Do You Have Carpenter Ants in Your Home?

When you think of ants, you probably picture annoying insects that disrupt a picnic, or perhaps the painful experience of stepping into an ant bed. Most people don’t immediately picture their homes being destroyed from the inside out. But a particular type of ant, called carpenter ants, can indeed inflict major damage on the internal wood structures of your home.

Carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood. But they do chew through it to build their tunnels and nests. As far as you’re concerned, the damage is the same.

A mature colony of carpenter ants will contain about 10,000 to 20,000 workers, but only one queen. Once the colony reaches about two years old, swarmers are produced. In other words, if you happen to witness swarming carpenter ants, this means the hidden colony underneath or inside your home is already two years old or more.

In fact, other than the presence of swarming carpenter ants, it can be difficult to even know you have an infestation inside your home. You might view small openings on the surface of wood structures, and perhaps a pile of sawdust-like wood shavings on the outside. This is evidence of tunneling, but it can be difficult to determine how deep and invasive the tunnels have become.

We do know that certain structures are more prone to carpenter ant invasions. Older wood, softened by moisture problems and fungus, makes a more inviting home for carpenter ants. That’s why keeping an eye on moisture issues and repairing water damaged areas can be so important to pest prevention.

Other than damaging your home, carpenter ant bites can be painful. If you witness signs of these ants within your home, you definitely want to address the problem right away. Because of the hidden nature of their colonies, carpenter ants must be dealt with swiftly and professionally. Simply attacking the swarmers you witness outside of the nest won’t solve the problem.

Call us for professional pest control services, and we can eradicate the colony for you. Then, we can offer additional advice on preventing the problem from recurring, and keeping your home safe from carpenter ants.