Easily one of the largest ants that you can find in the United States, carpenter ants are well known to invade homes and buildings and cause damages to them.
There are many different types of carpenter ants, but, the most common is the black carpenter ants. It is about one-half inch or more in length and shiny black; whereas, the other kinds of carpenter ants are usually as small as one-quarter inch and are reddish brown or two-toned. However, one consistent characteristic of all carpenter ants is the smoothly rounded outline of the thorax when viewed from the side.
Carpenter ants can take many types of food. They can eat honeydew from aphids, sweets, meat, fats as well as living and dead insects. Many people thought that they eat wood as well since they hollow and damage it, but, in reality, they don’t eat wood. They damage the wood as they want to nest beneath it.
Nests are made by chewing an interconnecting series of tunnels and cavities. Wood is removed as coarse sawdust-like material that is pushed from the nest. The sawdust may include other debris such as dead ants, parts of insects and other food.
Carpenter ants found indoors in the winter usually come from nests somewhere within the house. Ants found indoors during spring or summer could be invaders wandering in from outdoors or they may be foragers from a nest in the wall or ceiling.
Locating the source of carpenter ants is as important as it is difficult. It is especially difficult if only a few ants are seen at one time. It is good that you spend time observing ants to see if you can detect a pattern of movement and trace back to their nest.
Quite an significant amount of time may be needed observing the carpenter ants, but, it is necessary as any delay may lengthen the potential damages to your home.
Michael writes about carpenter ants control and he has experience on how to get rid of carpenter ants,
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