Ant Control in Boulder Creek, CA

Local Context

Boulder Creek Wood Softens Before It Weathers, and Carpenter Ants Move Into What Is Left

Carpenter ants do not eat wood — they excavate it, and they need it soft to do that efficiently. Boulder Creek supplies more soft wood than anywhere else in our territory. Rainfall is the highest we work in, several creek drainages run through the community, and the old-growth canopy keeps shaded framing from drying between storms. Decking, stair stringers, ledger boards, shed walls, and window sills go punky here on a schedule you would never see on an open inland lot.

Camponotus modoc, the western black carpenter ant, finds that wood on foot. Parent colonies live in stumps, downed logs, and standing dead timber, and after the CZU fire there is a great deal of dead wood around Boulder Creek in exactly that condition. Satellite nests then move into a structure through a wet deck post or a leaking eave. Large black ants indoors after dark, coarse shavings with insect parts in them below a joint, and a faint rustling inside a wall are the three things people actually notice.

Argentine ants are a separate problem with a separate fix. They nest shallow in the duff a few feet outside the foundation, forage in trails, and come indoors when winter rain floods them out or when late-summer soil dries. Killing the trail does nothing to the colony behind it. Baiting the trail does.