Quarterly Carpenter Ant Treatment Procedures

This type of treatment is rendered on a quarterly basis and is designed to prevent Carp. Ants from establishing colonies and/or nests within the walls of the treatment structure.

Carp. Ants DO NOT eat the wood as do termites. Rather, Carp. Ants when they have moist wood as a result of a moisture condition will eat the fungus that is manifested from the moisture condition. When this condition exists Carp. Ants may establish a colony within your structure. Once Carp. Ants begin to establish a colony, the ants will begin to excavate, or hollow out the wood to form "GALLERIES." The galleries in the hollowed-out wood are where the Carp. Ants establish their colony and lay eggs. The excavation of the wood for the purposes of establishing a colony is where the damage comes into play with Carp. Ants. Coarse saw dust material which is discarded by the Carp. Ants as they excavate the wood is sometimes visible. This material is called "FRASS." Sometimes Carp. Ants will change their feeding habits in the Summer and switch to feeding on honeydew and sweets. They will however switch back yet again toward Summer's end or early Fall and feed on the fungus from the moist wood condition.

Baiting Carp. Ants on a quarterly basis takes those feeding patterns into account. The fungus that the Carp. Ants feed on is a PROTEIN. The Summer feeding pattern of honey dew and sweets is a CARBOHYDRATE. Baiting with a granular Carp. Ant bait is satisfying the protein feeding period and with the application of a liquid or gel bait, this addresses the carbohydrate feeding period. Carp. Ants will assign the task of food gathering to "FORAGERS." These forager ants find food and carry it back to the colony for the others to feed upon. It is in this way that we are able to render control of a Carp. Ant problem. Because Carp. Ants sometimes have more than one nest, a smaller off-shoot of the primary nest, which is called a "SATELLITE COLONY," control may take time to achieve. Activity may increase in the days immediately following treatment with a bait product as foragers will be attracted to the bait. It is important NOT TO SPRAY as this will repel the Carp. Ants from the bait. Traditionally we recommend 2-4 weeks for the Carp. Ant activity to begin to diminish. Because Carp. Ants are migratory the establishment of quarterly service is recommended to address a current problem as well as preventing other migratory Carp. Ants from establishing colonies within the structure.