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Home > Archive > Pest Control > October 2005 > How do I determine what kind of termite/ant problem I have in my house?
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How do I determine what kind of termite/ant problem I have in my house?
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| indigosm 2005-10-30, 5:21 pm |
| Hello there.
I'll try and tell a long story very quickly... Basically, after I
bought my house and began the remodeling, I found out that pretty much
every exterior wall on the entire first floor of the house had had a
carpenter ant problem at some time in the past, but they were all dead
by then. (3 years ago). The next part of the story is that I found
that the 1st floor's tub was ONE HUGE ant nest, and it too appeared
dead by the time that part of the house got remodeled..
To fast forward a couple of years, I found that I'd get a new carpenter
ant problem about 1-2 times a year, and I'd either hire Terminix or
take care of the problem myself. And basically, I've found that we can
kill 'em off and they'll leave the house, but they'll come back a
couple of months later on the OTHER SIDE OF THE HOUSE and this is an
unending war.
So that sums up my story and now I'll get on to my question. I've
currently got a problem which is mindboggling to me. I've got a
species of creature that I can't quite figure out. They appear to be
fire ants AND carpenter ants AND termites. Here's why:
THEY'RE FIRE ANTS = These ants are half red, half black (like the
florida carpenter ants AND some fire ants (and Texas has TONS and TONS
of fire ants.) I've also been bitten about 3 times, and each bite
gives me what appears to be an infected zit, basically, (i apologize
for being gross) and I've only heard people say that about fire ant
bites.
THEY'RE CARPENTER ANTS : These ants are DEFINITELY carpenter ants,
because they're chewing thru the house and spraying sawdust ALL OVER
THE PLACE. I came back from vacation once and saw that they'd chewed
thru the base of my front door in order to get into the house. But
luckily for me, they had just gotten through and actually hadn't gotten
to exploring the house. I was lucky to *completely* remove the entire
problem in one spray.  I'd also say they're carpenter ants, because
they appeared to like living underneath the tub.
THEY'RE TERMITES : I wouldn't say these ants are termites, because they
look like fire ants or the red-black florida carpenter ants. BUT, I
recently found some mud tunnels going into the house!! Has anyone ever
heard of any carpenter ants that create the mud tunnels into the house?
I've never heard of that...
So as you can see, I've got what appears to be 3 different species
merged into one at my house and I'm completely annoyed and confused
with it all. Does this make any sense to anyone?
PICTURE of the ants carving thru the front door:
http://www.idsoftware.com/public/se...nts/08_0077.JPG
PICTURE of the VERY VERY old sawdust that I saw behind the baseboards
of the house:
http://www.idsoftware.com/public/se...ts/DSCN1239.JPG
PICTURE of the humongous nest underneath the tub:
http://www.idsoftware.com/public/se...ts/DSCN1438.JPG
I really need to take some macro photography of the ants so I can show
them. But anyways, thanks in advance for any info on this, I'm VERY
curious if what I'm seeing is something that other people have seen
before.
ps. Oh, and if you're ever building a house in Texas, I highly
recommend you folks DON'T put in those cracks between the bricks at the
base of the house "to vent out the walls", because that's how *ALL* the
ants get in. 
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| In article <1130705823.892749.97820@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
indigosm@hotmail.com says...
Hello there.
Howdy
So that sums up my story and now I'll get on to my question. I've
currently got a problem which is mindboggling to me. I've got a
species of creature that I can't quite figure out. They appear to be
fire ants AND carpenter ants AND termites. Here's why:
THEY'RE FIRE ANTS = These ants are half red, half black (like the
florida carpenter ants AND some fire ants (and Texas has TONS and TONS
of fire ants.) I've also been bitten about 3 times, and each bite
gives me what appears to be an infected zit, basically, (i apologize
for being gross) and I've only heard people say that about fire ant
bites.
Fire ants unlike carpenter ants not only bite but have a stinger
causing the pustule/sore.
THEY'RE CARPENTER ANTS : These ants are DEFINITELY carpenter ants,
because they're chewing thru the house and spraying sawdust ALL OVER
THE PLACE. I came back from vacation once and saw that they'd chewed
thru the base of my front door in order to get into the house. But
luckily for me, they had just gotten through and actually hadn't gotten
to exploring the house. I was lucky to *completely* remove the entire
problem in one spray. I'd also say they're carpenter ants, because
they appeared to like living underneath the tub.
Many species of ants will create the frass (saw dust looking stuff) when
nesting in a home. Even with carpenter ants most of it isn't saw dust
but rather a shed skin from the pupa stage that looks just like a piece
of saw dust. If under the tub you mean in the soil around the bath
trap..more of a fire ant issue.
THEY'RE TERMITES : I wouldn't say these ants are termites, because they
look like fire ants or the red-black florida carpenter ants. BUT, I
recently found some mud tunnels going into the house!! Has anyone ever
heard of any carpenter ants that create the mud tunnels into the house?
