Carpenter ants in shop

[decibel]

Well I think I had [STRIKE]termites[/STRIKE] CARPENTER ANTS in the shop :kamahlitu
They were all over a piece of walnut I had on the band saw. I think they were termites and some had wings and then maybe 20 others without. I took that board ot of the shop. So the question I have is where di they come from.. I left the windows open last night to let it air out but the windows have screens. They weren't on any other wood in the shop that I could see what's the next steps to prevent this from getting worse.

fumigate the shop? pt screens over the vents in the gable as I believe they have no bug screens? Is there anything I should to check the other board etc?

 

[Sealeveler]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

I had the same thing happen tonite.Some insecticide and some bug bombs.Tony

 

[mkepke]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

Where was the lumber sitting most recently ? I have experienced termites appearing 'mysteriously' in my shop in an isolated spot and I think they came in via the expansion joint between the slab and the stem wall.

I junked the wood and nuked the area with Diazanon and haven't seen any since.

-Mark

 

[Dusty Sawyer]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

Hard to say where they came from.. could have flown in or crawled under an open door, or come in on a piece of wood. It just takes one full of fertilized eggies to make a little nest. Had you not found it, then you would have a bigger nest. Something I keep an eye out for is wood dust in the area where I store my wood. It usually means some sort of boring bugger is working at my prize wood and that it's time to fumigate. Even if it is a piece of wood you just brought in last week, remember that the sole life function of the one or two bugs you see here and there is to go out and find new places to nest and reproduce.

David

 

[decibel]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

Update. Got to moving my stack of wood around and bugs went running everywhere. They were not termites but carpenter ants. They munched on my cheap 2X4 but left all the hardwod alone. So I set off a fumigator and now nothing is crawling and eating wood for the moment.

Never knew carpenter ants would go to town on my wood :nah:

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

A note about termites- except for maybe one species that can fly, most termites live in the ground. They have very thin exoskeletons so when exposed to air, dry out and die. The way they typically eat wood/your house is by building a mud tunnel up your foundation wall or across exposed surfaces until they reach wood which they can bore into and eat. The bottom line is there is usually a telltale mud tunnel leading to the ground.

 

[Glennbear]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

A note about termites- except for maybe one species that can fly, most termites live in the ground. They have very thin exoskeletons so when exposed to air, dry out and die. The way they typically eat wood/your house is by building a mud tunnel up your foundation wall or across exposed surfaces until they reach wood which they can bore into and eat. The bottom line is there is usually a telltale mud tunnel leading to the ground.

To expound upon Alan's quite accurate information, termites will chow down on ANY cellulose. I found this out the hard way when I had several hundred dollars worth of cotton towels munched on after the little pests had made tunnels inside a wooden storage building and eaten through the cardboard storage boxes. :eusa_doh:The moral of the story is, keep an eye on stacked cardboard or newspapers in addition to your wood supply. :wsmile:

 

[CarvedTones]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

An exterminator told me that the whole termite protection industry primarily exists because people won't pay enough attention to the simple rules - don't let wood from the house touch or very nearly touch the ground, or a piece of wood connect the house to the ground. He said they don't explore very far when they come to a barrier. He also said he had seen many old homes with no trouble that had never been treated but had taller foundations than a lot of new homes. I did not know about the mud tunnels. He was telling me this because he didn't like how short the foundation wall is in one corner of an addition on our house.

 

[froglips]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

And to add to the great info......

I have my shop foundation treated when my house is treated.

I had a bad infestation last summer. The swarming termintes (look like ants with wings) fly off to start new colonies.

Termites don't live in wood, they feed then carry back to their underground lairs.

Once the ground is treated, they will die as they pass through the poison.

Sadly, there are plenty of other pest threats......

Jim

 

[CrealBilly]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

Seen a lot of both termites and ants here's a quick and easy ID from www.pestproducts.com

I use rock salt on the ground because I don't like toxic chemicals, rock salt seems to take care of them real good and just about every thing else too.

 

[jrevans]

Re: Think I had termites in shop

Just in case you've never seen a termite tunnel, they look a lot like what dirt dobbers build, just thinner. If the tunnel is long, it'll likely have several branches.

 

[decibel]

Thanks for the replies did have our exterminator come out and he checked and said much the same as you guys. They were indeed carpenter ants and I found the nest (along with some nice sawdust) under my 2X4. They were some big uglies ones up there.

Its almost been a week ad so far they haven't been back since the fumigation. Hopefully they'll stay that way.ccasion1

 

[Robert Arrowood]

Every so often I sprinkle borax soap around the shop.Also try to get it around the base of the walls.