Pest Control St. Louis

Carpenter ants are a nuisance by their presence when found in parts of the home such as the kitchen, bathroom, parlor and several quarters. When 20 or more large winged and/or wingless ants are discovered indoors, in the daylight near one location, it is possible that the colony is better established in the home and the nest may have been extended into sound timber, occasionally causing structural damage. They don't eat timber, but often remove quantities of it to expand their nest size. Although, if only one or two large wingless ants are erratically crawling, they might simply be foraging for food with the nest located outside. Outdoors, they are often seen running over plants and tree trunks or living in moist, partly rotten wood stumps. Nonetheless, carpenter ant inquiries rank first over all other household/structural pests in Ohio.

Identification

Carpenter ants are among the largest ants located in homes and reside in colonies containing three castes comprising of winged and wingless queens, winged males and different sized workers. Winged males are much smaller than winged queens. Wingless queens measure 5/8 inch, winged queens 3/4 inch to the tips of their folded brownish wings, small minor workers 1/4 inch and large major workers 1/2 inch. Workers have some brown on them while queens are black. Workers have large heads and a small thorax while adult swarmers have a smaller head and large thorax. Carpenter ants have a smoothly rounded arched (convex) shape up of the thorax when studied from the side and a pedicel between the thorax and stomach consisting of just one segment or node. They have constricted waists, elbowed antennas and the reproductive's forewings are larger than the hindwings, transparent or brownish and not easily taking away. Adults are normally black with some species red, brown or yellow occurring on body parts and legs. Eggs are about 1/8-inch long, cream colored and oval. Larvae are legless and grub-like, later pupating in tough silken, tan-colored cocoons erroneously noted as "ant eggs."

Life Cycle and Habits

Queen Worker

Winged both sexes carpenter ants (swarmers) emerge from mature colonies usually from March to July. After mating, males die and freshly fertilized ladies (mated for all times), set up a new colony in a tiny cavity in wood, under bark, etc. and each lays 15 to 20 eggs in 15 days. The egg stage takes about 24 days, larval stage 21 days and pupal stage 21 days or about 66 days from egg to adult at 70 to 90 degrees F. Cool weather may stretch this period up to 10 months. The colony does not produce swarmers until about three years later. A mature colony, after three to six years, has 2,000 to 4,000 individuals. During the first incubate, larvae are fed entirely by a fluid secreted from the queen's mouth where she does not take food, but uses stored fat reserves and wing muscles for her nourishment. The few workers emerging from the first hatch assume duties of the colony, collecting food, excavating galleries to enlarge the nest and tending the eggs, larvae and pupae of the second generation. Workers regurgitate food for nourishment of the developing larvae and queen. She has few duties except to lay eggs.

In later generations, workers of different sizes are produced (polymorphism) into major and minor workers, that are all sterile ladies. Males formed are winged swarmers. Larger "major" workers guard the nest, battle intruders, explore and forage for food while smaller "minor" workers expand the nest and look after the young. workers, when disturbed, bring off the larvae and pupa, which has to be fed and tended or they die. In a mature colony, there is commonly one queen with 200 to 400 winged individuals produced as swarmers. Workers have strong jaws and readily bite (sharp pinch) when contacted.

Nests are normally established in soft, moist (not wet), decayed timber or often times in an existing timber cavity or void area in a structure that is perfectly dry. Workers cut galleries in the wood, expanding the nest size for the enlarging colony. Galleries are irregular, usually excavated with the timber grain ( now and again across the grain) into softer portions of the wood. The walls of the nest are smooth and clean (sandpapered appearance) with shredded sawdust-like timber fragments, like chewed up toothpicks (frass), carried from the nest and deposited outside. These piles of wood fragments, often found beneath special openings (windows) or nest openings, might comprise portions of insects, empty seed coats, etc.

Carpenter ants do not eat timber but excavate wood galleries to rear their young ants and carry aphids to plants, placing them on leaves for the production of honey dew. The food weight loss program is of great variety (omnivorous) of both plant and animal origin like plant juices, fresh fruits, insects (living or dead), meats, syrup, honey, jelly, sugar, grease, fat, honey dew (aphid excrement), etc. They feed readily on termites and usually never co-exist with them in a home. Workers are known to forage for food as far as 100 yards from their nest.

