Camponotus
Color: black, yellow, and red
Size: ½ inch
Notes: carpenter ants are not dangerous to people, but can be detrimental to your home. The nesting areas can be made within the walls and foundation of your home, eventually leading to structural damage.
What Do Carpenter Ants Look Like?
Carpenter ants are usually black or red but can be both. Carpenter ants have 3 body segments with a large head and abdomen. Carpenter ants vary in size from ½ an inch to 5/8 of an inch long. Carpenter ant antennae are bent with 12 segments. Winged carpenter ants are sometimes mistakenly identified as termite swarms. Winged carpenter ants will have wings of differing lengths while termites have 2 sets of equal length wings. These winged carpenter ants are typically seen in early spring often after rain when the sun comes back out.
Are Carpenter Ants Dangerous?
Carpenter ants are not poisonous, and they don’t typically bite people. In case you do startle one into biting you, it won’t hurt more than a pinch. Carpenter ants will, however, be happy to chew through your home, deck, garage, or any other wooden structure. If left untreated, the damage done by carpenter ants excavating a structure to create nesting galleries can be extensive.
Carpenter Ant Habitats
Carpenter ants can be found in moist, decaying, or rotted-out wood. This could be outside or inside a structure. While they are mostly found in wooded environments, they will happily use your home or any other wooden structure that may have a moisture problem. Areas of particular to watch on your home would be eaves, decks, and under windows. Carpenter ants will sometimes have a central colony surrounded by satellite colonies.
How Do I Get Rid of Carpenter Ants?
Ant problems can be difficult to eliminate. To eliminate carpenter ants, you must find the central colony. This can be difficult by itself. If a satellite colony is exterminated, but the main colony is not, the problem will seem to get better but will quickly get worse. Rochester Pest Pro’s professional pest control technicians have been trained to find and eliminate all carpenter ants as well as other common household pests through our year-round preventive maintenance program.
How Can I Prevent Carpenter Ant Problems at My Home or Business?
Start off with a routine maintenance pest program from a pest control expert like those at Rochester Pest Pro, then follow these tips to help prevent any carpenter ant problems in your home:
- Remove rotting or decayed wood from around your home. This includes firewood, lumber, and moist, rotting mulch.
- Repair any moisture-damaged wood.
- Correct any moisture problems in the crawlspace as well as anywhere water can stand on exposed wood.
- Seal all gaps in the foundation, crawlspace, around doors, and around windows.
If you suspect a carpenter ant problem at your home or business, contact Rochester Pest Pro to schedule an inspection.