Exterminator for islands? Carpenter ants!
 

We have an island camp with carpenter ants. We found a huge nest last year and had to replace a large beam under the camp - we thought we were done. N
ow in 3 places we see some dead ants,a few live ones and piles of wood dust :( Anyone have a recommendation for someone who will do exterminator work on an island? Thanks!

If you are sure you have ants (not termites) then you should try one of the effective liquid ant bait products. It is a mixture of boric acid (borax) and a sugar syrup. The worker ants bring it back to feed the queen and the larva. Takes about a week to kill off the colony.

Both Terro and Revenge do the job.
http://www.terro.com/
http://www.get-revenge.us/antkiller.html

I'm not a professional
 

But I did sleep in a....It's been my experience that carpenter ants are only present in wood that is wet. Stop the wet and they leave. That beam has probably been exposed to water. I would make sure that is no longer the case or your ants might return for a new meal.

Value Pest Control, Alton
 

Highly recommend Dean at Value Pest Control, Main Street, Alton
(603) 875-3558

Ant Farm
 

On rattlesnake, we get together and have Ant Farm from Belmont come out to the island and spray houses. He gets a ride out, and walks around house to house and spends the day. Probably worth a call and ask when he is planning on being out on the lake.

PS: Dean has his own boat and comes out to the Islands - advantage is he can do it while you are gone.

Thanks
 

Thanks for all the suggestions! We are on Mark, I called Value Pest but they said we are out of their area. I did have Lakes Region Pest Control come and spray - fingers scrossed!

Do you need someone to spray because you are not there? I find that if all an exterminator does is come over and spray the exterior of my foundation I just wasted money. I could easilty do that. As suggested above, the ant baits that contain boric acid are the way to go. If you have a nest, unless you know exactly where it is and can get to it to eliminate it (suck the thing up in a shop vac) boric acid is the best as the worker ants bring it to the nest. I've used it more than once with great results.

I feel having it done professionally is safer for both us and the environment.

Hmmmm, one package of Terro contains 1 oz of product that will last for a season of ant control. The 1 oz is 5.4 % borax (0.054 oz) and the rest is a sugar water syrup. This is not dangerous.

The cost for a package at Lowe's is $2.97 which is slightly less I would think than an exterminator. And I suspect that this bait that kills the whole nest is as or more effective than a spray for ant control. But hey, it's not my money.

Open a couple of packets of Nutra-sweet where the ants are coming in and dampen with water.The Aspartame will kill them and you'll save the price of an exterminator.

Does that really work or R U joking?
 

Also remember that the ants are there because you have an moisture problem. You need to fix the problem or they will return. A lot of older house do not have PT sills on them and they are a constant source for ant problems.

Could be a hoax......but worth a try.Sure is cheap enough.

August 01, 2007
NutraSweet is an Excellent Ant Poison/Aspartame Disease a Growing Concern in New Zealand
" ... I opened two packets of aspartame sweetner, and dumped one in a corner of each of our bathrooms. That was about 2 years ago and I have not seen any carpenter ants for about 9 to 12 months. ... "

Aspartame - The World's Best Ant Poison, by Jan Jensen of Wellthy Choices

We live in the woods and carpenter ants are a huge problem. We have spend thousand of dollars with Orkin and on ant poisons trying to keep them under control but nothing has helped.

So when I read somewhere that aspartame (Nutrasweet) was actually developed as an ant poison and only changed to being considered non-poisonous after it was realized that a lot more money could be made on it as a sweetner than as an ant poison, I decided to give it a try.

I opened two packets of aspartame sweetner, and dumped one in a corner of each of our bathrooms. That was about 2 years ago and I have not seen any carpenter ants for about 9 to 12 months. It works better than the most deadly poisons I have tried. Any time they show up again, I simply dump another package of Nutrasweet in a corner, and they will be done for a year or so again.

Since posting this information I have had many people tell me of their success solving ant problems with this substance, when nothing else worked.

