Follow carpenter ants to find their nests.
The big black ants crawling around your home and yard are most likely carpenter ants. These foraging ants can reach between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in size. Carpenter ants are a common household pest. They can be difficult to control if you do not use the right methods. You can kill individuals with traps and insecticides to reduce the population. But unless you target the nest, you cannot control them completely. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Follow the ants. Don't kill the carpenter ants you see flying or crawling around. Instead, follow them back to their nest. Carpenter ants are most active just after sundown, so this is the best time to spot them. If you're having trouble finding them, lay out some honey or sugar water as bait.
2. Treat any carpenter ant nests that you find in your home. If you follow one or more big black ants into a crack in your wall, carpenter ants may be nesting inside. Tap the wall. If carpenter ants are present, they will rustle and make the sound of crinkling plastic. Drill several 1/8-inch holes over an area that spreads 3 to 6 feet out from the entry point (where you noticed the ants go in) on all sides. Then pump boric acid powder (available at most home and garden centers) into the walls to kill the ants.
3. Destroy carpenter ants that you find outdoors and in other non-essential structures. Carpenter ants nest in rotten trees and other areas with moist (preferably decaying) wood. Expose the entire nest by breaking through the surface of the wood. Then immediately spray the ants and their nest with a contact ant insecticide.
Tags: carpenter ants, black ants, crawling around, that find, their nest, wall carpenter, wall carpenter ants