You should never ignore an ant infestation. Whenever you see one of these little creatures crawling around your home, your immediate priority should be to make sure that you are not dealing with carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are a species that, like termites, will damage the wood of the home, potentially costing you thousands of dollars in repairs. This is why it’s important to know how to tell if you have a carpenter ant infestation. Here is what you have to look for:
Warning signs
While carpenter ants and termites share certain similarities, the two diverge when it comes to what they do with the wood. Termites will eat the wood, while carpenter ants are only interested in living inside of it. This means that there is a lot of debris that they have to get rid of as they tunnel. So one of the first signs that you may notice during a carpenter ant infestation is the presence of frass, which is a mix of sawdust, dead insect parts, ant excrement, pieces of insulation and potentially other building materials.
Unfortunately, frass is not that easy to spot. The ants will usually push it out into wall voids, dark areas of the basement, hidden external locations or attic spaces. The frass may also end up in specially built tunnels that are meant to conceal it. Therefore, you will need other signs to look for as well.
Carpenter ants will need a way to push out the frass and for this purpose they will create an opening known as the kick-out hole. The holes are fairly small in diameter, being only slightly larger than an ant, so you will have to look for them carefully. When looking for both the frass and the kick-out holes you have a better chance of detecting an infestation.
What to do if you’ve determined that there is a carpenter infestation in the home
Dealing with carpenter ants is harder than dealing with other ant species, since it’s almost impossible to use insecticides directly on the colony in order to destroy it. However, a pro can help you out, both during the detection and the control phases of the process. If you would like to find out more information about how to deal with carpenter ants, or if you would like to set up an appointment with a pest control specialist, contact us today.
