Ants can seem like mostly nuisance pests. They don't seem dangerous. But they are unpleasant to look at and to have crawling all over your home. However, some varieties are downright threatening in the damage they can cause to your property. The most common of these dangerous ants is the carpenter ant.
Identifying Carpenter Ants
There are dozens of species of carpenter ants in the United States, so they can vary in shape, size, and color depending on the climate, region, and time of year. In the warm south, ants make their main colonies outside and create pathways inside your home to forage for food, water, and material. Spotting carpenter ants themselves can often be harder than spotting the signs of their activity.
Here are some key traits to look for when spotting ants in your home to determine if carpenter ants have moved in:
- Holes: Carpenter ants are dangerous because they bore into the materials that provide stability for your home. While they don’t eat wood, carpenter ants nest in it and make tunnels throughout. Their small, round holes are a sure sign of activity.
- Sawdust: If you notice the holes, you’re sure to notice the little shavings left in the wake of carpenter ants. This "frass" can be found in small piles or trails around where ants bore into wood.
- Winged ants: Ants of many varieties have one key member of their caste systems -- winged ants. These are the reproductive members of their society. Seeing them pouring from walls or vents is a sure sign that an infestation is mature enough to produce mating ants.
Small Pests, Big Damage
Identifying the signs of carpenter ants early is important because the longer an infestation has to toil away, the more damage is being done to your home. One carpenter ant colony can compromise the structural integrity of the walls or floors, and, as one colony can break off into several, this problem is only compounded.
Not only can carpenter ants cause a lot of property damage, but ants of all kinds can contaminate food or the areas where we prepare it. Ants are foragers, constantly seeking out morsels to take back to their nests. As such, they crawl around in dirty germ-ridden places and can track these germs throughout the house.
DIY Often Isn’t Enough
Trying to get rid of ant infestations of any kind by yourself is an uphill battle. Different varieties of ants have different behaviors and preferences, meaning the traps and poisons that work on one variety often won’t work on others. Plus, with so many thousands of disposable members of a colony, ants can survive extermination attempts if the queens of their colonies stay alive to keep on reproducing. With carpenter ant infestations, specifically, the cost of a false sense of security following botched elimination attempts can mean years of new, unseen damage.
The best thing to do is stay on top of prevention measures like deep cleaning and household maintenance. Regularly inspecting your home for signs of carpenter ant activity will mean you catch it as early as possible. Then, turn to the professionals.
The Original Bugman Is Here To Help
Because the stakes are so high, dealing with a carpenter ant infestation is a task best left to the professionals. Only trained technicians know all the places to check for signs of activity, not to mention the methods that will eradicate populations quickly. Even if a full-blown colony hasn’t moved in, experts can provide thorough inspections of your home and give more prevention tips or assistance.
Don’t risk irreversible damage to your home by waiting until it’s too late, call The Original Bugman Pest Elimination for total peace of mind.
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