Eight Steps to Take to Prevent Carpenter Ants from Infesting Your Home
Carpenter ants are common in many homes. Once they get inside, they chew galleries and tunnels. But there are steps you can take to prevent these pests from entering your home. Professional guidance can go a long way in preventing a carpenter ant infestation and the damage they can cause to your home. Check out pointepestcontrol.net if you have an existing infestation that you want to eliminate quickly. As a homeowner, below are steps you can take to keep carpenter ants at bay:
Don’t Keep Stumps
Did you know that carpenter ants like stumps? In fact, these ants forage around stumps and some of them even nest inside them. Carpenter ants are especially drawn to rotten stumps.
Ensure Branches Do Not Touch Your House
Carpenter ants can crawl up your home’s side, but they usually attack higher points and use tree branches as their bridge. Trimming branches that touch your roofline can prevent carpenter ants and other kinds of pests from taking advantage of such vulnerability.
Eliminate Standing Water
Water allows carpenter ants to survive and thrive. Pools of water near the house will draw these ants to your property. Such pools come in many forms such as a broken or obstructive gutter system, leaking hoses, compacted leaf litter that allows rainwater to accumulate, leaking AC units, and plumbing leaks. Address moisture issues to resist carpenter ants and ensure your home’s well-being. Other pests such as ticks and mosquitoes are attracted to moisture. Also, moisture can rot your home’s wood.
Stack Wood Away from Your House
Firewood is a carpenter ant attractant. Stacking wood against the house will draw such wood-damaging pests to your place. However, these insects can also be attracted to wood borders around your flower beds, stacked construction materials, deteriorating wooden fencing, exterior steps, and decks. They love soft, rotting wood; however, they can also be drawn to a structure’s untreated wood.
Seal Entry Points
While carpenter ants may not chew their way into your home, they will take advantage of openings such as cracks, holes, and gaps to gain entry. Eventually, these entry points can start to appear. Your home’s foundation can crack or chip, door and window screens can get damaged or ripped, and door sweeps and weather stripping can wear out. Carpenter ants will exploit any entry point they can find and make small holes bigger.
Reduce the Number of Plants You Have
Although carpenter ants do not eat wood, they eat sweets and meats. For these pests, having many plants in the yard offers them the best environment. Aphids, dead insects, and scale insects can provide them with the protein they need. Also, carpenter ants enjoy the honeydew that insects leave behind after feeding on plant sap. Carpenter ants can help control pests that damage plants. However, if plants are placed near your house, these ants can do damage to your home. If there is plenty of landscaping around the house, have a pest control expert help you deal with pests around the foundation.
Eliminate Food Source
An outdoor cooking area or kitchen can offer carpenter ants the leftover food they need to thrive and survive. If you have either area on your property, clean up and store food away immediately. Sometimes, pet food can be left outside and attract carpenter ants. So, place pet food only when it’s time to feed your pets.
Get Rid of Organic Debris
Sticks and leaves that lay on the ground can trap soil moisture, attracting carpenter ants. So, keep this organic debris raked up. Never leave piles in your yard or underneath a porch or deck. Carpenter ants love to forage in decaying organic matter that can be found under the porch or deck.