The black carpenter ant is the most common ant to invade homes in the northeastern United States. When they create tunnels, they can cause disastrous damage to wooden structures. These tunnels are created as they hollow wood when they nest. Carpenter ants will nest in wood that is moist and/or dry but prefer wood that is moist.
How Do You Tell if You have Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants can be mistaken for termites. Carpenter worker ants are shiny dark brown to black in color and 1/4 to 1/2 long. Their bodies are narrow between the thorax and abdomen and the antennae are elbowed. Eastern subterranean worker termites are creamy-white without wings and are 1/8 to 1/4 in size. Their bodies are not narrow between the thorax and abdomen and they have antennae that are straight. The galleries they excavate are smooth with a sandpaper appearance. The damaged wood will be absent of mud-like material, like it would with termites.
What Happens if a Carpenter Ant Bites You?
Carpenter ants will bite if their nest gets disturbed. The strong jaws carpenter ants use to chew through wood hurt when they bite skin. These bites will break the skin and formic acid will be sprayed into the wound. This will feel like a sharp pinch and cause a terrible burning sensation at the bite site. The bite(s) will look like a pea-size red blemish. The bites can swell, become inflamed and can take over a week to go away.
Signs of Carpenter Ants
Piles of sawdust, ant carcasses and adult ants with wings in your home in late spring and early summer are all indications you’re dealing with carpenter ants. The ants with wings mean you most likely have a serious infestation. You need to get professional pest control to your home as soon as possible because colonies that have ideal conditions can swarm after they have chewing away inside the walls of your home for a long time.
How Do I Keep Carpenter Ants Away?
Eliminating areas of high moisture will do a lot to get an infestation under control. Other steps to take to prevent an infestation and a re-infestation are to remove stumps and dead wood from your property, reduce moisture issues by cleaning gutters out, fix any plumbing issues and repair holes in siding. Shrubs need to be trimmed, vegetation should be kept away from your home and don’t store firewood next to your home either. You need to correctly identify the ant your dealing with before starting any control methods. This will get rid of the infestation as quickly as possible and using the wrong methods is a waste of money and won’t work. Chemicals will kill worker ants but unless the queen is killed, a new bunch of ants will take their place.
Ant Pest Inspections, Exclusion, Control, Removal & More in Wellington, Fort Collins, Timnath, Greeley, Longmont, Boulder, Johnstown, Berthoud, Estes Park & Loveland, CO | Northern Colorado
Carpenter ants are some of the most difficult ants to control. Professionals know the right way to kill the queen and eliminate the infestation. Having the prevention steps in place and a great exterminator will keep you home safe from major damage. Contact Effective Pest Services to keep your home free of carpenter ants and pests.
