THEM! (which is to say, large ants)

[rmd]

so, i've killed a couple of ants over the past few days. i'm used to plain old sugar ants, but these are big bastards. pic behind the cut.




i've already washed the floor where i saw them, to discourage ant trails. but is this a "call the exterminator" ant? or just a regular old "god damned those fucking ants" kind of ant?

Comments

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

I've been seeing some of those this year. Blend borax and sugar, sprinkle in corners.

[lioritgioret.livejournal.com]

Don't let them bite you!
If you are okay using fairly toxic home remedies you can probably get rid of them on your own; I tend to reserve exterminators for large *numbers* of ants, rather than merely large *ants*; but when I lived in NJ (which is warmer than here and antier) I had to give up on the environmentally-friendly stuff and set out Black Flag Bait Boxes and spray the windowsills where they were coming in on a twice-daily basis with something that came with warnings to leave the area after using it.
Good luck! Ants can be persistent. But you can always drop, what was it, giant salt crystals on them? er, I mean, on THEM.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

Carpenter ants.

They are smelling the moisture and wet wood from your other problem.

Two pronged approach.
1. get your bathroom situation taken care of
2. Call exterminator to do a house perimeter treatment. The treatment is exterior, no need to do any interior spraying.Should run about $200.

I like EHS out of Norwood. Found 'em on Angie's.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

hm. since the plumbing leak has been going on for a while, i'd be concerned that the ants are hanging out inside (particularly in the basement) as well. or do they only visit and not go live where the tasty wet wood is?

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Those are the kind we found in our sink upon returning from Baitcon. kimberlogic says they bite, ugh.

[tactical-grace.livejournal.com]

I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords.

[muffyjo]

On the theory that you are looking at a carpenter ant, here's a website with some "DIY" ideas on how to get rid of them that's fairly low impact on the environment.

[adb-jaeger.livejournal.com]

If they're carpenter ants, *and* you own the property, call a professional.

Don't go green on this. You want them f'ing dead.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

ehs is coming by later in the week. thanks for the pointer.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

professional assassins are due later this week.

DIE, INSECTS, DIE!

[jessicac.livejournal.com]

Ack!

That is a frightening large ant.

I think you should train your cats to hunt and kill them, thereby earning their tasty daily food rations.

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

No scale attached to picture, so i cant tell how big it actually is. But it looks like a standard carpenter ant.

Resist the temptation to call in the exterminator. Those ants are a *very* useful diagnostic tool! If you see one or two of them, no big deal. When you start seeing a *lot* of them, follow them and see where they are going to/coming from! They are attracted to the outgassing that rotting wood gives off, and they will show you *exactly* where your water leakage problem is. Fix the water problem, and the ants will go elsewhere of their own accord. Poison the ants, and you never find your water leak until major sill rot has already occurred.

Carpenter ants do *not* attack healthy wood, they only tunnel nests out of wood that is rotting/rotted. They're really pretty harmless, and as stated above, can be considered a diagnostic tool.

Termites, on the other hand, need to be nuked immediately.

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

Don't go green on this. You want them f'ing dead.

No, you don't. You want them *gone*. very different thing. see my comment above.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, i assume they've been lured in because for several months, my shower has been irrigating the plumbing chase. SMELL THAT TASTY WET WOOD, GUYS.

which is a known issue, which i'm getting a bid on to have fixed, so i think the diagnostics are superfluous for now. (the chase runs right through the tenant unit, so i'm going to have pros come in and do it so it'll be done in something approaching a timely fashion)

[laurenpburka.livejournal.com]

I'll just mention that everyone has those things, not just people with wet wood problems.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

Carpenter ants typically live in trees and only come into your house for a tasty snack. So perimeter defense is the first position to take. If the problem continues after the bathroom is fixed, there are greener alternatives for the interior for the house. The guy who does the bathroom remodel will probably be the first to let you know.

I generally agree with frobz, but...

[drwex]

My experience is that in times of very wet weather these guys get driven indoors because the rotting wood where they nest is prone to flood. If you see a couple then they're probably random wanderers from a flooded nest somewhere outdoors. If you see a serious number of them then you may have a bigger problem.

[doze-e-fish.livejournal.com]

Carpenter ants CAN be QUITE annoying if they're MUNCHING directly over one's HEAD!!!!