My wife and I are living in an apartment "between" houses. We close on
our new house in 36 days...

our apartment was occupied by ants or termites before we left. Not
being a scientist, I cannot tell the difference.

some questions:

any ideas for verifying the furniture in the apartment is not
"infected" prior to moving to new house?

the first several months problem was with toiletries and food, and
apartment management came hired an exterminitor. I believe they baited
where the "ants" were thought to be coming from. For about a month no
ants were seen.

A few weeks ago a loaf of banana bread was attacked by "ants"

Yesterday a drawer full of paper was attacked. Thinking that ants
don't eat paper, my thought is a termite problem.

I think the apartment is a lost cause (we got what we paid for). My
primary concern is the couch, box springs, recliner and one dresser we
have in the apartment. How can I be sure this problem does not follow
me to our newly built house?

On 10-Nov-2005, "jIM" wrote:

Not being a scientist, I cannot tell the difference.

Termites only live in moist soil or wood - they won't wander
very far or for very long from those. If you've been having
problems with bugs attacking food and other sources, they must
be ants.

Mike

You probably have ants. If big and black - carpenter. if small - maybe leaf cutter.

Best solution is fumigate all furniture after it is out of the apartment and before it is in your new digs.

No point in event chancing a few unwanted guest pests.

Call your local exterminator and see what is best for you.

--
PDQ

--
"jIM" wrote in message oups.com...
| My wife and I are living in an apartment "between" houses. We close on
| our new house in 36 days...
|
| our apartment was occupied by ants or termites before we left. Not
| being a scientist, I cannot tell the difference.
|
| some questions:
|
| any ideas for verifying the furniture in the apartment is not
| "infected" prior to moving to new house?
|
| the first several months problem was with toiletries and food, and
| apartment management came hired an exterminitor. I believe they baited
| where the "ants" were thought to be coming from. For about a month no
| ants were seen.
|
| A few weeks ago a loaf of banana bread was attacked by "ants"
|
| Yesterday a drawer full of paper was attacked. Thinking that ants
| don't eat paper, my thought is a termite problem.
|
| I think the apartment is a lost cause (we got what we paid for). My
| primary concern is the couch, box springs, recliner and one dresser we
| have in the apartment. How can I be sure this problem does not follow
| me to our newly built house?
|

what is involved with fumigation? Can terminex do this, can it be done
in an apartment parking lot?

jIM

"PDQ" wrote in message
. ..
You probably have ants. If big and black - carpenter. if small - maybe
leaf cutter.

Best solution is fumigate all furniture after it is out of the apartment and
before it is in your new digs.

No point in event chancing a few unwanted guest pests.

Call your local exterminator and see what is best for you.

--
PDQ

In my experience, which does have it's limits, cockroaches are about the
only insect pest which might be worth fumigation before moving. I would
like to see some discussion here on that view. Could possibly save you some
unnecessary expense.

Chewed paper, and/or clothing, could be silverfish/firebrats.

SJF

Right you are. Termites won't nest in (relatively quite dry)
furniture. Carpenter ants nest in wet wood, where the queen is, and
forage for various foods elsewhere.

OP could consult Ag Ext agent for help in id-ing pests. Anyone not
trying to sell stuff.

J

I'm confident they are ants, but I'm not going to bet on it... they
were the brown kind and real little- not like the large black ants I
see at parks around picnic bences, but brown/tan ones.

I think my furnture is dry. never been outside while I've owned it.
Help me understand "wet" conditions. I assume if they are in my apt,
there must be some moisture trapped inside the walls, under the floor
or somewhere? Could caulking all the holes fix this then?

I could careless about the apt, I am concerned with furniture. can I
caulk my couch ( a joke, I know that really doesn't make sense). Maybe
put couch in a bubble?

jIM

On 10-Nov-2005, "jIM" wrote:

I'm confident they are ants, but I'm not going to bet on it...

If you can capture one, take it to an exterminator for identification.

I wouldn't want to sweat the termite problem if it's only an ant problem.

Wet means wet - you can feel it. If your furniture was wet, you'd know.
Think of sticking your hand into the ground when there's no drought.
Wet isn't standing water - termites can't live below the water table, only
between the water table and the surface. They can get into a house if
there is wood in contact with wet soil. That's why, if you live in a
termite area, you want a foundation that is concrete/brick/etc at least
18" above the soil (though I've heard in some areas they mandate at
least 24" or more).

Mike

In article . com,
says...
what is involved with fumigation? Can terminex do this, can it be done
in an apartment parking lot?



