You may think all ants are harmless, they are just more of a nuisance. While many are, there are some that you do not want to have around. Carpenter ants are one of those ants. They may not harm you, but they will harm your home and the wood around your home. How do you know if you have carpenter ants? Effective Pest Services explores this further below.
How Do I Know if it’s a Carpenter Ant?
Carpenter ants come in many colors, the most common color is black and brown with a little bit of red. Carpenter ants are the largest known species of ants. They are between 6 to 12 mm. The male swimmer ants and the queen will be even larger than that. How you can tell it is a carpenter ant is the size, but they also have a single node between the thorax and the abdomen. You can also notice that they have elbowed antennae, six legs, a pinched waist, and a pair of wings on their back.
How Do Carpenter Ants Act?
Carpenter ants, often get confused with termites. This is because they both love wood, but carpenter ants don’t eat the wood they chew through it to create galleries, and then burrow through to build their nests for their colony. Carpenter ants may be hard to notice right away because their work happens over a longer period than termites. When the carpenter ant goes through the wood it does look like sawdust. This is one of the obvious signs that you have carpenter ants. This sawdust is called frass. In this frass, you will find dead ants or ant parts, along with the sawdust. You will find this in your door frames, baseboards, crawlspaces, and waterlines. Once the nest is built, reproduction will begin two years after it is built. Carpenter ants love to reproduce so when there is a colony, there are many carpenter ants. The Swarmers (the carpenter ants with wings) will go out of the nest and mate and then start to build new colonies.
When Should I Worry About Carpenter Ants?
As we talked about above it may be difficult to identify a carpenter ant. Especially in the early stages. It isn’t until they start building their nest and start leaving signs that you have carpenter ants. By then you already have a problem. If you notice carpenter ants searching for food in your home you know they have a nest somewhere. If you noticed frass around your home, that is also a good sign that you have carpenter ants. You may also notice wings around your house because carpenter ants will shed their wings. If you find the carpenter ants galleries, and it is smooth, then you know that they are still active. Carpenter ants can do a lot of damage to the structure of your home.
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If you notice that you have carpenter ants, do not hesitate to call Effective Pest Services, these are not bugs that will just go away. They will continue to ruin your house. You need to get rid of these carpenter ants as soon as you can.
