Carpenter ants

[Ceinwen]

So, we have carpenter ants. Big, ugly biting ones - as in they bite even when I kill them first. Does that make them zombie carpenter ants?

I live in northern Ontario and it's just starting to warm up here.

We called around today to talk to several exterminators. They all said the same thing - these ants can seriously damage your foundation, build nests in between walls, etc.

We don't have wood heat, and only recently started opening windows. I've seen about a dozen ants in the last seventy-two hours.

I have a six year old and a one year old, and was informed we'd have to be out of the house for twenty-four hours post spray.

The cost is $400 but comes with a one year guarantee.

Any BTDT advice, stories, etc? I'm nervous about chemical spraying with kids, but if one of these ants bites my toddler I'm going to be very upset.

TIA! :

[Ceinwen]

I see there are several threads on this - I'm off to read.

But seriously, any new info is appreciated!

[Maddy123]

We have carpenter ants on a large, old tree near our back deck.

We were getting the ants in our daughter's bedroom. There was a branch from the tree touching our house. We cut back the branch and vacuumed up the ants that were left in her room. Do you know where they are coming in? Can you get to the source?

In our case, a huge number of ants were coming in through a tiny branch, way up near our roof. It was strange to think they could even get in her room, way up on the 2nd floor (really the 3rd floor, since our house is on a hill), but they could.

They were big and they bit. So I know how unpleasant they are. Hope you can find a solution. In our case, they haven't been back since we dealt with the branch they were walking in on...

[Luckiestgirl]

We had them in our last house. The exterminator found a big nest of them under the addition at the back of our house. She sprayed the crawl space under the addition and we never had a problem again. I hate chemicals too, but I couldn't risk my child being bitten or our house being damaged. We were seeing like 2 dozen a day, though. I think it's important to isolate where they are nesting and then treat that area. Hopefully you won't have to spray inside the house.