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This is the third infestation of carpenter ants that I have had. Is there anyway for me to treat them without paying an exterminator? I don't care if the solution is organic or not I just want them gone.
Lisa
The exterminator will usually treat the house and the nest in the house ---may even treat the perimeter of the house -- but the real issue is finding the colony that has the queen. You have to try to locate that and then spray it with something acceptable for Carpenter Ants. Look in openings in trees (won't kill the tree but just use the opening so look in live and dead trees) and also in stumps. After you take care of that - make sure no dampness or leaks and pull back mulch etc. from your perimeter. My experience has been that the exterminator usually comes and does the indoor/outside work to treat the insects that are found, but does little or nothing to locate the colony(ies) and so the problem is really not solved.
Lisa;
I worked as an exterminator for a few years quite some time ago, and this is the way it's supposed to be done. Typically they come into the house via tree branches that touch the house. Not always,
but that's the best place to start looking for them. You'll need to track them back to their colony. I've never known of them to colonize the house. It's virtually always a tree somewhere fairly near the house. In tracking them you may have to follow their line through the mulch or rocks around the house. It's not always an easy process, thus the expense when you call an exterminator. Once you find the colony, you can use most any decent insecticide to kill them, they aren't very resilient. You'll typically find them in the crotch of a tree and if you pour the insecticide into the opening they are using, you usually get the queen. Once she's gone, you're good to go.
Thanks for the info. I actually applied an insecticide in the gaps around the inside if the window. I used a 50cc syringe so I could really deyt the poison up in there. Anyway I got a small swarm and I just started seeing some more today so I sprayed some more. They are walking across my wisteria vine that is going up a tree so that will need to be cut. I know, I know... This time I think I got them before they got really established in the house.
Desertpirate-you live in a really beautiful part of CA, when Iwas a kid we would go down there and spend weekends
Thanks,
Lisa.
Randy,
That's funny. I was born in L.A., grew up in the San Fernando Valley got married and moved to TX. We are N.W. of Austin, at least you understand the challenges with bugs that people who live in Tx. deal with. I won't have to kill the wisteria just cut the branch that is going up the tree. I'm getting some crazy type of pleasure shooting the few I see with the 50cc syringe full of insecticide (I must have some unresolved issues!).
Thanks,
Lisa
