Carpenter Ant Prevention Tips

Well we have finally had our first 60 degree day of the year. Can you believe it was on the first day of spring? Any day now CarpenterAnts will be out in full force. It has been a long winter and these Pest will be ready to forage for food. Carpenter Ants search for food just like any other Ant, they do not eat wood. They are Carpenters so they build and excavate. This is how they got their name. As the Queen Ant lays more and more eggs and the colony grows, there is a need for more room. Carpenter Ants will damage wood by hollowing it out. Carpenter Ant Nests and Galleys have a very smooth, clean and sand papered finish. Carpenter Ants prefer a moist and humid home but it is not uncommon to see them nesting in the attic or in the walls. Wet areas are easier to tunnel. The most common areas are between the front door stoop, window frames, low siding, door frames and exterior decking.If you see Ants on the inside it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a nest inside. The nest maybe outside in a dead tree at the edge of you property. Remember Carpenter Ants need to forage for food. The best advice to help control Carpenter Ants After killing the colony are lowering the appeal of your home or business for a nesting site.

These tips will help to keep Carpenter Ants out of a building:

• Remember Carpenter Ants love moisture. Improve drainage around the building.
• Keep Leaves raked up. They keep the soil moist.
• Replace mulch yearly, don't just cover the old. Inspect the new mulch, many a Carpenter Ant Nest have been moved in this way.
• Keep vegetation from touching the building. This includes trees, bushes and shrubs. They make a nice bridge into the home.
• Seal of as many openings that you can find. These can be cracks in the foundation, window and door frames, gaps between the foundation and siding, around front and back doors stoops and where pipes and electrical enter.
• Soil to wood contact is not good. Make sure planters are not raised all the way to the siding.
• Keep your firewood off the ground on a platform that is not made out of wood. Store firewood away from the building. Inspect all firewood before bringing it indoors.
• If you keep having Ants on the inside and can’t locate the nest, try to follow an Ant. Hopefully that ant and its nest mates will lead you to their home.
• Limit access to the food that Carpenter Ants are looking for. Dropped food from kids and pets, open food on the counters, full interior trash cans, crumbs under the refrigerator or oven, drips of toothpaste in the bathroom and always pick up the pets dish at night.
• You may not even see the full extent of the problem since Carpenter Ants are very much active at night.