Most houses in US are mainly made of woods. It is not a rare situation if you discover that there are carpenter ants slowly damaging the structure and frames of your home. Carpenter ants are very common insects, yet they are also very hard to control. This kind of insect is larger than the normal ants, growing up to 1 inch in length. They vary in color, depending on the type of species they belong. There are black, red, orange or yellow carpenter ants. Their waistlines are pinched and they have elbow-like antenna. During mating season, it is possible to see them with wings. Carpenter ants do not eat woods. They just remove them so they can create tunnels to their home. Moreover, these ants often eat protein and sugar, so it is most likely that they will search for honey, jellies, syrups and meat around your home so they can save them as their food.

You may discover carpenter ants nesting in woods, mostly on moist ones. These ants specially like to inhabit on rotting wood. If you like to search inside your home, you may see them infesting around your sinks, dishwashers and showers. They also live on hollow areas of your doors and curtain rods.

It is not easy to get rid of the carpenter ants. The most effective way to remove them is to find the area where they nest and then destroy them. Laying out bait for these carpenter ants is the best way to track down and detect their nest. You can find this type of ants very active between sundown and midnight so these times are the perfect moment for you to put your bait. You can consider combining something that they love to eat and something that can destroy them. A mixture of honey and some boric acid is one of the good homemade bait you can use to follow the ants. Ants will like honey for sure because they love to eat sweets. The boric acid will cause their death, on the other hand, after they sip them up. However, just be careful of this kind of mixture. Be certain that children would not be able to reach them and pets could not sense them. This kind of mixture can cause health damage if breathed in, or if swallowed.

One preventive step that you can do to make sure those carpenter ants will not inhabit on the wooden structure of your home is to always make your house clean. Food should always be in covered containers so that ants could not search them. You also need to keep your house free of lumber and logs surplus. Marigold is also an effective plant to turn the carpenter ants away so you might want to plant one.

Carpenter ants are very destructive insects. Not knowingly, they can damage the structure of your house, and I am sure, you do not want it to happen. Therefore, you need to do your best on keeping your house carpenter ant-free. Without ants, there will not be any hassle.

Author Bio: Want to know how to get rid of carpenter ants in your house, or somewhere else? Find out what other people are doing.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: carpenter ants, get rid of ants