Ants are notorious for their never-ending numbers, painful pinches that remind you of their presence, as well as pilfering of fallen crumbs. Carpenter ants are common in Texas among the countless types of ants in the area and can be detrimental to your home. Since they are frequently discovered infesting wooden structures and possessions, carpenter ants are sometimes confused with termites. Carpenter ants excavate through the wood making galleries, or tunnels, as they construct their nests in the wood, though carpenter ants do not eat wood, unlike termites. They can cause significant damage that makes the wood weak, carpenter ants are nearly as destructive as termites. With this in mind, we at A-Tex Pest Management would like to briefly share carpenter ants.
What Do Carpenter Ants Look Like?
Carpenter ants average between 1/8 and 33/64 inches in length, as one of the largest species of ants is carpenter ants in the United States. In addition to other orange, red, yellow, light brown, and yellowish tan variations, some carpenter ant species can differ in color from the jet black to dark brown, though these ants are commonly black. Carpenter ants have a few distinct characteristics among the worker class, such as larger mandibles.
What Attracts Carpenter Ants into a House?
Carpenter ants are attracted to decaying, moist, or hollow wood variations, both inside and outside. The carpenter ants prefer to excavate the galleries to settle in their colonies from the damp or damaged wood. In order to provide passageways for movement from section to section of the nest, the galleries are the tunnels they cut into the grain of wood to form the nests. Carpenter ants are clean, unlike subterranean termites that line their galleries with moist soil and their nesting site is kept tidy where galleries are smooth, as if these galleries sanded.
Where Do Carpenter Ants Nest?
In both dead and living trees are home to carpenter ants as well as rotting log and stumps is where carpenter ants prefer to nest. Since carpenter ants prefer living in natural environments if their nests have been exposed to extreme moisture, they will frequently invade homes or buildings. Carpenter ants do not eat the wood like termites do but will remove the wood remnants into small piles outside their nests, as previously mentioned. They favor the sweets as well as meats and will also devour other insects, however, whenever possible, carpenter ants prefer to eat human scraps.
How Can You Tell if You Have Carpenter Ants?
Particularly if you are more aware of the signs of carpenter ants, before the damage gets extensive, you can frequently spot the red flags.
1) Rustling sounds in the wood can be heard due to their daily activities.
2) An indication of carpenter ants includes piles of saw dust, discarded wings, parts of dead ants, and other debris.
3) Noticing workers and swarmers that have wings inside the home. Swarmers are reproducers that leave the colony after the colony is established. They shed the wings and begin the new nest after they find a place.
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Call A-Tex Pest Management and let our certified experts take care of the rest if if you suspect carpenter ants in your Texas home.