Saw some ants last year in my upstairs bathroom so I put traps out for them, they are supposed to eat and bring back to colony and die a slow death along with the colony and queen.
Well now I am finding ants dead all over the same bathroom and a few here and there. I put more stinger traps up now and I am going to get some spray for perimeter of house / landscape and spectracide for lawn. Is it the time of year for older ants to up and die are the bait traps working? It has got me a little worried.
Saw some ants last year in my upstairs bathroom so I put traps out for them, they are supposed to eat and bring back to colony and die a slow death along with the colony and queen.
Well now I am finding ants dead all over the same bathroom and a few here and there. I put more stinger traps up now and I am going to get some spray for perimeter of house / landscape and spectracide for lawn. Is it the time of year for older ants to up and die are the bait traps working? It has got me a little worried.
Believe it or not but I just wrote an article on ants (carpenters, especially) and what to do about them (I’ve also had entomology and disease vector ecology control training way in the past and have had to deal with the little buggers myself). Anyway, the key is to create, literally, a perimeter defense against their entering your home, which you sound like you’re either doing now or getting ready to do. As well, your bait traps look like they’re also doing their jobs. Try to locate their ant entrances into your bathroom, too, and then lay down a nice residual barrier spray (just make sure you don’t have kids or pets ready to lap it up or something). After that, note whether you find any of them entering anywhere else.
You finding them dead in the bathroom tells me a couple things; number one, of course, is that they’re hardy and that they may have made their way through your barrier sprays and treatments, only to die from the effort later, like when they finally found their way through their runs and into your bathroom. If that’s the case, then you need to strengthen the barrier spray or put more of it down (try to find a type that’ll last through weather such as rain for at least 30 days). Number two, if you haven’t laid a perimeter barrier defense, do so, because they’re getting in and then being killed by the bait traps and dying off in your home. But that means your interior defenses are working, so keep that up.
Also, if you’re still worried about them getting in and you want to encourage their colonies to up and relocate far away from your own house you might want to think about using some sort of natural predator. The straw itch mite, for example, will attach itself and feed off of ants in a colony with great enthusiasm. Whole colonies have been known to move far away whenever their structures have been invaded by them. They’re almost impossible to see with the naked eye, and I’m not recommending that specific species of anti-ant controlling insect, but there are other solutions other than just chemical organo-phosphates and other substances that are poisonous to humans and pets, too. If you want to stay with a good general eco-friendly barrier spray that kills off many different pests, Spectracide makes a natural-based spray (as well as several organo-phosphate types) that can work very well. It uses various plant oils that ants find repugnant.
Here are a few links to some helpful sites:
http://www.tightloop.com/ants/whatEatsAnts.htm
Thanks it has been over two years since I put down a barrier which I have todo but I have had bait traps up for a year and have gotten more to put up. I am going to put new barrier up when I see a few dry days in a row. Think they are in my front first floor and are coming up under the jacuzzi tub which has open studs behind it. I have placed the bait traps under there also. Hope some are bringing it back to the colony. There is no way of getting into the wall short of removing dry wall. It’s ares me because the bathroom is all travertine stone and granite which is a lot of weight to support.
Thanks it has been over two years since I put down a barrier which I have todo but I have had bait traps up for a year and have gotten more to put up. I am going to put new barrier up when I see a few dry days in a row. Think they are in my front first floor and are coming up under the jacuzzi tub which has open studs behind it. I have placed the bait traps under there also. Hope some are bringing it back to the colony. There is no way of getting into the wall short of removing dry wall. It’s ares me because the bathroom is all travertine stone and granite which is a lot of weight to support.
Heh. I’m not kidding, but I wrote an article last night about identifying load-bearing walls and non-load bearing walls (yes, I can actually do writing while scaring all the folks here with my posts ;-). You’re very smart in observing that issue about modifying any sort of wall in the hunt for those ants, which you shouldn’t need to do anyway. Put out another application of a solid residual barrier spray and then keep pushing them back farther and farther away from your home’s perimeter through those barriers and maybe the use of certain natural predators (though ants are tough little buggers, unfortunately). It really takes consistency and stick-to-it-tiveness when it comes to carpenter ants, but they can be beat.
Do you also moonlight as Batman?
I’m getting your ph # if I ever go on Who Want to Be a Millionaire.
Do you also moonlight as Batman?
No, but I did write an article about the character’s creator, Bob Kane, once. 
I’m getting your ph # if I ever go on Who Want to Be a Millionaire.
Believe me, I’m a font of useless and inane trivia (hahahahaha!).
Believe it or not but I just wrote an article on ants (carpenters, especially) and what to do about them (I’ve also had entomology and disease vector ecology control training…
You gotta be kidding me.
Anyway, is there a brand you recommend for the tramps? I’ve used Terro and they seem to love it but I’m not sure it actually eliminates the queen and colony. They eat the stuff continuously for 3 to 5 days and then they start appearing death all over. But after a few weeks, they are back.
Thanks.
Yeah, you need to have a substance they’ll track back to their colonies and which will kill the egg-laying queens. You can try mixing a little borax with sugared water or even clear corn syrup. The worker and soldier ants will take up the confection and transport it back to their colony and then feed it to the queen, which will quickly die. Just use a few drops in the areas where you think they’re entering your home. There are also several beneficial nematodes (roundworms) that aren’t parasitic to humans but which are to ants. If they can infest enough of the colony, they’ll pick up and relocate far away from your home. Commercially, Tempo is organic and non-toxic to humans and pets (and so is a certain type of Spectracide) and will kill over a hundred different types of insects, including ants. And if you feel a bit more ambitious, you can try working on applying a residual barrier spray around your home, which is actually the best defense of all. The farther away you can push those ants, the less you’ll see of them in your home.
Li did not think you were kidding. Thanks for the help I will check into the natural way.
I found carpenter ants and also had termites. Supposedly carpenter ants like to feed on termites, so check for any signs of termites. For example mud tube on foundation / garage walls.
Thanks I will look.
Believe it or not but I just wrote an article on ants (carpenters, especially) and what to do about them (I’ve also had entomology and disease vector ecology control training…
You gotta be kidding me.
Anyway, is there a brand you recommend for the tramps? I’ve used Terro and they seem to love it but I’m not sure it actually eliminates the queen and colony. They eat the stuff continuously for 3 to 5 days and then they start appearing death all over. But after a few weeks, they are back.
Thanks.
I had this problem last year in a rental house. They were coming inside from my neighbors wood pile. I set out a bunch of Terro liquid traps and coated the kitchen counter in borax powder. We went on vacation for a week and when we came back it was massive ant carnage. It didn’t stop them but did slow them down enough to be tolerable for the few weeks we had left on the lease.
I tried all sorts of other traps and baits before the Terro and the ants would completely ignore it.
Spray Bifen XTS around the house twice a year. Won’t have a problem. I live in humid hot sunny N. Florida. No bugs at my house.
You need a pet like this …
