Ants and some kind of grubs in my lumber

[MikeInTexas]

Hello Gents, i am milling up some logs of Mesquite for a remodel project. Mesquite is real prone to having lots of critters living in it. As i was milling a log yesterday, the ants, big black and red ones and little red ones were popping up out of the slabs as i was milling. was thinking about spraying them with a Borax/water solution before a start cutting and planing.
Am i on the right track, or derailing?

[Don P]

It sure isn't going to hurt. The ants usually boogie as the lumber dries but the larvae could use a drink of borate. I've been knocking back the bugs here, we're in all they can eat buffet time.

[Old Greenhorn]

I've been knocking back the bugs here, we're in all they can eat buffet time.

Yeah, I have been noticing a lot of carpenter ants around my mill bed (which is PT) and have been meaning to get some spray, but keep forgetting. They seem to like the sawdust and little pieces of scraps that fly all over. Should I worry?

[Don P]

I wouldn't lose sleep over it, you have food and moisture, they'll do allright.
I was shoveling sawdust away from the blower and hit a clutch of a couple dozen snake eggs, into the driveway they go, kept going and found mamma, she wasn't all that impressed with me. I bravely ran to the top of the log pile and we called it a truce. She slithered back to her hidey hole, I fired up and we pretended neither one was there.

[WDH]

My sawmill snake also has an attitude.

[Stephen1]

I never spray as I find they leave for a new home. Then you find them next year in the log that didn't make it to the mill this year

[low_48]

From what I read, Borax is a deterrent and not an exterminating product. Am I wrong?

[Ianab]

From what I read, Borax is a deterrent and not an exterminating product. Am I wrong?

The bugs basically have to eat the borax to be killed. So it's difficult get to any that are already deep in the wood. It works as a surface spray to prevent infestation because any new eggs are laid near the surface, the new grub hatches out, gets a feed of borate and that's the end of that. So yes it works better as a prevention than an extermination method. 
Ants are likely just nesting in the log, not actually eating it. 

[WDH]

One form of borate, disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT) when formulated with a glycol is supposed to be able to penetrate the wood to get to the little critters.  The brand name is bora-care, but it is quite expensive.  While I have used the DOT extensively as a preventative, I have never used bora-care so cannot comment on how well it works.

[YellowHammer]

For all the ants, especially in the sawdust around my mill, I spray with a pyrethrin insect killer, available from Tractor Supply, from a hand pump sprayer, as soon as I hit a board full of them.  I try to kill those immediately.  These pesticides are relatively safe and don't have a long life, so are about the safest quick kill to use.  

I also spray it on any boards that have carpenter ants, when green, so when the boards get stacked, it only has dead ants on it.

I routinely broadcast Spectracide Ant Granules that the little guys will actively find and eat, or bring back to the queen, anywhere I air dry and stack boards and around the mill.  Carpenter ants appear to have a very long lifespan, and will survive without their queen.  I would like to help them on their journey.  

Ants is bugs, bugs is bugs, and I don't like bugs in my wood.