Carpenter Ant Control

Carpenter ants are a wood boring ant that can cause a lot of damage in and around the home. They are found most anywhere and though they don't eat wood, they will chew through it looking to make nests or to forage for food. Carpenter Ants are most commonly thought of as being large and black but in fact vary in size. Workers can be small to mid sized; swarmers and reproductives can grow to an inch or more in overall length. Carpenter Ants have qualities about them which make them particularly difficult to control. Unlike smaller ant species, carpenter ants don't commonly travel or forage in great numbers. For this reason it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly where a local nest might be concealed. This makes treating local infestations more of an ordeal. Additionally, carpenter ants will many times be active at night making it harder to track them. More so with this ant compared to other species, knowing the nest location is sometimes critical when trying to control local infestations. Additionally, most infestations of carpenter ants will have several "satellite nests" and not just one main nest site. Controlling the activity and keeping a structure carpenter ant free can only be achieved by killing off all the networked nests.

Carpenter ants will be most active in the spring and summer. During this time they will establish highways and scent trails that will provide routes for gathering food as well as mapping safe travel pathways from one nest to another. In most cases learning these pathways will be critical if you wish to keep local poplulations under control. Since carpenter ants will damage wood, they should not be tolerated in or on a home for any length of time. Seeing 1-2 ants a year would not be cause for concern. Seeing 1-2 ants a week would warrant a good inspection and most likely some form of treatment. Since carpenter ant applications done by professionals can be very expensive, you might consider trying to treat the problem yourself. If you are serious about doing a carpenter ant job, we suggest you read our complete carpenter ant control article first. This article will provide insight as to why this ant is so difficult to control, what the best products are available on the market today to control carpenter ants as well as how to do effective applications while using these products. Additionally, training videos are included which really help explain what you need to do and why.