Control Measures

The most significant and often most hard part of carpenter ant control is locating the nest or nests. Once the nest location is found, control is very easy and simple. Occasionally more than one colony is present in the structure or on its grounds, so a thorough inspection is very important. Steps to a productive inspection include an interview with relatives, inspection indoors, inspection outdoors and sound detection.

Interview

Often children and adults of the residence know where ants are seen, where huge numbers are most prevalent, movement patterns, moisture in the structure, moisture problems of an earlier period, if swarmers were seen, location of sawdust-like material in piles, populations outdoors, etc.

Inspection Indoors

Nests can be found in either moist or dry wood. Nevertheless, carpenter ants prefer to nest in moist wood with a moisture content considerable over 15 percent, often caused by rain, leaks, condensation, etc. Structural wood is about 12 to 15 percent moisture. A moisture meter can find wet places to pinpoint possible nest locations. Inspect behind bathroom tiles, around tubs, showers, sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerator drip pans, etc. Check wood tormented by moisture from contact with the soil like steps, porch supports, siding, seepage from plugged drain gutters, chimney flashing, wooden shingle roofs, hollow porch posts, columns, leaking window and door frames, window boxes, crawl spaces, pipes, poor pitch of porch roofs, flat deck porch roofs, under porches, attics, etc. Occasionally, nests are located in dry environments, like hollow veneer doors, curtain rods, small void areas between the door casing and ceiling, false beams, or under insulating material in attics. Look for damaged timbers, swarmers in spider webs, wood piles indoors, piles of wood debris ejected from the colony (pencil sharpener shaving-like), "windows" or small opening to a nest, etc. Gently tap floor joists, etc. with a hammer. A nest cavity gives a hollow ring. A knife blade will penetrate the wood if infested.

Baiting

Some may make use of tiny piles of sugar at two to three feet intervals around the kitchen, washroom, etc. in attempt to work out where the nest can be found. Others use drops of honey or corn syrup placed on the back of masking tape. Make observations late in the evening, following ants back to their nest entrance.

Flushing Agent

A household aerosol spray, containing pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide, applied directly into crevices, crevices or holes, will excite the ants (repellent action) causing them to come running out exposing the presence of their nest in some cases.

Inspection Outdoors

Search for ants traveling from a tree or stump to the structure. They could travel over tree branches or vines touching the roof, electrical and telephone wires, fences next to the house, piles of firewood, logs, or railroad ties nearby or hollow living trees with entrance knot holes, etc. Workers are busiest in the evening (midnight), traveling from their nest to a food source following trails but no particular trail leading straight to the nest. They do establish chemical (pheromone) trails.

Sound Detection

An engaged colony may produce a different, dry rustling sound ( sometimes loud), much in-line with the crinkling of cellophane. It can be heard in a wall when standing in a room. A listening device, like a stethoscope, may be of use when conditions are quiet and outside noises are at a minimum. Even a cat may hear noises in the home the result of ant mandibles (jaws) not from chewing timber or eating food, but as their form of correspondence, in particular when the colony is disturbed.

Prevention

Homeowners should trim all trees and bushes so branches do not touch or touch the house. Correct moisture problems such as leaking roofs, leaking chimney flashing, or plumbing, poorly vented attics or crawl spaces and blocked gutters. Replace rotted or water-damaged wood and eradicate timber to soil contact. Remove dead stumps within 50 feet of the home, if practical, and repair trees with damage at broken limbs, and holes in the trunk. Seal cracks and crevices in the foundation, particularly where utility pipes and wiring occur from outside. Be sure to store firewood off the earth away from the house and bring in precisely enough firewood (first examining it) to be used quickly . Consider non-organic mulches near the house in heavily infested ant areas. High moisture conditions must be eradicated to help control carpenter ants, prevent future attacks and prevent " timber decay" fungus infection.

This journal comprises pesticide suggestions that are dependent on change any time. These recommendations are offered just as a guide. It is always the pesticide applicator's responsibility, legally, to read and follow all current label directions for the specific pesticide being used. Attributable to never stand still labels and product registration, a few of the recommendations given in this writing may no longer be legal by the time you read them. If any info in these testimonials disagrees with the label, the recommendation must be dismissed. No endorsement is meant for products mentioned, nor is criticism meant for products not mentioned. The author, The Ohio State University and Ohio State University Extension assume no liability resulting from the application of these testimonials.