How to Repel Big Black Ants

Big black ants are also known as carpenter ants. These types of ants are easy to handle when they just happen to occupy a dead tree in your backyard. But once they invade your home, these ants can do major damage on every part of the house that's made of wood. Carpenter ants are major wood destroyers. They do not ravage wood by eating them, they bore holes and create tunnels on wood surfaces that serve as storage rooms for their nests. Invasion of carpenter ants shouldn't be assumed. They may not cause severe wood damage as much as termites, if they are taken care of right away. But if left untreated, they will continue digging through wood surfaces and keep on building nests, which will bring about serious damage to your home.

Things You'll Need

• Mask and gloves
• Hot water and insecticide
• Gourmet liquid ant bait
• Boric acid, sugar and warm water
• Knox Out (Diazinon)
• White gravel

Instructions

1. 

   Search for the ants' nesting location outside your property and destroy it. These ants prefer to settle in moist areas; so when you look for their colonies, try searching around rotten wood or old and unused furniture outside your home. If the nesting area is that huge, you may hear a crunching noise made by ants from the inside. After discovering their nesting area, carefully open it up and pour in a mixture of water and insecticide or just plain but very hot water–this will get rid of their colony for good and prevents them from nesting inside your home.

2. Look for carpenter ant colonies inside your home and get rid of them. To discover carpenter ant colonies inside your home, you may want to search around old sinks, leaky part of the roof, or around rotten wood sidings or porch. After you discover their main nesting area, your initial action would be to spray aerosol pesticide into the entrance of the nest and place some sweetened baits near the nest.For sweetened baits, you can buy ready-to-use Gourmet liquid ant bait–a honeydew formula mixed with a potent insect attractant to promote bait acceptance. This is a mixture that gets rid of carpenter ants effectively. Just pour an ample amount of it in a shallow dish or cup and place it near the nest. Another sweet bait you can use is a mixture made of boric acid, sugar and water. Put half a cup of sugar in 1 cup of warm water and add 3 tablespoons of boric acid; mix them all together, place in a shallow dish or cup and position near the nest so the ants can easily get to it.

3. 

   Try drilling holes around the nesting area. This may be a difficult decision to make since it involves destroying your property; it may not even be advisable if you are renting your home. But this is an effective way to take care of carpenter ant invaders inside your home. Use a small hand drill in drilling holes that penetrate into the nest. Then put some boric acid or Knox Out (Diazinon) through those holes and spray with an aerosol insecticide.

4. Clean your lawn to make it ant-free. To prevent inside invasion of big black ants, you should begin solving the problem from the outside. Start by removing all ideal places for carpenter ants (such as dead tree stumps, tree branches, or old wood piles) from your home. Mow your lawn regularly; a short-trimmed grass may be too hot for carpenter ants to handle. As much as possible, do not allow the wooden structures of your home to be directly in contact with the soil-covered ground.

5. 

   Do a general cleaning and fixing up of the areas inside and around your home. You may start by cleaning out gutters that can be a good shelter for ants. Repair leaking faucets, pipes, or roofs that can lead to rotting of the wooden parts of your house. Replace some old sidings and wooden porches that show signs of becoming rotten. And fix those poorly sealed windows and doors to avoid inside invasion of carpenter ants.

6. Apply some natural carpenter ant repellent. Take some white gravel and neatly pile it around your home. This dry-textured white gravel helps in the maintenance of proper drainage around the house since it easily dries out, keeping the area moist-free. In other words, the white gravel serves as a dry protective shield around your home, which is not an ideal area for carpenter ants to pass through since they prefer moist places.

7. 

   Contact an accredited pest control agency. If you find it difficult to get rid of carpenter ants, it is best to let professional exterminators do the job for you. They will conduct a thorough inspection inside and outside your home and get rid of the carpenter ants for good. If you happen to rent an infested place, inform your landlord about it so that the problem can be taken care of immediately.

Tips & Warnings

• When handling insecticides, remember to wear a mask and gloves to avoid accidental inhalation and ingestion.

• Always keep insecticides such as boric acid and aerosol sprays out of the reach of children or pets.