You won't be needing fumigation for the furniture for ants...even with
a worse case scenario you won't need to waste the money or the chemicals
for a fumigation. Sad part is you call terminix it wouldn't surprise me
to hear they got a fumigation from you. The ants you described usually
will readily accept a bait called Terro you can get at any store...if
you are going to be where you are at for two more weeks, you can have a
pro apply Phantom on the inside and Termidor on the outside and all ants
will be gone for about a year and there won't be any chance of taking
them with you.
--
Lar

Oh, if only Noah would of been a bit more wise,
he surely would of swatted those two flies.

to email....get rid of the BUGS

In article ,
says...
They can get into a house if
there is wood in contact with wet soil.
They will get into a home with any type of soil...wet can attract them
quicker, but they don't need it.

That's why, if you live in a
termite area, you want a foundation that is concrete/brick/etc at least
18" above the soil (though I've heard in some areas they mandate at
least 24" or more).



--
Lar

Oh, if only Noah would of been a bit more wise,
he surely would of swatted those two flies.

to email....get rid of the BUGS

jIM wrote:
[...]
A few weeks ago a loaf of banana bread was attacked by "ants"

Yesterday a drawer full of paper was attacked. Thinking that ants
don't eat paper, my thought is a termite problem.

I think the apartment is a lost cause (we got what we paid for). My
primary concern is the couch, box springs, recliner and one dresser we
have in the apartment. How can I be sure this problem does not follow
me to our newly built house?


Neither ants nor termites are going to hide inside most types of
furniture. However I did once move a cardboard box that had been stored
in a garage into an apartment and an ant nest that was living in the
box then tried to chew a hole in the wooden floor under the box. I
would suspect that any furniture or other items that sit flat on the
floor should be emptied and inspected carefully.

Dave wrote:
jIM wrote:

[...]
A few weeks ago a loaf of banana bread was attacked by "ants"

Yesterday a drawer full of paper was attacked. Thinking that ants
don't eat paper, my thought is a termite problem.

I think the apartment is a lost cause (we got what we paid for). My
primary concern is the couch, box springs, recliner and one dresser we
have in the apartment. How can I be sure this problem does not follow
me to our newly built house?



Neither ants nor termites are going to hide inside most types of
furniture. However I did once move a cardboard box that had been stored
in a garage into an apartment and an ant nest that was living in the
box then tried to chew a hole in the wooden floor under the box. I
would suspect that any furniture or other items that sit flat on the
floor should be emptied and inspected carefully.


Termites will infest anything made of cellulose, which includes furniture.

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:55:17 GMT, Norminn
wrote:

Termites will infest anything made of cellulose


I wonder if they'll eat cellulite?

--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

so if these boxes are emptied in the road and we transport the items
from the road and trash the boxes, low probability the ants will follow
us?

I will look to bait the furniture- the apt complex baited and it has
worked so some extent, but it appears they have not knocked off the
whole colony yet...

35 days to close...

jIM

jIM wrote:

Yesterday a drawer full of paper was attacked. Thinking that ants
don't eat paper, my thought is a termite problem.

I think the apartment is a lost cause (we got what we paid for). My
primary concern is the couch, box springs, recliner and one dresser we
have in the apartment. How can I be sure this problem does not follow
me to our newly built house?

Unless you move the hive/nest, to include the queen, the workers will die
shortly and not be replaced.

jIM wrote:
so if these boxes are emptied in the road and we transport the items
from the road and trash the boxes, low probability the ants will follow
us? [...]


Yes, empty and inspect everything and it's very unlikely they will be
able to hide from you. I think my box had a large flat book in the
bottom and they built the nest in the gap between the bottom of the
book and the bottom of the box.

We had what appeared to be termite "dust" on the wood arm of a love
seat. Found a place from the yellow pages and had it fumed and no
more "dust".


On 11 Nov 2005 08:41:32 -0800, "jIM"
wrote:

so if these boxes are emptied in the road and we transport the items
from the road and trash the boxes, low probability the ants will follow
us?

I will look to bait the furniture- the apt complex baited and it has
worked so some extent, but it appears they have not knocked off the
whole colony yet...

35 days to close...

jIM

"Dave" wrote in message
ups.com...
jIM wrote:
so if these boxes are emptied in the road and we transport the items
from the road and trash the boxes, low probability the ants will follow
us? [...]


Yes, empty and inspect everything and it's very unlikely they will be
able to hide from you. I think my box had a large flat book in the
bottom and they built the nest in the gap between the bottom of the
book and the bottom of the box.


We once ended a kitchen ant problem when we found a nest of ants inside a
roll of aluminum foil wrap on a cabinet shelf. I wanted to start an ant
farm but wife had already dumped the queen down the drain.

SJF

what is termite dust?