carpenter ants

Kayteg1 wrote:
I had huge ants infestation in one of my homes and the over the counter poisons were garbage.
The "2 years protection" poison would kill ant that were directly sprayed, but 20 minutes later new ants walk over it.
For good poison you need to have licence, or hire licences guy.
That said, I discovered the same thing homedad did.
Ants don't live in the house - they live in nests in the yard and come to the house for feeding.
Meaning if you park the motorhome elsewhere, they will be gone.
Can't officially recommend poison that work well on in-ground nest, but gasoline is way cheaper than the cheapest poison you can buy.

Some types of ants will establish nests indoors. There was a nest of odiferous ants on top of my dishwasher. (Yes, I finally got rid of them!) I use Amdro granules outside all the way around the foundation of the house, replacing them every 2 months. And at the FIRST sign of an ant inside, I get the ant bait out.

JoeTampa wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Go to the drug store and pick up a bottle of boric acid. Mix it in boiling water with as much sugar as you can dissolve to create a thick syrup. Spread this syrup around where ANY ants are and let it sit for a few days. The ants take it back to their nests and in a short time they are all dead. This does not smell and is basically non-poisonous but I would not let any pets lick it up as it could cause some discomfort. This works on any type of ants.

Anyone have an exact recipe that has worked for them? How much water, how much boric acid, how much sugar, etc?

At least equal parts water and sugar, by volume. You may be able to get more sugar to dissolve than that, if you are patient.

Use 1 teaspoon of boric acid per cup of water. If you use too much, the ants may not eat the bait, or the boric acid will kill them immediately and they won't take it back to the nest.

Some people soak cotton balls in this mixture to use it, which keeps it from running everywhere. And obviously you have to replace it when washed away by rain.

You may see MORE ants for a couple of weeks, and you need to keep using the bait for at least a couple of weeks after you don't see any.

I got these recommendations from the UT Agricultural Extension web site, a few years ago. Don't know if the info is still on there or not.

I had huge ants infestation in one of my homes and the over the counter poisons were garbage.
The "2 years protection" poison would kill ant that were directly sprayed, but 20 minutes later new ants walk over it.
For good poison you need to have licence, or hire licences guy.
That said, I discovered the same thing homedad did.
Ants don't live in the house - they live in nests in the yard and come to the house for feeding.
Meaning if you park the motorhome elsewhere, they will be gone.
Can't officially recommend poison that work well on in-ground nest, but gasoline is way cheaper than the cheapest poison you can buy.

I spray the inside edges with home defense they hate that stuff

http://www.terro.com/store/ants?area_to_protect=122_45

Terro products work great. If you go that route make sure the one you pick is for indoor use and also for carpenter ants.

I never had the Carpenter Ants, but for the small sugar ant we used Borax and Sugar on their trail. In less than a week they were gone. As a suggestion, carry some granular or spray poison with you. Spray it around the RV and on anything that would lead up to the RV (electric cord around tires, jacks) so you can minimize entry where ever you go. Especially if you will be longer than 1 night.

JoeTampa wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Go to the drug store and pick up a bottle of boric acid. Mix it in boiling water with as much sugar as you can dissolve to create a thick syrup. Spread this syrup around where ANY ants are and let it sit for a few days. The ants take it back to their nests and in a short time they are all dead. This does not smell and is basically non-poisonous but I would not let any pets lick it up as it could cause some discomfort. This works on any type of ants.

Anyone have an exact recipe that has worked for them? How much water, how much boric acid, how much sugar, etc?

I try to use a 50-50 mixture of boric acid and sugar. Then you add boiling water until you dissolve the sugar and end up with a syrup.
The exact amounts depend on how much you want to mix to have enough to spread around the house.
Boric acid is also mixed with water as an eye wash for humans.
The good thing about using this for ants is that you do not need to find their nest. As long as you put it by their path, they will start taking it back to their nest themselves. They will even alert the other ants so they can all get some of this "treat". It only takes a few days and you will not see any more activity around your syrup. When that happens, all of the ants are dead, including the main nests.

Look for their source. I had them all over my RV one year and I tore into everything looking for a leak. I found that they were coming from a pile of wood waiting to be split next to my RV. As I was splitting I found entire colonies of them in the dead wood. I've had them in a house I was remodeling. There was a leak above a window and when I pulled the tape balance out of the jamb thousands poured out. They seek out wet wood normally.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Go to the drug store and pick up a bottle of boric acid. Mix it in boiling water with as much sugar as you can dissolve to create a thick syrup. Spread this syrup around where ANY ants are and let it sit for a few days. The ants take it back to their nests and in a short time they are all dead. This does not smell and is basically non-poisonous but I would not let any pets lick it up as it could cause some discomfort. This works on any type of ants.

Anyone have an exact recipe that has worked for them? How much water, how much boric acid, how much sugar, etc?

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Go to the drug store and pick up a bottle of boric acid. Mix it in boiling water with as much sugar as you can dissolve to create a thick syrup. Spread this syrup around where ANY ants are and let it sit for a few days. The ants take it back to their nests and in a short time they are all dead. This does not smell and is basically non-poisonous but I would not let any pets lick it up as it could cause some discomfort. This works on any type of ants.

X2, this is a great home made carpenter ant remedy. We live in the woods in MD and we have carpenter ants like I have never seen. Every Spring and fall they start looking for satellite nests (house, MH, etc) They can destroy a house quicker than termites. I make this concoction as described above and they are gone in a few days. The boric acid kills them slowly and the sugar makes it taste like food so they take it back to the nest. Put it in places where you see the most activity and make sure they "like" it. You'll see them pick it up and carry it. That's what you want.