Susan,

Not that it would have worked in your case but we have killed them off with
20 Mule Team Borax.

Just take a misting bottle and mist water on the ants outside the nest,
assumeing you see a dozen or so of them, then sprinkle on some Borax. When
they lick it off each other in the nest and ingest it there is a reaction
that causes gas which they can't pass and their digestive system explodes,
or so I've heard.

It does work. It's much less toxic than many poisons.

Bob

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
news
On 20 Jun 2003 02:43:17 GMT, on (Martin) wrote:

actually carpenter ants do not damage wood they clean out old termite
damage
and rot damage


This is not the info at the link you posted
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entom...ruct/ef603.htm

"Besides being objectionable by their presence, carpenter ants damage
wood by
hollowing it out for nesting. They excavate galleries in wood which have
a
smooth, sandpapered appearance. Wood which has been damaged by carpenter
ants
contains no mud-like material, as is the case with termites. Shredded
fragments
of wood, similar in appearance to coarse sawdust, are ejected from the
galleries through preexisting cracks or slits made by the ants. "

This is the experience we have had with them. They got into a
hollow closet door and you would wake at 3 to the sound of
crunch- munch. The sawdust on the floor was testimony to the
industry of the night. Once present they are as hard as termites
to be rid of. It takes the same kind of highly toxic spraying to
kill them.

Good Luck.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php