Colonies of Carpenter Ants

Size:  Up to 5/8-inch long. Carpenter ants are one of the largest ants on Long Island.

Carpenter Ant Damage

Color:   Black.   Sometimes red and black, solid red, or brown in color

What Do Carpenter Ants Eat? Carpenter ants will eat almost anything that people eat. The ants especially like sweet foods and meat.  They actively feed at night. They search for food up to 300 feet away from their nests. Sometimes, you can see their narrow paths.

Where are Carpenter Ants found?   Carpenter ants are social insects that usually nest in wood.  They are usually found in structures with moisture problems. The ants enter structures through gaps or cracks while looking for food. 

The appearance of large numbers of winged adults inside a structure indicates that the nest(s) exists indoors.  The workers push wood shavings and pieces of foam insulation out of the nest through slit-like openings in the wood or other nesting material.  This material, which may contain fragments of other insects, and structural moisture problems are things to look for when trying to locate a colony in an infested structure.  Rustling sounds in wall voids are another indication that there is a colony in the area.

Tips for Control: These ants are hard to control and may not eat ant baits. Experts must find the many colonies and treat them directly. Colonies can be located high in trees or on a neighboring property. A large number of trees and other conditions may create a high risk of re-infestation.  Regular inspections and service are necessary to find and treat new colonies as they move in from neighboring properties.

-          Keep bushes and shrubs trimmed back off home.

-          Seal cracks in home’s exterior

-          Eliminate nesting sites like tree stumps, piles of wood and other debris

-          Repairing leaks in  home and keeping water away from the home’s foundation

Suburban Exterminating technicians will provide a free inspection for the carpenter ant colonies. 

Let our experts help you to get rid of your carpenter ants.Call (516) or (631) 864-6900

Spring Starts on March 20th

The official 1st Day of Spring is March 20th. Spring begins at Suburban Exterminating when customers begin to call for carpenter ants. Carpenter ants cause a great amount of home damage on Long Island.

How Carpenter Ants Look

The most common carpenter ant on Long Island is the Pennsylvania carpenter ant. They are medium to large size ants that range from jet black in color to black and red. Rarely, they can be all red. 

 

Carpenter ants develop in stages from egg, larvae, pupa and adult.

 

Where Carpenter Ants Live and Work
Carpenter ants are social and live in a colony with labor divisions. This caste system has workers, a king and a queen. The workers gather food supplies, make nests, and care for the young eggs and larvae. Large workers act as soldiers for the colony. Some workers develop wings which help these workers form new colonies. When carpenter ants fly to form new colonies, the swarm usually occurs in the spring on Long Island.

 

Carpenter ants get their name from their habit of hollowing wood to build a nest. They like moist environments especially where water leaks have occurred in our homes. Leaks around kitchen and bathroom plumbing, as well as roof leaks, are places that carpenter ants like to make their home. Ant colonies are also found in firewood, tree stumps, fencing, hollow doors, and decks.

 

Carpenter ants create satellite colonies in addition to the main colony. The parent colony may have 6 satellite colonies within 300 feet.

 

When carpenter ants create a colony in wood, they chew off tiny bits of wood. This wood is deposited outside the nest.

 

Carpenter ants eat many things including dead insects and honeydew produced by aphids. The worker ants can travel from one homeowner’s yard to another.

 

How a Homeowner can help Suburban Exterminating eliminate their carpenter ants
Be prepared to answer a few key questions about the ants at your home:

•  Have you ever had a problem with carpenter ants before? Where was the problem? 
• Have you ever had a problem with leaks from the roof or a pipe? 
• Where do you see most of the ants? 

• How often do you see the ants? Every day? Several ants per week?