Ants in Camper

[ventura67]

So I opened up the camper for the first time since May to get ready for an upcoming trip. When I started unfolding the canvas one corner was filled with Carpenter ants and their eggs. I like being outdoors and bugs don't bother me too much but this was absolutely disgusting!

Luckily most of them and their eggs were on the outside of the canvas and one flick sent 80% of them flying across the yard. They had made an eraser size whole in the screen and the window flap of my once flawless canvas, now fixed. It looks like there may have been moisture either from the ants or a leak, the area is near a previous leak I am pretty sure I fixed before, but maybe not.

My question, would ants invade any pop up, leak or not, or does the moisture from a leak encourage them to bed up in there?

What does everyone do to discourage ants from living in their campers?

[wavery]

What does everyone do to discourage ants from living in their campers?

I live in SoCal...................problem solved :sombraro:
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sorry...............I couldn't resist :p





I HATE BUGS!!!!

[dcampbell1969]

Carpenter ants, the black ones, go after moisture.  Fire ants go after food.  To help prevent ants, I spray around the tires and tongue jack, and anywhere that they could reach the camper.  I have also seen posts where some say the use ant bait traps inside the camper as well.

[terrond]

I place small lines of Boric Acid Powder inside the corners and in the cabinets. It's safe to use and takes care of them for me.

[tlhdoc]

Make sure you get rid of the carpenter ants.  They will eat your PU if you don't!

I use baby powder around the PU to keep them away.

[trumpet87]

Wow, that's weird, because our pup is the only place we inhabit that DOESN'T have them, lol! I've had the little brown ones in my house off and on (more on) since early last spring! They drive me NUTS too! We try to be very careful and not leave anything out, but they are still in my kitchen. And they don't seem to get in anything when there is! UGH!!! :yikes:

[austinado16]

Wow, that's weird, because our pup is the only place we inhabit that DOESN'T have them, lol! I've had the little brown ones in my house off and on (more on) since early last spring! They drive me NUTS too! We try to be very careful and not leave anything out, but they are still in my kitchen. And they don't seem to get in anything when there is! UGH!!! :yikes:

We've got little black ants like this here in southern CA.  They can be a nightmare.  The cure I've found is to feed them outside with clear syrup any killer that we get at the hardware store.  Looks like Carro Syrup.  I pour it up inside the foundation of the house, they can not stay out of it, carry it back to the nest and nuke everyone.  

Sometime when we wind up with an infestation in the house, usually comming across the kitchen counter top, I'll poor the syrup on a back corner of the counter out of the way and let them feed on that for a few days.....and re-treat with fresh syrup under the house.  When the trail dies down I clean up, and they don't come back for a long time.  I want to say the name of the syrup is "Tarro" or something like that.

[AustinBoston]

I want to say the name of the syrup is "Tarro" or something like that.

That's the stuff.  We use it for sweet-eating ants (the little tiny ones).  The only problem with the stuff is it can take weeks to work.

Austin

[austinado16]

Ours is effective in about a day and while they're dining on the kitchen counter, I'm looking down stream for the source of the trail.

[Deemeows]

Ants love moisture.  They also like food, but they live where there's moisture, so you have likely got a problem with water somewhere.

We, too, had this problem when we opened up our PU for the season.  We had sugar ants covering one corner of our roof and halfway down the canvas.  Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the roof had been leaking BADLY and that the ants had found a nice, warm, moist place to lay their eggs and tend to their little ant babies.  As hubby pulled down the luaun paneling that covers the ceiling, we were horrified!  The foam was wet, the wood supports were rotted and our aluminum roof had about 100 or more little teeny holes in it.

My husband is replacing the roof now.  Resupporting it, rewiring, reinsulating and covering up all the ugly with some nice white bathroom panelling.  I think he's going to use a roof coating to cover the exterior after he caulks the holes.

I've been taking photos.  Will try to post when I have a chance.

Dee in NC

[austinado16]

.......My husband is replacing the roof now.  
Dee in NC

Yikes!  Mine wasn't that bad, but nearly so.  Did all the same stuff to mine about 2 months ago.  When done, you guys won't be able to tell.

Please post photos, and I'd love to know what you coat the roof with when it's done.  I'd simply do mine in "Kool Seal" but I've only found it in white and my camper is that wonderful late 80's tan.  I thought about just doing the whole thing in paintable rubberized undercoating, like for car rocker panels and then going over that with a roller and some elastomeric house paint tinted to match.

[corsini]

I have a sure fire way to get rid of ants. Mix 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1/4 cup of icing sugar. Once you have it mixed, put small amounts in bottle caps anywhere you see the critters. The sweetness of the icing sugar attracts the ants. When they gobble up the mixture, the ants have no way to get rid of the gas caused by the baking soda and they'll POP!. Hope this helps!

[flyfisherman]

I have a sure fire way to get rid of ants. Mix 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1/4 cup of icing sugar. Once you have it mixed, put small amounts in bottle caps anywhere you see the critters. The sweetness of the icing sugar attracts the ants. When they gobble up the mixture, the ants have no way to get rid of the gas caused by the baking soda and they'll POP!. Hope this helps!

When storing my camper for the season, or for maybe some extended time, I'll sprinkle some Comet cleanser around the tires and the block the trailer tounge is setting on. I suppose there are other chlorinated cleansers that will work, too, but I've used Comet and I know that will put an end to ants crossing "over over the line". When it's setting in the driveway between trips, we have a lot of these little "sugar ants" (I call them) and I place one of those little ant poison bait stations on the floor of the camper. Usually when some of those little buggers get into the poisioned bait and tote it home to the "Queen" and she partakes and dies ... end of that nest.


Fly