Springtime is carpenter ant season. These ants differ from others as they are not just a nuisance but can cause thousands of dollars of damage to a structure. While this may sound a lot like the termite, they differ because they don’t actually eat the wood, they excavate it. Carpenter ants do their damage by making a small hole in the wood, creating tunnels and pushing out little wood shaving debris.
Carpenter Ants Cause Damage Too
This tunneling and working through the wood is where they get the name “carpenter ant” just like a carpenter that works on a building.
Their favorite places to make a home are leaky windows, leaking roofs, and rotting, moisture-laden wood. They typically nest in big hollow trees or stumps and burrow into the wood. All of these have one thing in common – a high moisture content. That is why it is important to keep your home maintained and free of any rotting wood.
How do you know if you have carpenter ants? If you find shavings and insect parts, the chances are pretty high that you’ve got a problem. Carpenter ants can be red, black, brown, or a combination of red and black. Workers range in size from 1/8th to ½ inch in length. The queens are the largest, growing up to one inch in length.
Fortunately, these pests do not sting or bite and create no danger to people in that way. For help to safely and completely get rid of your carpenter ant problem, contact the pest contract experts at Terminator Termite and Pest Control, 479.783.6200. There is no one size fits all solution to getting rid of a carpenter any infestation, so call today to schedule an appointment with a pest control expert to come to your home or business and give you a complimentary estimate and action plan.