Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood. Instead, they create their nests within wooden structures, chewing through the wood to create a home. Generally, carpenter ants prefer moist, hollow, or decaying wood, but then also nest inside homes where there’s a ready supply of sweet food to get.
Carpenter ants cut galleries along the wood grain, tunneling their way by creating passageways that allow them to travel between nests and food stores. The ants build satellite colonies and parent colonies. The parent colonies contain the queen, her offspring, and the worker ants. Satellite colonies contain worker ants, pupae, and older larvae.
Often, there are several satellite colonies attached to the parent colony, especially in locations where there’s plenty of food and water available. Colonies of ants can be many thousands strong, and the creatures can do considerable damage, weakening structures, and causing extensive, costly damage to your home. Call us for professional pest control Hamilton services.
The best way to prevent carpenter ants from inflicting damage on your property is to exclude them.
- Have all leaks fixed, including around pipes, drainage systems, and on your roof.
- If there are areas in your home where there are high moisture levels, take action to reduce moisture, such as installing dehumidifiers.
- Where possible, move wood stores or wooden structures that are in contact with the soil outside your home. If you have a firewood store, keep it elevated up off the ground.
- Cut back tree branches and undergrowth that overhangs or touches your house. That will remove potential bridges that could be used by carpenter ants to gain entry to your home.
- Make sure that any cracks in your home’s foundation are sealed.
A good pest exterminator will carry out a home assessment for you and will recommend a carpenter ant exclusion strategy.
Carpenter ants are destructive creatures that can wreak havoc inside almost all wooden structures inside your home. The chances where the massive amount of carpenter ants establishing inside your property is thus huge. It can be a financial burden to deal with if the problem is not assessed and treated early enough to permit the expansion of the colony. During the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, our technicians are going above and beyond to ensure that the methods applied are safe for you and your surroundings by wearing protective gear and by using non-toxic treatments where you and your family can remain at home if wanted.