If you live in or spend much time outdoors near a wooded area, there’s a good chance you’ve seen carpenter ants. They’re common and can be found inhabiting many types of wooded areas. These ants are small, black insects that look like miniature versions of a rafter. They nest in wood by creating tunnels with their abdomens (posterior portion). Carpenter ants are also attracted to sweet liquids such as honey and sugary foods. Because they thrive in warm, humid environments, you may find them more frequently during the summer months. What Are Carpenter Ants? The scientific name for the carpenter ant is Camponotus floridanus.
Carpenter ants are mainly black except for their antennae, legs, and mandibles (front part of the mouth). They have visible eyes that give these ants their nickname “vision bugs.” Their bodies are slightly oval-shaped and they measure approximately 1/3 of an inch long. If you see these ants outside your home or building, it’s likely because they’ve crawled in through a small hole or crack somewhere nearby that allows them access to an indoor source of food and shelter. Carpenter ants thrive in an environment with high humidity levels and food sources nearby. Depending on the location where they reside, these pests may prove difficult to kill or eliminate.
How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
It can be difficult to get rid of carpenter ants. In fact, some types of carpenter ants are so hardy that they’re impossible to exterminate. This is why you should know how to prevent these pests from entering your home or building in the first place.
First, you should inspect any cracks or holes around your property for signs of an ant invasion before it becomes a problem. If you find evidence that ants have invaded your property, you can use an insecticide such as boric acid or a pyrethrin-based product to poison the nest. The best way to effectively exterminate these pests is by using heat. If you don’t have access to a nearby oven, you can use a hair dryer in order to kill the ants and their larvae when they are outside your property line. Because of the damage these pests cause, it’s worth making sure they don’t enter your building in the future by keeping food sources away from areas where they may live and providing proper insulation where there may be gaps where insects could get inside.
What Does a Carpenter Ant Nest Look Like?
Carpenter ants nest in wood. They take turns tunneling through the timber with their abdomens, creating a kind of nest. The nests are typically made of an irregular shape and size, but they also have different forms depending on the type of wood that’s used. Carpenter ants are able to build these nests even if a sealed surface area is blocked by other materials. These insects typically construct nests from softwood such as pine and spruce, but they can also make these types of nests out of hardwood like oak and mahogany.
How Carpenter Ants Develop Damage
Carpenter ants can wreak havoc on many things. They can cause damage to your home and its contents, but they are also capable of damaging the structure of your home. Carpenter ants are one of the most destructive pests you may come across.
1) They can cause damage to your home and its contents: What does a carpenter ant nest look like? The nests that carpenter ants create, usually in wood or paper, are easy to spot as they’re usually made from sawdust mixed with saliva. These nests will often be found behind walls or next to an electrical outlet. When a nest is located near electrical outlets, these pests will chew through wires, causing fires and power outages.
2) Carpenter ants have the ability to eat through wood, causing structural damage: If left untreated, these insects can destroy wood by eating right through it. They’ll eat into doors and window frames as well as walls and furniture as they spread their colonies into new areas within a building or outdoors in your backyard or forest area. The destruction caused by carpenter ants is called “drain-hole feeding,” which means the insects use their pointed mandibles (front part of the mouth) to dig into any type of material in order to find food sources such as insect larvae and dead insects that happen to be nearby. If this type of harm isn’t prevented before it becomes too extensive, structural decay may occur due to carpenter ant infestation.
Signs of an Infestation by Carpenter Ants
– Ants you see on the ground or coming out of a hole in your exterior wall
- Ants you see crawling up your stairs
- A smell like rotting wood
- Ant trails near the exterior walls, where they enter buildings and homes through small openings that aren’t easily seen
- Scraps left by ants on a door or window sill near the home entryway
Tips for Identifying Carpenter Ant Nests
If you’re looking to identify the presence of carpenter ants, there are a few simple tricks that can help.
First, if you see an ant crawling around on your floor or in your food, it’s likely one of these bugs. They like to live and nest near sources of sweet liquid so they will be attracted to places where they can find sugary foods or even honey that may have fallen from a nearby jar.
Second, since these insects like to nest in wood, look for the tiny holes that they create using their abdomens (posterior portion). These tunnels will be located near the wall or ceiling of a structure and you’ll likely find them in high-humidity areas.
Third, when looking for an ant nest, watch for small piles of sawdust near the walls or ceiling. This is because carpenter ants use sawdust as bedding material and this is what creates the smell that people often associate with these insects.
Fourth, if you find a number of small piles of sawdust near the walls or ceilings in an area where there are no visible carpenter ants present, it’s likely due to termite infestation instead. Termites live in dark places such as moist galleries and soil beneath the building’s foundation. Termites also produce lots of droppings which create quite a mess when disturbed by humans. You’ll see piles or holes filled with millions upon millions of pellets similar to those seen in nests made
Conclusion
Carpenter ants are invasive pests that can cause structural damage to your home. If you think you may have a nest, the best first step is to hire a pest control company. Find a Qualified Exterminator by clicking the box below.