I'm battlin carpenter ants


 
Well, I've still got a lot of carpenter ants. And I called an exterminator. He did tell me that my smoker wood pile had nothing to do with ants in the house. And the ants and the beetles in the wood pile are not harming anything. He also did not think I had much damage from the ants.

But the reason I like to do everything myself, came up ................. he upsold me from a $250 carpenter ant elimination, to an $850 termite treatment.

My house does not have termites. But I could get termites at any time, this house is older , has not been treated in the past 20 years, I'm vulnerable to that. We've had them before and I'm vigilant about looking for signs of termites, like the little escape holes they cover with mud.

The extra $600 would be buying peace of mind for 5 to possibly 10 years. Yep, I do worry about termites.

He also told me the chemical he uses. I found the exact chemical on Amazon for $40 .

I'm getting another opinion, just gotta find another exterminator to call.
 
Lynn:
Did you ever try the slurry for the carpenter ants? Always worked for Rhode Island carpenter ants. Would take about 10 days. I repeated it for a month just to make sure. Termite treatments vary in effectiveness. In RI my mother's house had both as it was surrounded by woods. Slurry worked for the ants. A nationally known termite company charged $700 with a guarantee, drilled holes in her basement floor around the perimeter treatment and plugs. They leaked almost everytime there was heavy rain. About 5 years later we found termites again which had tubed up the outside of the cement foundation into the sill plate. They did not cover it beyond retreatment on the exterior. Watch those warranties for the fine print!
 
Dan , the problem I have with the slurry is delivering near the ants. A liquid won't work and there's not many places to stick a cotton ball. They are in the top of a window seat and in the attic under the eave of the house. I'm curious as to how an exterminator is going to get to them. The ants rarely go to the ground.

The guy who was here yesterday, said the Optigard i was using is great for " odorous " ants, but not carpenter ants. And the more exterminators I call, two of them immediately bail out and say they can't treat carpenter ants.

What I'm researching now, is what chemicals a licensed exterminator would have, that I can't buy / use.

I will probably pass on the termite treatment. I worry bout termites, but not that much.
 
Lynn,
If the Borax/Sugar combo does not work you might want to look into a product called Advion. It has many positive reviews across the net including recommendations for a gentlemen I have a lot of trust in and bought several products that he recommended over the years.


Jeff
 
THE WAR IS OVER ! Victory over the ants has been achieved !



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And it was a DIY victory


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I think the Optigard gel would have eventually eliminated the uprising, but it would've been a long war of attrition.

I went with the nuclear option, Taurus SC ........ and went all Harry Truman on these ants. I sprayed Taurus SC a week ago today and have not seen an ant since.

After talking with the exterminator, I researched Taurus SC ( also sold as Termidor SC ) and the primary ingredient is fipronil. I talked to our State Ag Dept, who regulates pesticides, and they told me the Taurus on Amazon was the same concentration that exterminators use. And they said these baits that are sprays are more effective than gel baits.

One of the first products I used was Combat gel bait and was not effective. It was also fipronil, but it was 1% fipronil. Taurus SC and Termidor are 9.1% fipronil.

Being able to spray Taurus was a big factor, cuz these ants were mostly in the eave and around the outside of a window seat. I mixed it up in a one gallon sprayer and it was enough to spray the eaves all around the house, around all the windows, and around the foundation. Easily, the spray works better, it covers a larger area than a gel and all that's needed is for the ants to crawl through the fipronil. And then they take it back to the colony and spread it around, just like Covid 19.

And they recommend spraying twice a year to prevent any problems in the future.

Total cost , I spent $27 on the Optigard and $53 on the Taurus SC = $80.
 

 

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