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Carpenter Ant Baits

Carpenter ant baits are available in every hardware and home center.  But do they work?  And if so, which one is the best?

As a professional, we can't just accept marketing claims, it is important to do real world tests and compare Carpenter ant baits side by side. 

Not only do we do our own tests, but we have worked with research entomologists researching bait effectiveness in homes for manufacturers.

Our results, year after year, test after test, have shown that all Carpenter ant baits work equally.  That is to say, not at all.

Carpenter ant baits only work in the lab on captive carpenter ants with no other food sources.

If they can gain access to their preferred food sources:  fresh live insects and insect secretions - then none of the Carpenter ant baits work.

This only pertains to Carpenter ants and Carpenter ant baits.  There are some professional ant baits that work fairly well against some smaller sugar feeding ants. For more follow the link: Ants Baits.

Carpenter ant baits are not effective because they do not contain fresh insect insides or aphid secretions

But even for the ants that will take ant baits it is important to understand that baits are only one tool. 

Just as a builder can't build a house with just a hammer, pest control professionals would never rely only baits to control an ant population - even for the ants that will take baits.

The activity you see on the inside of your home is usually only the very tip of the iceberg as far as the total ant activity in your home. 

You need to take care of all the ants you don't see.  - as little as 3% of carpenter ants foarage - at the height of the season.  Please check out Treatment to see what professionals would do to take care of Carpenter ants.

It is important to note at this time a really common carpenter ant occurrence:

Carpenter ants first start getting active every year in late winter / early spring. They often appear inside for 4 to 6 weeks - and any treatment seems to work at this time! 

I have seen people swear by vinegar, lysol, 409, baking soda, chalk, and every over the counter bait or ant spray ever made.

The truth is that ants don't want to be in your living areas to begin with - and they are only biding their time until their real food - other insects and insect secretions become more abundant outside as the weather warms up.

Then they 'disappear' because they never really wanted anything from the inside anyway. However, the nesting in your home and any damage due to their nesting hasn't stopped - you just wont see them on the inside any more since they are going outside to get their true food - as they normally do.

When we control Carpenter ants we NEVER use Carpenter ant baits.

Link to larger image

C. Ants mainly eat the insides of insects and aphid secretions. (4 Ants struggling to bring a beetle larvae back to their nest.)