I've never heard of that...
Fire ants can create a tube coming from the ground up the foundation
that can look like a termite tube except it will collapse when touched
where a termite tube is hardened.
So as you can see, I've got what appears to be 3 different species
merged into one at my house and I'm completely annoyed and confused
with it all. Does this make any sense to anyone?
PICTURE of the ants carving thru the front door:
possible that the bottom of the door is a bit rotten giving ants the
opportunity to nest in it.
--
Lar
to email....get rid of the BUGS
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| indigosm 2005-10-31, 1:21 am |
| > Fire ants unlike carpenter ants not only bite but have a
> stinger causing the pustule/sore.
Ah, so that says they aren't carpenter ants in this case, then.
> Many species of ants will create the frass (saw dust looking
> stuff) when nesting in a home. Even with carpenter ants most
> of it isn't saw dust but rather a shed skin from the pupa
> stage that looks just like a piece of saw dust. If under the
> tub you mean in the soil around the bath trap..more of a
> fire ant issue.
Ah. That's interesting, but it's definitely not shed skin in the front
door case. They definitely chewed right through the bottom of the
door. (it was also a brand new door, so I can't imagine the wood being
old or moist, btw...)
> Fire ants can create a tube coming from the ground up the
> foundation that can look like a termite tube except it will
> collapse when touched where a termite tube is hardened.
Yep, it would easily collapse. It was barely held together. Well
thank you very much! You've just told me that this infestation is a
fire ant problem and not a carpenter ant or termite problem! Yay!
| |
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| Find a company in your area that uses the Phantom/Termidor Inside & Out
treatment for the ants. I do this ant treatment and give a 6 month guarantee
with it.
Darlene
smithext@houston.rr.com
"indigosm" <indigosm@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130705823.892749.97820@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Hello there.
> I'll try and tell a long story very quickly... Basically, after I
> bought my house and began the remodeling, I found out that pretty much
> every exterior wall on the entire first floor of the house had had a
> carpenter ant problem at some time in the past, but they were all dead
> by then. (3 years ago). The next part of the story is that I found
> that the 1st floor's tub was ONE HUGE ant nest, and it too appeared
> dead by the time that part of the house got remodeled..
>
> To fast forward a couple of years, I found that I'd get a new carpenter
> ant problem about 1-2 times a year, and I'd either hire Terminix or
> take care of the problem myself. And basically, I've found that we can
> kill 'em off and they'll leave the house, but they'll come back a
> couple of months later on the OTHER SIDE OF THE HOUSE and this is an
> unending war.
>
> So that sums up my story and now I'll get on to my question. I've
> currently got a problem which is mindboggling to me. I've got a
> species of creature that I can't quite figure out. They appear to be
> fire ants AND carpenter ants AND termites. Here's why:
>
> THEY'RE FIRE ANTS = These ants are half red, half black (like the
> florida carpenter ants AND some fire ants (and Texas has TONS and TONS
> of fire ants.) I've also been bitten about 3 times, and each bite
> gives me what appears to be an infected zit, basically, (i apologize
> for being gross) and I've only heard people say that about fire ant
> bites.
>
> THEY'RE CARPENTER ANTS : These ants are DEFINITELY carpenter ants,
> because they're chewing thru the house and spraying sawdust ALL OVER
> THE PLACE. I came back from vacation once and saw that they'd chewed
> thru the base of my front door in order to get into the house. But
> luckily for me, they had just gotten through and actually hadn't gotten
> to exploring the house. I was lucky to *completely* remove the entire
> problem in one spray. I'd also say they're carpenter ants, because
> they appeared to like living underneath the tub.
>
> THEY'RE TERMITES : I wouldn't say these ants are termites, because they
> look like fire ants or the red-black florida carpenter ants. BUT, I
> recently found some mud tunnels going into the house!! Has anyone ever
> heard of any carpenter ants that create the mud tunnels into the house?
> I've never heard of that...
>
>
>
> So as you can see, I've got what appears to be 3 different species
> merged into one at my house and I'm completely annoyed and confused
> with it all. Does this make any sense to anyone?
>
> PICTURE of the ants carving thru the front door:
> http://www.idsoftware.com/public/se...nts/08_0077.JPG
>
> PICTURE of the VERY VERY old sawdust that I saw behind the baseboards
> of the house:
> http://www.idsoftware.com/public/se...ts/DSCN1239.JPG
>
> PICTURE of the humongous nest underneath the tub:
> http://www.idsoftware.com/public/se...ts/DSCN1438.JPG
>
>
> I really need to take some macro photography of the ants so I can show
> them. But anyways, thanks in advance for any info on this, I'm VERY
> curious if what I'm seeing is something that other people have seen
> before.
>
> ps. Oh, and if you're ever building a house in Texas, I highly
> recommend you folks DON'T put in those cracks between the bricks at the
> base of the house "to vent out the walls", because that's how *ALL* the
> ants get in.
>
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