Pest Control St. Louis

Carpenter ants are a nuisance by their presence when found in parts of the home like the kitchen, washroom, drawing room and various quarters. When 20 or more large winged and/or wingless ants are discovered indoors, in the day near one location, it is achievable that the colony is better established in the home and the nest might have been extended into sound wood, often times causing structural damage. They don't eat timber, but often remove quantities of it to expand their nest size. Nonetheless, but only if one or two large wingless ants are erratically crawling, they might simply be foraging for food with the nest located outside. Outdoors, they are frequently seen running over plants and tree trunks or living in moist, partly rotten timber 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 consisting of winged and wingless queens, winged males and various 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 tiny thorax while adult swarmers have a smaller head and large thorax. Carpenter ants have a smoothly rounded arched (convex) shape to the peak of the thorax when viewed from the side and a pedicel between the thorax and abdomen comprising 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 usually black with some species red, brown or yellow occurring on areas of the body 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 mentioned 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 keeps), generate a new colony in a small 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 extend this period up to 10 months. The colony does not produce swarmers until about three years later. A mature colony, after 3 to 6 years, has 2,000 to 4,000 individuals. During the first hatch, 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 breed 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 varying sizes are produced (polymorphism) into major and minor workers, that are all sterile females. 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 must be fed and tended or they die. In a mature colony, there is normally one queen with 200 to 400 winged individuals produced as swarmers. Workers have strong jaws and readily bite (sharp pinch) when contacted.

Nests are ordinarily established in soft, moist (not wet), decayed timber or occasionally in an existing timber cavity or void area in a structure that is perfectly dry. Workers cut galleries in the timber, expanding the nest size for the enlarging colony. Galleries are intermittent, usually excavated with the wood grain ( often times 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 discovered beneath special openings (windows) or nest openings, may incorporate portions of insects, empty seed coats, etc.

Carpenter ants do not eat wood but excavate wood galleries to rear their young ants and carry aphids to plants, placing them on leaves for the output of honey dew. The food diet 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 in as much as 100 yards from their nest.

Control Measures

The most important and often most hard part of carpenter ant control is locating the nest or nests. Once the nest location is discovered, control is very easy and simple. Often times more than one colony is present in the structure or on its grounds, so a thorough inspection is extremely important. Steps to a successful inspection include an interview with members of the family, inspection indoors, inspection outside 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 a past era, if swarmers were seen, location of sawdust-like material in piles, populations outdoors, etc.

Inspection Indoors

Nests can be located in either moist or dry timber. Still, 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 spots to pinpoint possible nest locations. Inspect behind restroom tiles, around tubs, showers, sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerator drip pans, etc. Check wood subject to 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. Sometimes, nests are located in dry environments, such as hollow veneer doors, curtain rods, small void areas between the door casing and ceiling, false beams, or under insulation in attics. Look for damaged timbers, swarmers in spider webs, wood piles indoors, piles of timber debris removed 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 timber if infested.

Baiting

Some might use tiny piles of sugar at 2 to 3 feet intervals around the kitchen, restroom, 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 at night, following ants back to their nest entrance.

Flushing Agent

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

Inspection Outdoors

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

Sound Detection

An active colony may produce a different, dry rustling sound ( sometimes loud), similar to the crinkling of cellophane. It could be heard in a wall when standing in a room. A listening device, like a stethoscope, may be useful when weather conditions are quiet and outside noises are at a nominal amount. Even a cat may hear noises in the home a consequence of ant mandibles (jaws) not from chewing wood or eating food, but as their form of conversation, in particular when the colony is disturbed.

Prevention

Homeowners should trim all trees and bushes so branches do not touch or come in contact with 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 timber and eliminate wood 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, especially where utility pipes and wiring occur from outside. Be certain to shop firewood off the earth faraway from the house and bring in only enough firewood (first examining it) to be employed 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 " wood decay" fungus infection.

This journal incorporates pesticide testimonials that are dependent on change any time. These recommendations are supplied 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. As a result of 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 facts in these testimonials disagrees with the label, the recommendation must be disregarded. No endorsement is intended for products mentioned, nor is criticism intended for products not mentioned. The author, The Ohio State University and Ohio State University Extension assume no liability resulting from the application of these suggestions.