Carpenter ant facts you should know

Carpenter ants are often confused with termites because both have a fondness for wood – usually the wood in your house! However, there is a big difference between the two insects; termites will actually eat the wood in your house, while carpenter ants won’t feed on your home’s wood, they will move in and live there. You can learn more about the differences between carpenter ants and termites in our separate article.

There are two different kinds of carpenter ants. One has a reddish-brown head and a black midsection. The other species is known as the black carpenter ant, and it has a relatively uniform dark brown and black body. 

If you believe that your home has a problem with carpenter ants, contact the ant control experts at Western Exterminator!

Types of carpenter ants

Signs of carpenter ants

Winged carpenter ants emerge from baseboards, window molding, or vents. This usually occurs in spring or summer and if they appear in large numbers, an infestation may be present. While they can be mistaken for flying termites, you can easily tell the difference because carpenter ants have three distinct body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen, while termites have a more uniform body with a straight waist. Be sure to note any of the following:

• Frass - Small piles of wood shavings mixed with insect parts or insulation can be a sign that carpenter ants are establishing nesting locations.
• Noise - Crunching sounds could indicate carpenter ants tunneling through the wood in your home.
• Damaged wood - Carpenter ants create smooth ‘galleries’ in the wood as they tunnel. Check high moisture areas of your house (basements or crawl spaces) using a moisture meter, as these are prime nesting areas.

• Foraging trails - Carpenter ants like to use the same trail over and over again.

Where do carpenter ants live?

Carpenter ants live in nests. Within each colony, there may be multiple nests - parent nests and satellite nests. Parent nests are home to the ant queen and the eggs and are usually found outdoors. Satellite nests house the worker ants, and may be found indoors or outdoors.

Initial nests are often building in decaying wood because it is weak. Indoor nesting spots can be found in voids of walls and insulation. Outdoor nests may be found in stumps, firewood, and rotting fence posts.

Piles of what appears to be sawdust may signify a carpenter ant nest somewhere in that area. If there are one more more carpenter ant nests inside your premises, get them treated as soon as possible. Left untreated, carpenter ants can weaken wooden structures and compromise the safety of your property.

What do carpenter ants eat?

These ants prefer to eat sweet foods, like honeydew from aphids, fruit, and sugary liquids. They also eat protein-rich foods such as insects, meat, and pet food. If they find food inside your home, they will return for more. Keeping your kitchen clean and storing food in sealed containers can help keep them away.

Life cycle of carpenter ants

Carpenter ants go through four main stages in their life: egg, larva, pupae, and adult. Their colonies can grow for years, with thousands of ants working together. 

Egg to adult stages

The queen begins the colony by laying tiny, white eggs, which hatch into soft, worm-like larvae. These young ants depend on the worker ants for food and care. As they grow, they enter the pupal stage, where they appear as pale, curled-up ants inside a protective shell. Over time, they harden and emerge as adult ants, ready to take on their roles and help the colony thrive.

The first group of workers, called the first brood, helps the colony grow. As time passes, the queen lays more eggs that develop into larger worker ants and winged males. These reproductives eventually leave to start new colonies.

How long do carpenter ants live?

A carpenter ant’s lifespan depends on its job in the colony. Worker ants usually live for several months to a year. They spend their time gathering food, taking care of the young, and digging tunnels in moist wood to expand the nest. 

Winged males, also called drones, have the shortest lifespan. Their only job is to mate with reproductive females during the swarming season. After mating, they die within a few days or weeks.

The queen lives the longest, often more than 10 years. She stays deep inside the nest, laying eggs to grow the colony. As long as the queen is alive, the colony will keep expanding. Over time, new reproductives leave the nest to start colonies of their own.

How do carpenter ants get into the home?

Carpenter ants can access your home through doors, windows, pipes, utility wires and by overgrown tree or shrub branches that provide an easy pathway to your house. Keep in mind that in many instances an interior nest is just a satellite of the main colony that is located outside.

