If an infestation is severe you may notice carpenter ant damage in the form of wood shavings beneath window sills and other wood objects in your home.
Carpenter ant nest in attic.
Carpenter ants found in attic.
However this isn t necessarily a sure sign that an entire colony and any satellite colonies of carpenter ants have established their nest within your home.
Carpenter ants prefer to nest in moist wood or structures already damaged by other insects.
Since carpenter ants burrow into wood to create their nests you might hear a rustling sound inside walls or woodwork.
Parent colonies are usually outdoors found in wood that is moist or rotted places such as tree stumps logs old boards rotting trees or tree roots.
Provided with the ideal conditions of damp wood appropriate temperatures and protection from predators and environmental changes carpenter ant colonies can thrive.
Ants will build nests where ever they can find a suitable area to do so.
The queen is located at the main nest and is supported by the satellites.
Carpenter ants typically have two types of nests.
As a result most carpenter ant nests are found in decaying wood in areas such as windows chimneys sinks doorframes or bath traps and in hollow spaces such as wall voids.
In order to eradicate the nest we drilled a series of small holes in the window frame and injected an insecticidal dust.
The good news here is that the ants are visible to you and they are still going outdoors to forage which means they will walk through areas that that you treat outdoors.
Getting rid of carpenter ants naturally.
I hit them with some raid ant killer and got a lot of them but a lot fled the scene.
However carpenter ants maintain a system with a main nest and satellite colonies.
There was a pretty good amount and some were huge.
Baiting has two benefits.
The vent pipes skylights and chimneys are areas ants can thrive building their nest from the wood available.
The ants were killed on contact and the homeowner was thrilled at the prospect of no longer having carpenter ants.
With rotting damp wood that is normally found near the roof penetration your attic offers sustenance to carpenter ants.
I believe the most effective way to eliminate carpenter ants is a combination program focused primarily on baiting.
So i was removing attic insulation and found some carpenter ants just hanging out under the insulation blown in cellulose.
A carpenter ant nest and signs of an infestation showed up right when we needed it.
Parent colonies and satellite colonies.