Carpenter ants go ahead and build their nests in wood. Therefore, it is possible for you to discover carpenter ants around your house. However, these ants don’t eat wood similar to the termites. They are just nesting in wood.
However, it is important to keep in mind that carpenter ants are in a position to infiltrate a home. They can get into your water and foot sources. Hence, you shouldn’t think about living with carpenter ants. If you find them at home, you need to try your best to get rid of them as soon as possible.
Here are some useful and effective methods available for you to overcome the hassle created by carpenter ants at home.
- Find the nest
As the first thing, you need to make sure that you are dealing with carpenter ants, not termites. Carpenter ants are the large brown or black colored ants. They have six legs and three body segments. You should determine the nest of these ants. As mentioned earlier, the carpenter ants are living in wood. Hence, you will find it as an easy task to locate the nest and go forward with appropriate methods to get rid of them.
If you find it as a difficult task to locate the nest, you are encouraged to keep an eye on wood damages. Wood that serves as the houses of carpenter ants would contain holes. When you closely inspect them, you will be able to spot the traces of carpenter ants as well. These ants usually prefer to build their nests in damp areas. Therefore, you need to pay special attention towards the nests in damp areas when you are doing the inspection to locate the carpenter ants.
- Break down their communications
Just like humans, ants communicate with each other. If you can break the communication between them, you will be able to get rid of ants with less trouble. It has been identified that ants communicate with each other through pheromones, touch and sounds. If one ant finds food, it communicates with others through the above mentioned mediums. Therefore, you can get the assistance of things like vinegar to disturb these communications. In other words, you can mix vinegar with water and spray it in the walls where you suspect that ants live around.
- Use white chalk
Have you ever seen ants walking on white chalk? From the researches, it has been identified that ants do not prefer to walk on chalk. It is because ants stumble when walking on chalk and other similar substances. You can get the maximum benefits out of this fact and draw a line using chalk to keep the ants away. It has also been identified that minerals that can be found in chalk can harm the ants. When you are drawing lines, you need to be careful in order to draw think lines covering all the areas around your home.
- Divert them
Some people find it as a hard task to eliminate ants. If you are struggling hard to keep the ants away from your food, you can think of diverting them. That’s where a pot of honey comes into play. You can place a honey pot outside your home and direct all the ants there. Once you figure out that ants have gone out of your new home, you can think of trying the above mentioned methods to keep them away.
- Use strong smells
Ants do not prefer strong smells. In other words, they do not tend to cross areas that have a strong smell. Therefore, you can think of spraying different oils that have a strong smell over the areas that ants crawl into your home. Peppermint essential oil is one of the best oils that you can use for the above mentioned purpose.
- Use ant balls
If you figure out that spraying oils is not practical, you can think of ant balls. In order to create ant balls, you can purchase some cotton balls, dip them in essential oil and hang them around your home. However, you need to be careful not to hang them in a place where a pet or a kid can reach. This method is efficient and it can deliver positive results to anyone.
- Flour
Flour can also assist you to get rid of ants in a convenient manner. If you are looking to get rid of ants without using any pesticides, this is the best option available for you to move forward with. The way how you use flour is pretty much similar to the process of using chalk. You need to take a small amount of flour to your hands and sprinkle a line around the areas where you don’t want ants to trespass. Ants will naturally repel to flour.
- Get the help of a professional service provider
If none of these methods are delivering positive results to you, or if you don’t want to go through the hassle associated with those methods on your own, you can think about getting in touch with a professional service provider. It is true that you will have to spend money out of your pocket to hire a professional service provider. However, it will be one of the most convenient methods available to get rid of carpenter ants in your home. This method can deliver guaranteed positive results to you as well.
Final words
Finding carpenter ants on your food can be a frustrating experience. That’s why you need to think about getting rid of the hassle created by them. You can get the help of a professional service provider and overcome the frustration created by carpenter ants. Or else, you can simply follow the other methods that we suggested to get rid of them. Then you will be able to get the best possible results at the end of the day.