Carpenter ant problem....

I have a question for you guys, perhaps someone can help me.

For the last couple years in the kitchen of my house we have had a carpenter ant problem. It is mostly in the spring and I thought perhaps the silver maple tree held a hive ? I however cut out the dead and a hollow section and stoped seeing them on the tree. However we still have a problem. It is not constant. I have not seen one for weeks in the house. Then last night I turned on the light in the kitchen found perhaps 20 of them on the floor in an area about 3 foot square. Nothing had been spilled and my wife keeps a clean house. After killing them we did not see anymore last night or this morning.

I am guessing they are in a wall some place but I do not see them anywhere else in the house and have checked the flooring under the kitchen as we have a basement. We generally saw singles running here and there in the kitchen mostly up on the counters or on the cupboards durring the spring.

I have looked for rotting wood, etc but nothing everything seem solid and good.

Any thoughts would be appreciated I am tired of these guys.

Ask mchithwood3 he's a bug guy

I was having occasional problems myself - mostly in a lower cabinet in my bathroom and the basement. I tried various products but this product killed them DEAD. I had hundreds of dead carpenter ants the following morning and had to use a wet-vac to get them all. I did 2 treatments a month apart and I haven't see any for close to a year now.

http://www.combatbugs.com/product/source-kill-max-ant-killing-gel

Here is some information-
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/dk1015.html
http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/AntBait267.shtml
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/carp.htm

Carpenter Ants don't use rotten wood, they eat out the soft portion and leave the harder grain wood.

Bait wether granular or gel is best.Residuals will kill them but in my opinion baits the best answer.Downside is its not readily available to the public or not supposed to be I should say.Plenty of internet sites selling to just anyone anymore.

All great info...I am off to hunt these critters till the end !!!


Learned a few things. I did not know that carpenter aunts DO NOT eat wood !! LAtrappers sites taught me that, thank you.

I tried some of the products mentioned and will use a product sent to me through a PM.

So again, thank you !!!

I had a bad time with them about 2 years ago in my house. It took a while to find where they were coming into the house but I finally found most of them coming in by walking down the lines where the power comes in house.
I sprayed here and a couple of other places and followed up with glue traps to get the scouts inside the house and after about 3 months they were gone.

This will take care of them http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/advance-carpenter-ant-bait-p-173.html