Carpenter Ants control

Ants can be a frustrating summertime pest for homeowners. Some ants can ruin indoor and outdoor activities, and others can infest your home in search of food scraps. However, while these things can be frustrating, the carpenter ant is by far the most damaging type of ant to infest your home due to its destructive tendencies.

Carpenter ants are one of the largest ants in the United States, with adults of the species growing to over 1/2 an inch in length. They are typically black in coloration, but can sometimes be other colors depending on the species and region. Contrary to popular belief, carpenter ants are not one specific species but are a type of ants that is divided into many different species, some of which do not consume wood.

Carpenter ants prefer to live in habitats that contain large amounts of wet, decayed wood. Carpenter ants tunnel through wood, creating nests and tunnels. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not consume the wood that they remove as they lack the necessary bacteria to break down cellulosic materials. Despite this, carpenter ants can cause substantial damage to your home by excavating wooden parts of the structure. Once they have established a nest, the queen of the colony will continuously lay eggs to create a large population of workers. Since the queen can have a lifespan of up to 20 years, the population can become extremely large. The growing nest will require more room, and often the workers will expand further into the structure if necessary.

If the nest becomes too large, the queen will sometimes produce winged swarmers, which will leave the colony, mate, and establish new satellite colonies nearby. These colonies will have no queen and will remain linked with the original colony.

Since carpenter ants do not consume wood, they must establish colonies close to a source of food for the population. Like most species of ants, carpenter ants have a diverse diet, but they tend to prefer to consume sweet foods or meats. Carpenter ants are nocturnal foragers, which can make it difficult to spot their activity around your home if their colony is not located. Oftentimes, the ants will nest in the wood beneath appliances, within wooden furniture, or around skylights. These areas offer the ants room to build a nest while remaining secluded and hidden from homeowners.

Typically, carpenter ants build out their nests fairly slowly, and will not cause major damage to your home overnight. However, due to their reclusive nature, it is possible for the ants to remain hidden for long periods of time, which can allow them to cause substantial damage if left unchecked. For this reason, it is important to identify their presence in your home as quickly as possible. The best way to do this is to have an inspection of the property completed by a licensed pest control company. A trained technician will be able to spot signs of pest activity in your home, and this can be traced back to a hidden carpenter ant colony if one exists in the home. It is important that the company that you call in is one that you trust because a careful eye is often required to spot the evidence of carpenter ant activity.

At Canton Termite and Pest Control, we have decades of experience treating for pests of all kinds. Rather than simply applying a basic treatment to each home, we begin every job with a thorough inspection of the property. We use this inspection to identify signs of pest activity and to formulate a safe, targeted treatment plan to deal with your pest problems once and for all!

So if you are dealing with carpenter ants in your home, call us today at 770-479-1598!

By: Tim

Here’s to YOU living pest free!