Growing up, I lived in a sprawling farmhouse in the country. This beautiful home was constantly filled with the sounds of laughter and the smells of delectable food being prepared in the kitchen. Unfortunately, our home was often invaded by some unwanted guests, ants. Pesky ants would welcome themselves into our living room, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, and bathrooms. One night, I crawled into my bed only to discover I wasn’t alone. Ants had somehow climbed onto my bed! These destructive ants even ate holes in some of the clothing hanging in my closet. Is your home filled with unwanted, biting ants? On this blog, you will discover the latest methods pest control specialists use to rid homes of pesky ants.
Those Pesky Ants
Got Ants? Make Sure It Is Not Carpenter Ants
Logan Watson
Most ants do not cause problems but are very annoying. Other ants, such as carpenter ants, do cause a lot of problems and should be taken care of quickly. Keep reading to learn more about these ants, as well as tips on getting them out of your home.
Carpenter Ants
What makes carpenter ants more dangerous than other ants is they damage the wood. They are not like termites, however, where they consume wood but instead dig tunnels in wood to lay their eggs. Because of this, they love wood that is wet or decaying as it is easier for them to make tunnels. More than one ant creates these tunnels so over time you can have a series of tunnels inside the wood. Carpenter ants can cause structural damage to your home if you do not get them out and if you have a lot of them.
Carpenter ants are red and black, yellow, dark brown, or black. They have six legs and a narrow segment connecting the abdomen and thorax. One way to know you have carpenter ants is they are much larger than normal ants.
Where They Are Found
As stated above, carpenter ants love wood. Outside you will find them in stacked firewood, tree stumps, landscaping, and fence posts. Inside the home, they love to damage door and window frames, wood near bathtubs and sinks, and crawlspaces under the home and under the roof.
The colony may have thousands of carpenter ants that will continue to grow the longer they stay in your home. They get in a home through damaged, wet wood, cracks around windows and doors, holes that are used for wiring, and tree limbs that touch your roof. Over time, they will also build their nests on dry wood as well.
Get Them Out
Because carpenter ants can be dangerous and cause so much damage, you should hire a pest control contractor to get them out of your home. The pest control contractor will first determine where the nest is located. They do this by following the ants. The contractor then uses dust or an insecticide to spray into their nest. They know the right type to use to kill these specific ants.
The contractor will also use insecticide spray and dust in different areas of your home where carpenter ants have been seen. They will likely come back at a later date to ensure all carpenter ants were killed.
A pest control service like San Juan Pest Control can give you many tips on preventing carpenter ants in the future.
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