry for the treatment of ants.

While we still use that method as a part of our procedure, we do not always find it practical to do so in every instance. Materials such as "Hardy Plank" and other concrete fiber siding may have their warranties void by drilling holes into them. This procedure should always be carefully evaluated by a technician before proceeding.

At times specific areas such as know infestations around doors and window may require a wall void injection. We have found that exterior treatments with Termidor  and Phantom  eliminates colonies inside the structure without performing a wall void injection procedure. Termidor is a non-repellent material that ants cannot detect. Consequently, they track it back to their nests. Within a few days, the colony is obliterated. Fipronil is the active ingredient in FRONTLINE® flea treatment for cats and dogs.  When insects come into contact with this product, they have not only contaminated themselves but their friends back home.  Once contaminated, ants stop grooming themselves and attending the colony. Consequently the colony dies of neglect.

Or you might say it's; "ants on meth". Healthy ants work hard and are productive members of their society. But ants on drugs (or fipronil) are a real menace. They infect each other, without the smallest of concern of what they have done. 

Ants are into sharing. When you see ants walking around, they don't seem to pay much attention to each other. But back in the colony, it's a different story. You might say they on the "friends and family plan". They are touchy feely and contaminate each other in the process.

WHAT TYPE OF MATERIAL DO YOU USE TO TREAT WITH?

TOTALLY POISON FREE programs are available for our customers who prefer them. Click here for details as to what is meant by totally poison free and what the costs are. But most of our customers prefer to go with a middle of the road approach. By this we mean, while it may not be considered 100% poison free, it is very low in toxicity, it has no toxic fumes, and people do not need to vacate their residents. These chemical used for this are as follows:

TERMIDOR We use a Varity of non or low toxic materials that are non-hazardous to humans and pets. One such product that has proven to be very affective is "TERMIDOR" with its active ingredient Fipronil.  Unlike conventional pesticides, Termidor is a non-repellent material that ants cannot detect. Consequently, they track it back to their nests. Within a few days, the colony is obliterated.

diatomaceous  earth  Another all natural product we use on occasion is diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous earth is the fossilized remains of tiny, one-celled organisms called diatoms. It comes from ground up crustaceans on the sea bed. It kills insects by scratching their waxy outer covering and causing them to dehydrate. This product is is not a poison. When insects come into contact with diatomaceous earth, the sharp edges lacerate the bugs' waxy exoskeleton and then the powdery absorbs their body fluids causing death from dehydration.

Recently we have been using a new dust material called Alpine (See label). As noted on the label, Alpine carries a "CAUTION" label. This product consist of 95% diatomaceous earth and 5% Dinotefuran, [Active ingredient in flea treatment products] which is non-repellent. This mean it is a "take it back to the nest" material. It works on the same principle as a bait, except ants and termites do not eat it. They simply take it back and spread it throughout the colony. See label for more product information

 PYRETHRUMS Occasionally we use Pyrethrin based products in the a crawl space area. We do this by means of a “Thermo-Fogging” machine. The “Thermo-Fogger” uses a mixture containing deodorized mineral spirits and Pyrethrin. We usually hook up our machine to the outside foundation vents and fog the entire crawl space. Because the fog is heated, it rises upward, penetrating underneath the insulation.

BAITS  We also use baits. Baits are not very affective on carpenter ants, but work well on little tiny ants in combination of a non-repellant material.  By means of this system, we inject baits into strategic locations that your ant will love to death.  We accomplish this without yucky sprays or toxic bombs.  We have special injection tools that put this material out of you way (Under sinks near plumbing, inside wall voids, under dishwasher, etc.) When an ant finds this material he ingests much more than he personally consumes.  As he (it) takes it back it marks his trail with a pheromone which signals his fellow workers "Hey follow this trail and you'll find good food".  Consequently the unsuspecting colony becomes contaminated and passes away on to ant heaven.  (assuming that they were good little ants). One such bait is "Albert's Gel Bait Syringe" /  A thick no-drip formula for easy baiting of sugar ants. This syringe loaded material controls sugar feeding ants – The active ingredient is 1% Boric Acid    The Inert Ingredients is a sugary attractant that ants can’t resist. Uncle Albert's is 100% effective and the unique. It is non-hazardous with a delayed kill formula is a great advantage for elimination of entire ant colonies.   Ants take it back to the nest and infect the entire colony! See label for more information  See MSDS

HOW SAFE ARE THESE PRODUCTS?

While we strive to use the safest products available, we realize that all chemicals potentially pose a threat to some degree. That is why caution is always needed, even with the most conscientiously environmental  designed products. Many people are surprised to learn that many over the counter products such as Raid® pose hazards to some people.   The products we use are the lowest in toxicity available.

DO WE NEED TO LEAVE OUR HOME?

Since we strife to use very safe products and methods, you do not usually need to leave your home during treatment.  However, some have preferred to do so when we perform the our crawl space treatment, when we use our “Thermo-Fogging” machine. The “Thermo-Fogger” consists of a mixture containing deodorized mineral spirits and natural Pyrethrin based material. Because the fog is heated, it rises upward, penetrating underneath the insulation, where insects nest hide. Occasionally, a small amount of the material can rise up into the living space areas. Therefore it is preferable for the people to leave for a few hours. However, It is not always necessary to use this procedure.

Do you need to make repeated visits?

Not usually. In most cases one visit will eliminate your pest problem. However, we do guarantee so if for some reason we need to return, there is no charge for repeat visits during the guarantee period.