Most people think of ants as mere annoyances. While this is true, they can still cause a lot of damage to your home. Still, they are quite amazing little creatures.
Carpenter ants never get the press time that termites do, they are rarely in the spotlight. But they do burrow through wood and can be a big problem if you aren’t aware of their presence.
Earthwise Pest Management, your pest control service in Sacramento, offers interesting facts about carpenter ants.
Carpenter Ants Kill Termites
Carpenter ants and termites are natural enemies since they like living in the same conditions and chew through wood. Ants have been known to kill and eat termites. If there are enough ants, they have been known to wipe out entire colonies of termites.
But if you think bringing in carpenter ants to battle your termites is a good idea, think again. All you are doing is exchanging one pest for another.
Carpenter Ants are Strong
Carpenter ants can carry as much as 50 times their body weight. That is pretty impressive. They also have very strong jaws that they use to chew through wood.
They Can Bite
Yes, carpenter ants are perfectly capable of biting. They will bite you and their bite does hurt, so brace yourself. Lucky for you, carpenter ant bites are fairly uncommon.
Wood is Good
To avoid termites, many homeowners use treated wood. Unfortunately, this will not dexter the carpenter ant. Carpenter ants don’t actually eat the wood that they chew, so treated wood doesn’t bother them. They can even chew through railroad ties that have been treated with creosote.
They are mostly attracted to rotting wood and wet wood, but they will chew through any solid wood they can find. They have even been known to chew through plastic.
They are Very Neat
Carpenter ants remove the wood debris from their tunnels and nests. They also remove old food, dead ant bodies and other clutter. They are neat freaks.
They Don’t Eat Wood
Unlike termites, carpenter ants don’t actually eat the wood they chew, they chew it to create nests and tunnels.
Disturb Them
If you see a colony of carpenter ants in your yard, like in an old tree stump, bother them excessively. If they are disturbed, they will pack things up and move to another location.
You Can Hear Them
If there is a big colony in your house, you can hear them. As the ants move along the inside of your walls, a soft rustling noise can be heard. This is pretty fascinating and totally disturbing all at the same time.
Winged Adults
If you encounter winged adults inside your home in the spring, it is likely that you have an infestation. In the right conditions, carpenter ants will hunker down and chew on a house for years.
Keep a Clean Yard
The first step in keeping carpenter ants off of your property is getting rid of stumps and other dead wood from your property.
If you are dealing with an infestation, give Earthwise Pest Management a call.