We found later that small black ants would not eat the aspartame. It was determined that if you mixed it with apple juice, they would quickly take it back to the nest, and all would be dead within 24 hours, usually. I have found that sometimes it will kill the, and sometimes it does not. Not sure why, may be slightly different species of ants or something.

Fire Ants: We got our first fire ant hill about 2 weeks ago. Poison did not work. We tried aspartame and the ants ignored it until we got a light rain. It was just a sprinkle, enough to moisten the Nurtasweet and ground, but not enough to wash it away. They went crazy, hundreds of them grabing it and taking it back into the mound. When I checked the mound 2 days later, there was no sign of the fire ants. I even dug the mound up some, and still saw none of them.

How does it Work: Aspartame is a neuropoison. It most likely kills the ants by interfering with their nervous system. It could be direct, like stopping their heart, or something more subtle like killing their sense of taste so they can't figure out what is eatable, or smell, so they can't follow their trails, or mis-identify their colonies members, so they start fighting with each other. Not sure what causes them to end up dying, just know that for many species of ants it will kill them quickly and effectively.

As with any poison I recommend wearing gloves and washing any skin areas that come in contact with this poison, and avoid getting it in your mouth, despite anything the labeling may indicate. I suspect it will work for other insects such as yellow jackets as well, but have not tested that yet. More information on this fantastic poison can be found at : www.dorway.comAspartame -

I had problems with that stuff.
 

I'm surprised that stuff isn't outlawed. Unfortunately it doesn't fall under specific guidelines so it doesn't have to be regulated by the FDA.
It gave me migraine headaches which stopped when I stopped using it.
I’m now back to drinking Kool-Aid, but I make it with ½ the required sugar and it still tastes great.
There isn't a diet product I've seen that doesn't contain this stuff.

Belmont,my daughter had migraines drinking 3-4 diet Cokes a day.When she stopped...so did the migraines.I only buy diet drinks with a product called Stevia....it is just as sweet but plant based and won't hurt you.It's in a lot of those zero calorie mineral waters.
The big bottling and chemical companies try to debunk critics of aspartame but there is reason to believe that it can cause serious health problems.
I read every label now...never used to.

Urban legend/hoax perpetuated by the internet
 

This story is an internet hoax. The story on how it originated can be checked at snopes.com by pointing your browser HERE.

Like just about anything that you can put into your body, some people always have some reaction to some things. And as is with everything it seems, all things should be consumed in moderation.

But not to take this thread any further off topic, Aspartame was not designed nor never intended to be a "poison".

I don't understand this comment at all but like Slickcraft says, it's not my money. :confused:

Might be true,Skip but I still don't trust some of the major drug companies.They have millions to lobby and can even manipulate Google to go right to a positive story or debunk a critical report.There's lots of stories out there....he's another one...http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexcl...xclusive15.htm ......another hoax,maybe?.........but I'm not drinking that stuff.

Recipe that nasty Carpenter Ants devour.
 

Just dug into my arsenal to find recipe & post this. Researched this a couple years ago after finding wood dust in our shower, coming from behind tile and littering tub floor. It worked by getting the tasty treat to the queen via workers...the root of the issue. Wear disposable gloves & not to be applied where pets have access. Disclaimer:not professional exterminator.

1 drop of Fipronil (flea & tick drop treatments for dogs)
1/2-1t. Borax
1 pkt. Equal (aspartame)
3T honey

Find and follow the line of ant activity (mine was a constant ant march coming into home @ the top of foundation, just beneath siding). Mixed goo and applied w/ disposable utensil right @ point of entry. I reapplied a couple times a day (...was way too into this mission), had flashlight following line @ night just to be sure there were no other points of enrty...determined! Cannot recall exactly how many days this madness continued, guessing around 3ish.

This worked and have not been seen any more since. Ant march ceased. Suppose it was not a huge infestation, but still eagle eye the surrounding areas of house looking for any streams of ants.

*Had flea drops on hand from using on my small puppy, which lead to seizures like clockwork, monthly, a day or 2 following application. Toxic! Now spray Bragg organic apple cider vinegar diluted w/ water by half every few days on underbelly & legs. Puppy is healthy, and not a flea ever. Yay!:D