Carpenter Ants

The accompanying image is of the black carpenter ant “Camponotus pennsylvanicus”. It is the largest and most common carpenter ant specie found in the Northeast and Central United States including Northeastern Canada. There are numerous carpenter ant species of varying body colors inhabiting wooded and urban areas around the globe. Between 5 to 15% of each colony’s ants forage out great distances, as much as 100 yards from their nests to farm honeydew from plant feeding insects and scavenge for carbohydrates and protein food sources.

             Carpenter ants do not eat wood. They excavate it, usually damp, dead, decaying and dying trees and their limbs to create safe defensible nest habitats for their queens, brood, and colony members. They excavate passageways and galleries in many cases leaving visible telltale sawdust in appearance wood shavings as evidence. In natural wooded areas they are very much a part of nature’s recycle process. When they mistakenly excavate our homes and structures it becomes a big problem. Carpenter ants create main nests capable of housing thousands of inhabitants over time They also create several satellite nests separate from their main nests stemming out in all directions as likened to spokes in a wheel. Should the main nest and its Queen be destroyed, the satellite nests ensure the colony’s survival. Therefore, in most cases conventional ant control methods are ineffective. It may seem at first that the carpenter ant problem has been dealt with. But given time the surviving ants consolidate and regenerate. After a while they reappear, frequently in greater numbers than before.

           Carpenter ant foragers like other ant species activate, feed, and recruit additional ants to the AntPro dispensers filling their social stomachs with enough bait to feed up to twelve other ants when they return to the main nest including its satellite nests to feed their colony members by regurgitation. In this way, the liquid ant bait toxicant performs as a Trojan horse passed among the colony’s members; thus, destroying the entire colony and its inhabitants from within. Because of the low toxicity of the liquid ant bait the foraging workers depending on distance to the dispensers can make repeated trips to feed the colony’s members without identifying the bait’s destructive capabilities before they unknowingly succumb to its toxicant.

          Concerned there may be nests situated in your home? Perform a home exterior carpenter inspection. Preferably, early morning before dawn, inspect the exterior of your home and attached wood surfaces such as porches and decks with a bright flashlight to look for carpenter ant activity. Early morning is the best time because returning carpenter ants have a tendency to loiter just prior to the first light of dawn near where their entry access site is located. Follow a specific inspection pattern. Begin by exiting through a particular door and completely inspect the exterior base, window frames and up around the eaves. Do not allow trees to overhang and touch your home because they can provide a conduit for ants leaving and returning to their nests. If you discover ants milling about make a mental note of it and move on continuing your inspection until you reach the very same door you exited from. Never, when you first find ant activity conclude your inspection until you reach the door you exited and began your inspection from.

          Sometimes times people say "I’m pretty sure I have carpenter ants so why should I bother to do the walkabout inspection?" Peace of mind. A few weeks after you deploy the AntPro insect activated bait dispensing system you can do that very same walkabout inspection.

It is very important to be patient when using AntPro, with a low toxic ant bait. Give it time for the active ingredient to be fully distributed throughout the colony, or colonies. Do not under any circumstances try to use other insecticides while the baiting process is ongoing. It will only serve to alarm the colony and interrupt their feeding. Give the ant bait time to work and there will be full ant colony elimination.

After the colony has been eliminated, keep AntPro insect activated liquid ant bait stations in place around the exterior perimeter of your home and or property to keep future carpenter and other ant infestations from occurring.