carpenter ants

okietreedude1 · Mar 11, 2004

Last nite on the news, they did a story about a lady in Norman, OK that got ripped off by a local tree service. The 'company' flagged this lady down in the street and told her the electric company couldnt get all the trees trimmed this yr and would she like them to do it. She agreed to a $2,000. job. As the story goes, a while into the job, they came to her again saying the trees had carpenter ants and recommended treatment to keep them out of the house, $2,000. Still later, returned to tell her of a dead tree needing removed, $400. Total bill: $4,400. The lady told the news man the workers were there 1 hr. but the workers claim they were there 4 hrs. After the news man talked to them for a while, they said theyd refund $800.

the news showed the trees and they were worse that many line clearance jobs ive seen. They were topped all the way across and weren't even 'even'!

I sure hope no one here does crap like this.

My question now is, does anyone here treat for carpenter ants in trees??

Although i have come across them time to time, Ive never thought of treatment for them.

dbeck · Mar 11, 2004

all I can think of is to buy the stuff local stores sell for an insecticide. Remember carpenters only feed on dead wood - they donot harm live wood(for the most part)

Kneejerk Bombas · Mar 12, 2004

The ants want wet rotting wood. Why do you have wet rotting wood in your house? If you do, you don't need pest control, you need a building specialist.

ROLLACOSTA · Mar 12, 2004

this type of thing happens day in day out in the uk....these people are proffesional scam artists very rarely proper tradesman...i bet the cops dont know where they are now..i bet there on some trailer park or in some motel...1 day the scam will involve trees next painting ,roof repair ,drive sealing ..in england there known as travelers wandering tinkers with gypsy ancestory...lots of them carry out tree work in the uk ..most do shoddy work ..though not all as i know some who run large busnesess..and do a good job..if you ever go on google.co.uk type in travellers [with 2 LLs] lots will come up about them..what anoys me is they usualy target older cittizens :angry:

rb_in_va · Mar 12, 2004

Originally posted by Mike Maas
The ants want wet rotting wood.

Mike, I was told by a an exterminator that termites eat wet wood, and the ants eat termites. But I don't know for sure. I don't know how knowlegdeable they were. That same company could never really tell me whether I had termites or not, so I fired them. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess. Later, Roger.

jmchristopher · Mar 12, 2004

I usually ask folks if they're particularly bothered themselves by the ants. If not, I explain that that ants are harmless or even beneficial. They only feed on decayed wood (as previously mentionsed) and treating them is mosty a waste of money. Make sure that branches are not touching the house, which could be giving them a nice path to water or other resouces. Know where the decay is, for sure.