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I was visiting with a client the other day here in Portland. He had a carpenter ant problem by his back door. The large ants were appearing regularly inside the house when the sun came out. I was puzzled by their presence in this location. There were none of the usual contributing factors like vegitation, trees touching, or bark dust too high. This was a concrete stoop and sidewalk connecting to the back door. I dropped to my hands and knees and noticed a gap behind the step next to the house. I then realized that this area had a south west exposure. This meant that this area revieves a lot of driving rain. Bingo!!

The rain was being slammed up and under the juncture of the siding and the concrete step. And where there is wet wood, there are (or will be) ants. The homeowner tip of the day is to carefully check the caulking around windows and doors especially on the wet ’south west’ side of the house. 

This is what a typical pile of ‘frass’ looks like.

(click the pic for larger image)

A frass is the ant colonys’ garbage dump and it contains some sawdust. It also contains ant pieces as well as ant cocoon pieces and egg case parts (the white chunks). Many salesmen wouldn’t know what this is. These ‘experts’ often point to some sawdust left from construction and tell the homeowner their house is being destroyed.

We are your natural choice when looking for organic residential and commercial Pest Controls for Ants, Rodents, Wasps, Hornets, Spiders, Grain Beetles, Bats, and more. We need no ‘long term contracts’ to be the elimination experts. Serving Portland, Beaverton, Tualatin, Tigard, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Gresham, Hillsboro, Canby, Oregon City Forrest Grove, Portland, and all of Washington and Multnomah counties.

Give Us A Call At 503-579-3680

I am continually educating home owners about the futility of using of the commercially available ant bait stations, or ‘ant traps’ as they are called. I have yet to find a ‘trap’ for sale in stores that works here in the Pacific North Wet. IMHO, these were designed to be marketed and used in California and are unsuitable here. And to make matters worse, the homeowner is usually using some kind of spray near the stations. The spray could be a soap, window cleaner, or flower oils. If the station ever had any chance of working, forget it, these sprays ruin them.

We offer advanced bait technologies not available in stores. When combined with the right environment modifications and minimal exterior sprays, we can guarantee our results. Our knowledge of the ant species in this marine sub climate is critical to our success with ants.

Your natural choice when looking for organic residential and commercial Pest Controls for Ants, Rodents, Wasps, Hornets, Spiders, Grain Beetles, Bats, and more. We need no ‘long term contracts’ to be the elimination experts. Serving Portland, Beaverton, Tualatin, Tigard, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Gresham, Hillsboro, Canby, Oregon City Forrest Grove, Portland, and all of Washington and Multnomah counties.

Telephone
503-579-3680
Mailing address
12625 SW Katherine St., Tigard, OR 97223
Electronic mail
General Information and Customer Support:
Email: Click here To Email

What We do and What to Expect

A little background on Carpenter ants is in order. First, they do not eat wood. They hollow out sound wood and introduce moisture into the wood, if the moisture is not already there. The first condition we look for and ask about is moisture, even small amounts, in the walls, roof or floor. All species of ants in a structure will set up their colonies in or very near a moist spot. Unlike other smaller species, Carpenter Ants have one Queen in the colony. She can live over 10 years and if she dies, the entire colony eventually dies.Here in this part of Oregon we deal primarily with four sub species. For three of them the treatment is essentially the same. On our first visit to the house we often find conditions that make a successful treatment difficult. Moisture problems including bad caulking, leaky windows and roofs. Trees and brush touching the house as well as the adjoining decking and fencing. Electric and telephone wires running from the house and into the trees. Bark dust and dirt touching the siding. Old stumps and rail road ties near the house.It is very important that the homeowner and technician discuss these conditions and remedy them when practical.Ants are cold blooded. When the temperature falls, they become inactive. They need over 55 degree temps on the ground to forage actively. While it is important to get treatment started as soon as possible, the speed of the colony kill is very much weather related.If you see ants along the foundation for a few days after we have sprayed, this is a good thing. Because the spray is non repellant, ants will freely walk on it and track the active ingredient back into the colony where it will kill many more ants through the ‘domino’ effect. The second reason to see ants after the initial treatment is that there are still ants emerging from pupae or cocoons. They haven’t had any contact yet with any active ingredients and will often wander about looking for the rest of the colony. The rest of the colony is dead, and these wanderers soon die also.Call us back for more treatment if you see strong ant activity entering the house two weeks or more after the treatment. All of the carpenter ant colonies produce winged reproductive’s. These large winged ants usually stay in a “staging area” away from the main colony. They are waiting to do their mating flight and they sometimes get confused by the warmth of your house and emerge prematurely inside rather than outside. These ants do not eat or forage while waiting for the right flight conditions. Therefore they have not come into contact with the products we have treated your home with.

We could put toxic products on the interior surfaces of your home but prefer not to.

The best solution for these winged nuisances is to vacuum them up. There aren’t very many of them and the vacuum kills them very well. Questions are always welcomed. Call us at 503-579-3680.