Termites and carpenter ants are two, very different pests, and though they share few similarities, they are often confused with one another. The reason being, is that they both cost homeowners and businesses, an alarming amount of money due to the repairs that are needed in their wake. Both termites and carpenter ants destroy wood with their daily activities. Being roughly the same size, carpenter ants and most types of termites, burrow to the rotting, damp wood, making the structure of your home or business vulnerable. Swarmers of both species, the future kings and queens or reproducers of the colony, leave the nest to create a new colony, and both have wings that will shed after they have found a new home. There are very distinct attributes and characteristics that differentiate the two pests and we at A-Tex Pest Management would like to elaborate further on carpenter ants versus termites.
How Do I Know if it’s a Carpenter Ant?
– The carpenter ants have a very well-defined narrow and constricted waist.
– They feature four wings; the front fore wing set is longer than the back, hind set.
– The antennae of carpenter ants are bent or “elbowed.”
How Do You Identify Termites?
– A termite’s antennae are beaded and straight.
– Though termites also have four wings, both pairs are of equal size and shape that extend out past their body.
– A termite’s body doesn’t appear to have a waist, as it doesn’t have a narrowed center, and it looks more rectangular.
Do Termites Behave like Carpenter Ants?
Additional differences between carpenter ants and termites for example, include coloring, how the wood appears after each insect infests it, and other such examples you will find below.
Insect Color: Termites avoid the light, and looking at them, the worker termites are a transparent, light or creamy white color. When seen foraging for food, as carpenter ants do not eat the wood they infest unlike termites, the workers are dark, reddish color. Where most can spot carpenter ants scrounging for food, few ever see the termites exposed.
Wood Damage: Carpenter ants merely excavate the wood, as we mentioned, and they will push the wood dust fragments out of the tunnels; whereas the termites eat the wood. A carpenter ant infestation leaves sawdust looking waste piled below the holes in the wood. Carpenter ants include sweets and insects, such as termites, in their diet.
Tunneling: Termites leave their galleries looking ragged, rough, and compacted with soil and carpenter ants have a smooth-like finish to their tunnels.
Mud Tubes: As mentioned, a termites’ gallery is compacted with soil when subterranean termites infest the wood as they require the damp soil for their survival. To get the soil and themselves in the wood structural materials, many will find mud tubing that build up into the wooden areas from the ground.
Insect & Pest Inspections, Treatment, Control, Removal & More in Austin, Round Rock, Leander, Pflugerville & Cedar Park Texas
Every year in the United States, both of these insects cost residential and commercial consumers with billions of dollars in repairs. No matter which insect, carpenter ant or termite, you suspect is invading your home or business, call in the experts of A-Tex Pest Management and let our experts take care of the rest.