Carpenter Ants

Posted by: Owen Jones  /  Category: Environment

Carpenter ants are big ants that live in many parts of the world. They like to build their nests or colonies from dead, damp timber. However, contrary to popular opinion, they do not feed on wood as termites do.

They use wood to build their colonies and tunnel through it in their search for new sources of food. This is proved by piles of frass, which is the detritus that the carpenter ants have chewed out of typically damp. dead wood.

There are over a thousand species of these large, typically black ants, which belong to the genus Camponotus. Carpenter ants live in colonies and have colonies both indoors and outdoors in moist, decaying or hollow timber. They like to travel through this rotting timber by chiselling out galleries or walkways in timber length-ways up the grain in order to provide passageways from one part of the nest to another.

The parts of a house that are most likely to be of concern to carpenter ants are floor joists, window frames and rafters in the roof. In fact, anywhere where you are likely to have a problem with water ingress. Decks and porches are also obviously at risk.

An interesting fact about carpenter ants is that some species produce inhabitants that can explode in order to eradicate attackers. These so-called exploding ants are found by and large in South East Asia where there are at least nine kinds that can cause their bodies to explode, thereby committing suicide.

These ants have a massive abdomen which provides a type of glue which is fired out of the head onto invaders. The exploding ant dies, but all the attackers caught up in this web of glue are glued-up as well.

How do you know whether you have carpenter ants or not? Well, the best way of idetifying carpenter ants from other ants is by looking at their waists. A carpenter ant has only one node or hump and their thorax or upper body is well-rounded and smooth. Other similar ants have more than one node or an uneven or two-sectioned back.

If you are looking at flying ants, then the disparity between carpenter ants and termites, with which they are often confused, is that carpenter ants have darker-coloured bodies, narrow waists, elbowed or bent antennae and, if they have them, the hind wings are smaller than the front wings.

Another aspect is that carpenter ants are fairly happy to come out and be seen, whereas termites are light-shy, even though carpenter ants are most active between dusk and mid-night and reproductive termites will fly during the day time.

Carpenter ants eat protein and sugar such as other insects, living or dead and spilled honey or sugar. This honey can also be extracted from aphids or greenfly, which is called honeydew. Therefore, if you want to trace carpenter worker ants back to their nest or nests, you have to lay down something like honey and watch the ants take the food back to their nests. This is the first step in destroying colonies of carpenter ants.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on quite a few subjects, but is at present involved with Getting Rid Of Carpenter Ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Ants

Posted by: Owen Jones  /  Category: Environment

There are over 1,000 species of carpenter ants. The majority of of them are big, between a quarter of an inch and an inch long, and black, although there are red ones too. There are even a few species in South East Asia which will explode if attacked, ejecting a gluey liquid out through their heads which immobilizes the invaders. The exploding carpenter ant dies.

Carpenter ants are said to do a lot of damage to timber, as they gnaw their way up the middle through its length. However, this is a popular myth, unlike termites, carpenters do not eat wood, they gnaw their way through it to get somewhere. They spit the chewed wood out. This is called frass and it can often be seen in heaps like sawdust. It is a good sign that carpenters are active in or around your house.

Carpenter ants like to travel through the length of wet or rotten dead timber in much the same way as termites do although they do not consume the timber. Carpenters feed on dead insects, dead animals and honeydew from aphids and scale insects outside the home, but if they come inside your home they will be searching for dropped or uncovered food, in particular anything sweet and sugary. Therefore, cleanliness is an important factor in clearing carpenters out of your house.

These ants will walk up to a hundred yards while looking for food, but they like to be near a recurring source of food. A feature of carpenter ant colonies is that they may build satellite nests away from their central colony. This is often why they go into a home.

If they regularly find spilled food in the kitchen, they may make a nest in the wall to take advantage of it, particularly if the window or door frame is a bit decayed. Inside the home, they will probably nest in a cavity wall, outside the home they prefer to construct nests in decaying tree stumps.

It is no good spraying carpenter ants with insecticide if you want to get rid of them – particularly if you kill large quantities of them. This may seem odd, but the logic is that the colony will miss these workers and so the queen will increase her production of eggs to counteract it. If she over compensates, you are in a worse situation that you were before spraying.

The only way to wipe out a nest of carpenter ants is to destroy the queen and the whole colony with poison. This is not difficult although it does take a bit of investigative work. Carpenters are most active between twilight and midnight, so put out honey on glass or sticky tape where they are active and follow them when they take it home.

Do not forget, they may have a number of nests in their colony. If you need light, wrap red cellophane over a normal flashlight, because ants can not perceive red light. When you have found their nests, put poison down outside each nest as directed on the label. Do this for several days in a row until you do not see anymore carpenter ants. If you are still getting them, you have missed a nest.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with Getting Rid Of Carpenter Ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

Top 3 Methods For The Best Choice Of Quality Wood Pellet Heating Systems

Posted by: Christopher Scott  /  Category: Biofuel

No matter what your goal, to achieve it you will need tips, pointers and advice to attain it. When you know what to do and what things to stay away from, it’s less of a challenge to achieve your goals. You’ll find 3 important ideas to help you which are shown in the following paragraphs. Try these tips and you will be confident of getting a lot better final results.

While you go to look a pellet stoves and wood pellet boilers, it is always important that you do things right. If you don’t, the consequences might possibly be devastating. You may end up been drawn to the stoves and boilers which look the most attractive, or possibly the lowest cost pellet stoves and boilers, which you will regret in the long run. Here are a trio of ways to protect against that from developing.

1. Don’t choose a pellet stove or boiler on looks alone, or even the maintenance saving features

One must always not choose a pellet stove or boiler on looks alone, or even the maintenance saving features since it helps prevent looking at what you really need the heating appliance to do, which is provide heat reliably. Failing to get this done could mean you end up purchasing a pellet stove or boiler which looks very nice, however lacks the core functions to burn a wide range of fuel successfully. So take care to do this effectively and never make the mistake of neglecting this essential step!

2. Ask the salesman the right questions

About as necessary as not choosing a pellet stove or boiler on looks alone, or even the maintenance saving features any time you are working with pellet stoves and wood pellet boilers is ask the salesman the right questions. I am letting you know, this isn’t something to overlook. It helps to get down to the real capabilities of the heat system to be able to provide you with heat at a reasonable price, and that is something anybody engaged in choosing a quality wood pellet heating systems wishes.

3. Try to purchase a pellet heating system, which can use lower grade pellet fuel

Last of all, when you go to look a pellet stoves and wood pellet boilers you need to be sure and try to purchase a pellet heating system which can use lower grade pellet fuel. This can encourage keeping annual running costs down, which is a very important part of your choice of quality wood pellet heating systems. If you don’t, you may end up with a system, which can only use premium grade pellet fuel, the most expensive pellet fuel — and I presume we are able to agree that this won’t be a good thing!

As I pointed out at the beginning, with regards to going to look at pellet stoves and wood pellet boilers, you really want to make certain you do not make mistakes that turn out been drawn to the stoves and boilers which look the most attractive, or even the lowest cost pellet stoves and boilers, which you will regret in the long run. What you need is a middle of the range pellet stove or boiler, which will last decades and can run on lower grade wood and biomass pellets to keep fuel costs down, and you can accomplish that through using the actual guidelines given.

Want to find out more about Pellet Stoves Pros and Cons, then visit Christopher Scott’s site on how to choose the best Pellet Stoves For Sale for your needs.

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