Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are a very destructive pest in an apartment. They like to make their nests after hollowing out pieces of wood, and they can be very hard to deal with. It will take time, effort and money to do the job, but here are a few tips for getting rid of carpenter ants.

Prevent Wood Leakage

Wet wood attracts carpenter ants. If they find a wet area in the wood they will make a hole big enough to build their nests in it. Plumbing leaks from sinks are the most common kind of moisture that gets into wood. Leaky gutter pipes can also make your wood damp. Stop carpenter ants by checking the pipes in your kitchen and bathroom sinks every once in a while to see whether they’re leaking. Dry wood is harder for carpenter ants to dig through. Keeping your wood dry discourages carpenter ants from building nests in your apartment. Contact your landlord or building maintenance supervisor as soon as you notice a leak or a carpenter ant infestation.

Ant Baits

The safest way to get rid of carpenter ants is by using ant bait for them. The poisoned bait is confined to the ants, and there are no dangerous fumes to worry about. Place the ant bait in a location where the ants can easily find it, like the floor in a room where you commonly find them. The carpenter ants will pick the bait up and take it to their colony, and give it to the queen. It will kill both the queen and the workers. Eventually the colony will die off. If you have young children, you have to be extra careful about where you set the ant bait.

Boric Acid through Electrical Outlet

Boric acid will get rid of carpenter ants. Carpenter ants like to travel over electrical wires, and may come into your apartment through the outlets. When you spray boric acid over the wires, the ants will find it and take it back to the colony, poisoning the rest of the ants. You have to be careful when spraying the electrical wires, to prevent giving yourself an electrical shock.

Keep Tidy

Your apartment doesn’t have to be perfectly spotless, but keeping the place basically clean will get rid of carpenter ants. It will discourage them from wanting to live in your apartment, because they like to breed in dirty places. Keeping the floors clean will also keep them from getting to food. You especially have to be careful with the kitchen floors, because food residue is likely to fall there and attract ants more than any another place in an apartment.

Getting rid of carpenter ants isn’t fun, but it will pay off. There are many ways to do it, but it might take several weeks to finish them off completely. Carpenter ants can be very destructive to a home or apartment, so try to get rid of them as soon as you find them.