Carpenter Ant Queen (Pic)

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OpenWater

New Member
Aug 30, 2009
64
Catskills
Was splitting yesterday, and there she was along with a few of her minions. Very sluggish. I don't much like seeing these things - I have a log home - but there's something pretty amazing about their biology.
 

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I just split some White Ash that they were eating up. They must have been 10 Queens and I dont know how many workers in one piece I split!
 
For some reason they do seem to like ash and cherry a lot. Yet when I split this winter's wood I found exactly one piece that had a few ants; probably 15-20 ants total. I get much satisfaction from squashing those buggers.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
For some reason they do seem to like ash and cherry a lot. Yet when I split this winter's wood I found exactly one piece that had a few ants; probably 15-20 ants total. I get much satisfaction from squashing those buggers.

Yup, kill every one you find. :cheese:
 
patch53 said:
Backwoods Savage said:
For some reason they do seem to like ash and cherry a lot. Yet when I split this winter's wood I found exactly one piece that had a few ants; probably 15-20 ants total. I get much satisfaction from squashing those buggers.

Yup, kill every one you find. :cheese:

Good luck with that.
 
chainsaw gas mix poured on them does the trick.......the gas evaporates and the oil stays on them to finish the job
 
All insects are cool. I don't necessarily like them living in my firewood or house, but outside in the woods is generally ok.

Matt
 
Yup, I've found quite a few of those buggers this year. Had a lot of White Ash, dead for a couple years, and I'll find them under the bark or eating up base of the tree, which makes for an interesting fell. The ones further up the tree under the bark, do you think they're Carpenter Ants or just Black Ants. The ones under the bark don't look like they're eating into the wood, just burrowed into any spot they can find. All the same, I kill them anyway. If there's too many I'll leave that wood behind. If at home I split and find them I'll use some ant dust on them. I like the idea of the chainsaw gas mixture, but would that kill the grass if you're in the lawn?
 
OFF WITH HER HEAD!

I've had a couple experiences with them wreaking havoc with my camp, but they were always nesting in damp and rotting lumber that needed to be replaced. We were always able to get rid of them by replacing the rotting and wet lumber and by finding the rotten tree nearby the house with the big nest, cutting it down and burning it up. I've seen them quite a bit in the center-rotted cherry I cut around here, as Backwoods Savage pointed out, but they've never bothered my cabin which is only a few years old with no rotted structure.
 
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