Carpenter Ant Control

You’re walking around the outside of your house or shed and you find powdery wood residue. Could it be termites? Sure. Carpenter bees? Yes. But with further investigation, you discover the cause…carpenter ants.

While they do prefer moist, decaying wood they will also eat through trees. This doesn’t really affect homeowners but it’s good to keep an eye of them for possible movement to your home. Much like termites, carpenter ants eat their way through wood, potentially causing major structural damage. Unlike termites, they do not eat the wood as they chew through it. They prefer a diet of sweet foods and meat and the “honey dew” produced by aphids.

Carpenter ants seem to be quite motivated by hunger as their tunnels typically are headed in the direction of a food source.

As mentioned, carpenter ants leave wood powder and dead ants behind as a sign that they’ve been there. At times the winged members of the colony will swarm. This is a pretty good indicator that you’ve got a well-established colony living in the walls of your home. These winged males and females will mate and the eggs are laid within the colony. The queen and workers tend to the eggs and larvae until they are mature and begin their work as adult ants.

Once you realize you have a colony of carpenter ants living in your home, you must act fast to remove them and treat the area to deter more from returning. An untreated colony could cause major damage to your home. If you believe you have a colony of carpenter ants in your home or out building, call Foundation Pest Control. We have a team of experts who are ready to assist in ridding your home of these destructive pests.