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| Black Carpenter Ant: Camponotus pennsylvanicus” by Dmitry Mozzherin. Licensed by CC. Allowed to share and adapt |
A few years ago, I heard a scream coming from
the downstairs of my home. In response, I zoomed down the stairs to find a look
of horror on my mom’s face as she pointed at a large pile of sawdust against
the wall of my family room. We were not entirely sure what it was but we knew
it could not be good. After asking Siri “what infestation causes a pile of dust?”,
it came up with results ranging from carpenter ants to termite infestations.
A common mistake homeowners make is mixing up a
carpenter ant with a termite. Since we saw a pile of dust in our home, we knew
that it had to be carpenter ants. Termites eat
dry wood while carpenter ants like to nest
in moist wood. Carpenter ants are not capable of digesting wood but they can
burrow in it. Worker carpenter ants have dark black bodies, a narrow waist,
bent antennae, and sometimes wings of two different sizes (which we later saw
for ourselves). Termites are lighter, have a wider waist, wings of equal length, and
straight antennae.
Some more Googling revealed that carpenter ants only nest in moist wood, and are most often found in the soft wood in decaying trees. They can travel up to 100 yards to look for food and often make a nest in or near homes because there is close access to human food! They live in areas of the home where moist wood is likely to occur like a bathroom with a leaking sink. Within the wood, the ants bore tunnels to nest in and raise their offspring. We then began to wonder where the source our own infestation was.
Some more Googling revealed that carpenter ants only nest in moist wood, and are most often found in the soft wood in decaying trees. They can travel up to 100 yards to look for food and often make a nest in or near homes because there is close access to human food! They live in areas of the home where moist wood is likely to occur like a bathroom with a leaking sink. Within the wood, the ants bore tunnels to nest in and raise their offspring. We then began to wonder where the source our own infestation was.
A way to tell if the infestation is inside your
home or from an outside source is the time of year that you are seeing the ant.
We spotted the ants in the winter, which was a sure sign that they were in our
homes. Ants are normally hibernating in the winter due to the cold. The ants
were able to work in our home with the warmth from our furnace making a nice
and toasty environment for them. We decided they could either start paying our
electric bill or they would need to be evicted!
If you happen to find the infestation in the
spring or summer months, a sign the nest is inside your home is if there is a
swarm of winged carpenter ants . The winged ants are capable of reproduction
and swarm in the spring to find mates. Interestingly, they create two different
types of colonies. The parent colony is where the queen lives along with all of
the female worker ants. The other type of colony is the satellite colonies,
which can have many worker ants but no queen or offspring. Either type of colony
can infest wood near or in your home.
In the parent colony, the queen ant lays eggs that develop into larvae that resemble white maggots. They then become pupae and finally emerge as female adult ants. The work structure of carpenter ants is very interesting. The ants become either major or minor workers. Major workers look for food, fight intruders and protect the nest. Minor workers help to care for the young and help the nest to expand. Contrary to the common perception of worker ants being males like in the Pixar movie A Bug’s Life, all worker ants are actually female in the colony. In the movie, the male ants were the one’s who foraged for food and protected the nest while the female ants stayed in the hive and raised the children. True female worker ants are black and about the size of a regular M&M. Once the colony has become large enough (around 2,000-3,000 ants), the queen will lay eggs that become winged males and females that are capable of reproducing. These reproductive ants swarm and fly to reproduce with fellow ants from other colonies.
Those bowls of fruit or captain crunch lying around the home can be great treats for carpenter ants since their diet consists of proteins and sugars! In nature, they are known to eat other insects and sweet honeydew made by aphids. They also eat nectar from flowers and dead carpenter ants from their own colony. If they are near homes, they will eat any sweet foods they can find. Carpenter ants can also serve as food for predators such as woodpeckers. Woodpeckers have even been seen devouring entire colonies at one time!
In the parent colony, the queen ant lays eggs that develop into larvae that resemble white maggots. They then become pupae and finally emerge as female adult ants. The work structure of carpenter ants is very interesting. The ants become either major or minor workers. Major workers look for food, fight intruders and protect the nest. Minor workers help to care for the young and help the nest to expand. Contrary to the common perception of worker ants being males like in the Pixar movie A Bug’s Life, all worker ants are actually female in the colony. In the movie, the male ants were the one’s who foraged for food and protected the nest while the female ants stayed in the hive and raised the children. True female worker ants are black and about the size of a regular M&M. Once the colony has become large enough (around 2,000-3,000 ants), the queen will lay eggs that become winged males and females that are capable of reproducing. These reproductive ants swarm and fly to reproduce with fellow ants from other colonies.
Those bowls of fruit or captain crunch lying around the home can be great treats for carpenter ants since their diet consists of proteins and sugars! In nature, they are known to eat other insects and sweet honeydew made by aphids. They also eat nectar from flowers and dead carpenter ants from their own colony. If they are near homes, they will eat any sweet foods they can find. Carpenter ants can also serve as food for predators such as woodpeckers. Woodpeckers have even been seen devouring entire colonies at one time!
Once we identified where the nest was, we had
an exterminator hired to evaluate the situation. Most pest management companies apply
a liquid pesticide to the area. Insecticides contain active chemicals that can
be harmful to humans so it is important to follow the directions carefully.
Some exterminators will also seal up the holes in the walls or wood.
After dealing with the infestation, our family wanted to know how to prevent another. Try getting rid of high moisture conditions that cause wood to become soft. Be conscious of any decaying wood near the home and get rid of it as soon as possible. Keeping wood stored in a dry place is also a great way to prevent the ants from nesting in it. Having your trees trimmed is very important too because ants can use tree branches that touch electrical poles as little ant highways that lead straight to your home.
Overall, if you see carpenter ants, don’t freak out! Sometimes they can be living in decaying wood near the house and are just visiting for the free food. In that case, an easy solution is to keep all food in closed containers and clean up regularly. Take the time to investigate the situation or hire a professional to take a look. When caught early, a home invasion of carpenter ants will not cause major damage.
This post by Bess Fleishchman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Nice Informative Article about Carpenter Brooklyn thanks for sharing
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