And with mature colonies having upwards of 100,000 members, carpenter ants can pose a real threat to the structural integrity of your home as they hollow out their nests.

When do carpenter ants come out?

When spring arrives in the West, it is time to keep an eye out for swarming carpenter ants. It is possible to see them both inside and outside your home, as they forage for food including sweets, grease, meat and eggs.

Carpenter ants select wood that has been damaged by fungus or rot, wall voids, hollow-core doors or insulation in attics, basements and crawl spaces. Outside in your yard, they like old tree stumps and rotting firewood piles, fence posts, and landscape timbers.

How to get rid of carpenter ants

Getting rid of carpenter ants can be tricky, especially since they often build their nests in hard-to-reach areas within moist wood. The best way to completely solve the problem is by calling pest management professionals like Western Exterminator.

Western Exterminator’s experienced technicians will carefully inspect your home to locate carpenter ant nests and satellite colonies. Once located, we'll treat the nests directly and apply barrier treatments to help prevent the ants from spreading or returning. Our team may treat the exterior of your home to block entry points and keep the ants from coming back. Carpenter ants can weaken wooden structures over time, so addressing the issue early on is key to avoiding costly repairs. 

Learn more about how to get rid of ants.

Carpenter ant damage

Carpenter ants are not like termites because they do not eat wood. In fact, one of the telltale signs of a carpenter ant infestation is occurring is the sawdust they leave behind from excavating the holes. Carpenter ants are a little more similar to carpenter bees in that they use soft wood to create nests to lay eggs, store food, and raise their young.

Left to their own devices in wooden structures, carpenter ants can weaken wooden structures. If enough carpenter ants are left to build nests around wooden structures, they can cost property owners hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars in damage. Carpenter ant-infested wood needs to be removed and replaced. Infestations can occur in joists, joints and support beams which are crucial to a home or building's structural integrity.

The fortunate news for homeowners is that carpenter ants do not tend to create nearly as much damage as termites. However, carpenter ants will often have nests built right near other nests. The carpenter ant nest is not nearly as large as some other species, numerous nests in close proximity can expand the potential damage and may cause multiple areas of infestation.

Carpenter ants can chew their way through a lot of wood. Looking at tree trunks which have been damaged by carpenter ants shows elaborate, circular, corridors and chambers which turns the inside of the tree trunk into something resembling corrugated cardboard. This can weaken structures and all of the damaged wood will need to be replaced.

If you think you have carpenter ants, mitigate the damage by contacting your local Western Exterminator office today.

What can you do about carpenter ants?

There are measures you can take to help prevent a carpenter ant infestation from occurring. This starts with trying to eliminate or reduce their favorite food: plant pests. Aphids, scale, mealybugs and other insects that produce a honey dew. So first things first, check your plants. This includes shrubs and trees. Trim any of the plants back from your structure. Some other things you can to help include: 

• Inspect and correct any moisture issues, including leaks in your roof or plumbing. 
• Ensure any cracks you find in your structure are sealed. 
• Cover food and store food in sealed containers.
• Clean up food crumbs and spills.
• Keep firewood far away from your building. 
• Keep soil to a minimum near the structure. 
• Check that your downspouts and gutters are truly diverting water away from you building to prevent moisture build-up.
• Replace decayed wood and remove any rotting trees from your yard.

DIY carpenter ant control vs. professional treatment

When it comes to getting rid of carpenter ants, you might be tempted to try handling the problem yourself. While DIY ant control methods like using ant baits, sealing cracks, and keeping your home clean can help prevent ants, they’re usually not enough to fully eliminate an infestation. 

Carpenter ants are tricky, and their nests are often hidden deep inside moist wood, making it hard to find and treat them all. Our pest management professionals have the right tools and experience to locate carpenter ant nests. They can treat the nests directly and apply barrier treatments to help prevent ants from coming back.  Contact your local Western Exterminator office to schedule an inspection today!

Frequently asked questions