Ants

[agh1890]

I currently have an Artesian Hot tub on a concert pad.  This is the first spring we have had the hot tub.  Over the winter I was worried about mice finding a nice warm spot to living in the spa pump compartment but this has not been an issue.  Now that it is spring we are seeing ants.  we have always had problems with carpenter ants in and around the house and have the whole house treated once a quarter now. 

What I am noticing now is when I take the cover off the spa I will find a few ants running around on the shell.  I also see them aound the base of the spa.  Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them.  Like I said we do treat for them but they seem to be attracted to the spa for some reason.  How concerned should I be with these things?  I really hate the ants but short of burning down my entire yard I don't think I will ever beat them.  I just want them to stay outside and away from my spa.

-A-

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  I would try and find out if infact they are nesting inside the cabinet, that would be a bad thing long term.   You also might try some of those insect spray barrier type products, I use that stuff around the foundation of my house and have yet to see a problem.   

[goose973]

While I may be new to hot tubs, I have been a licensed pest control operator for years. The carpenter ants around the cover are not necessarily a sign that they are nesting in the cabinet, but it is a very real possibility. Ants look for three things, for the most part. Food. Water. Shelter. Heat is not something they seek out usually. Your hot tub provides two out of three. Water and shelter. Under the cover is a water source. The foam and wood in the cabinet is shelter and maybe water, too. BTW, ants don't eat wood or foam for food, but will build nests in it. You will never keep all the ants off the tub. You can, however, have your pro treat around the tub area with either Phantom or Termidor. Both are professional grade pesticides with fipronil as the active ingredient. Both are excellent at controlling ants. You should also spend some time trying to follow ants to their nests-usually trees or damp wood. Put the kids on tracking duty. Kill the nests when you find them. Ants regularly go over 100 feet from the nest. Good luck.

[wmccall]

While I may be new to hot tubs, I have been a licensed pest control operator for years. The carpenter ants around the cover are not necessarily a sign that they are nesting in the cabinet, but it is a very real possibility. Ants look for three things, for the most part. Food. Water. Shelter. Heat is not something they seek out usually. Your hot tub provides two out of three. Water and shelter. Under the cover is a water source. The foam and wood in the cabinet is shelter and maybe water, too. BTW, ants don't eat wood or foam for food, but will build nests in it. You will never keep all the ants off the tub. You can, however, have your pro treat around the tub area with either Phantom or Termidor. Both are professional grade pesticides with fipronil as the active ingredient. Both are excellent at controlling ants. You should also spend some time trying to follow ants to their nests-usually trees or damp wood. Put the kids on tracking duty. Kill the nests when you find them. Ants regularly go over 100 feet from the nest. Good luck.

Thanks for posting what I was going to, but in a professional manner. I am going to look up those two products though.

[goose973]

Oops. My bad. Phantom no longer uses fipronil as the active. Still a good product, though.

[clover]

Ants love the access to water.  One of the most difficult leak repairs I ever had was caused by ants.  We found moist foam and lots of black ants deemed to be carpenter ants.  The extraction of foam revealed several nurseries and what seemed to be "millions of ants", maybe just hundreds, but several hundreds at least.  They were well intrenched.

Normally we are looking for plumbing leaks in either the pressure return to jets, or the suction return to the pumps, like from the filter.  They react differently as the pressure leak is more obvious when the pumps are running, and the suction leaks are leaking when the pumps are off.

In this case, all of the excavation was fruitless until we discovered the actual leak slowly dripping from inside a bundle of air venturri lines that were foamed together where the ants had chewed a 2 inch section of one line inside the bundle.

[dbldee20]

I've had good luck using "Advance select granular ant bait" and "Gourmet liquid ant bait" which requires the dome shaped plastic bait stations. It's sold in some stores and on Amazon. If you use the granular stuff outside, keep it covered from the rain etc.

Good luck, carpenter ants are hard to get rid of

[goose973]

Advance and other baits are great products and will work great if you can overcome the problems you mentioned. Chiefly, once it gets wet it usually isn't as attractive to the ants. If you're going to use advance, apply it when no rain is expected for several days so the ants will have plenty of time to find it and bring it back to the nest so you get the elimination of the nest like you want.