Carpenter Ants
 What is a Carpenter Ant?
(1/4 to 1/2 inch long) Nesting in wet or water damaged wood they forage throughout the home looking for food crumbs or insects. Although they come in many colors the most important ones are black.
Where You'll Find Carpenter Ants
The largest of the ant family they take their name from their ability of chewing passageways (or galleries) in wood. They live inside the wood leaving only to forage (mostly at night) for food. They will set up satellite colonies inside the home from their parent colonies outside in trees or landscape timber.
 Carpenter ants love damp climates and moist areas – wet or water damaged wood, any dark place, and a few morsels of food. Areas that get a lot of rain are especially susceptible. So are homes built in heavily wooded areas or in low, shady places where the ground stays damp. In your home, you're likely to find carpenter ants nesting around a sink in the kitchen or bathroom. Maybe even around plumbing leaks, clogged gutters and downspouts, behind shower walls where there is cracks where leaks can occur.
 A clean house is no guarantee. When carpenter ants move in, the first thing they do is look for food. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood. They search for syrup, honey, jelly, meat, fruit, grease, fat, and other domestic foods. If these favorites are not available in your home, the ants will feed on dead or living insects or any other type of organic matter.
Telltale Signs of Carpenter Ants
- Trails of workers around the kitchen, pantry, and other areas where food is stored
- Sawdust-like material that workers kick out of their nests during excavation
- Listen for ant sounds in the quiet of the night. When the ants are chewing, or simply moving around in the nest, they make a sound like rustling cellophane.
Nesting Sites of Carpenter Ants
- Dead limbs of living trees
- Under attic insulation.
- Hollow trees
- Roofs
- Interior
 wall voids
- Hollow core doors
- Under exterior siding
- Ceilings
- Supports in crawl space
- Exterior wall voids
- Stumps
- Wood pile
- Sill plates
- Between insulation and
- Roots of dead trees
Carpenter ant extermination requires long term care by a professional. Unfortunately they can travel several hundred yards, often coming from your neighbor’s yard. Although we can not eliminate them from the outside we can maintain a barrier around your home to protect it. These ants can and will do harm to your home if left untreated and can cost thousands of dollars in damage.
If you think you see any of these signs call us immediately
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