e worked in the far south, where the attics in the sum mer are at about 140 deg+ w/no ventilation fans, nor r idge-vents, and you only allow yourself 5-8 min at mos t. One such journey, was in an attic with scissor-trus ses that allow a cathedral ceiling in the room below. There was at most a 24" clearance at the peak, by abou t 30" wide in a triangular space (not square truss acc ess), but I had to get to the other side of the house for wiring. As I crawled thru, I noticed a carpenter a nt nest in the batt insulation where I needed to pass. I figured I could go over them with 4-5 inches cleara nce and did so successfully. After I finished my wirin g, I had to go back thru the same pathway. Well, by th en, my vibrations after having gone over them the 1st time, had seriously agitated them. By now, my breathin g was labored and it is afternoon hot-sun time, and I have to get out since I have spent my precious time sl ot away. Somehow, I was able to slowly crawl with only my hands and toes on the rafters, while there was by now about a hundred or so of them in an agitated 'bite
-him-now' mood. I did make it to cooler pastures and n ever dared to do that again. If they had gotten to me, I probably would have just jumped thru the drywall ce iling and told the customer that the ants overpowered me. Enjoy.
Welcome to the neighb orhood Hogan,
Minus the Carpenter Ants I would have showed up early in the morning to beat the heat. Gl ad you made it out to tell the story.
The only thin g I can relate to with Carpenter Ants is that a number of years ago we had some heavy winds in our area. A tree behind my house snapped off at about 35 feet up . Hit the back of the house, ripped the spouting, si ding off and missed the sliding glass door. Very luck y, insurance fixed it all. Upon inspection there was a hole where there use to be a limb and the inside of the tree was a chamber of thin walls. The white or soft portion of the rings (cambium) of the tree had b een eaten out by Carpenter Ants. This was a section of about 6 feet in length of a tree that was easily
18" to 20" in diameter and 70 feet tall. I dropped t he rest of the tree down and killed a lot of ants.About 2 years later I was in my basement and notice a Carpenter Ant going across the floor and up the wall. It disappeared in the fiberglass insulation between the floor joist. I thought I would check the insul ation batting and got my step stool. I pulled the sec tion down and that is when I was covered in 1000++ AN TS. After screaming like a banshee and brushing as m any off as I could I got the can of Raid and used up a full can killing the suckers. Ended up sweeping and shoveling up the piles until all were gone. The nex t day we fumigated the house with about 4 bombs. And then again in about a month.
Haven't see another s ince. That was about 34 years ago and I remember it very well. Very horrible feeling. What I suspected i s that when the tree snapped off somehow the Queen fo und refuse in my house and just what came naturally, and that was to lay eggs and more eggs. Never saw any damage to any wood in the house flooring or framing. They must have gone outside to my other trees to fee d.
BTW I did not get any bites from the ants. Mayb e I didn't give them a chance to put up their defense s.
Les