Once you’ve located the carpenter ant nest, you have several options for extermination. You can also tap on areas of suspected nests to listen for hollow sounds of damaged wood. When you get to the suspected area of the nest, listen closely-you may be able to hear a faint rustling sound. If this is the case, you may need to lure them out with some sweet bait, like diluted honey or sugar milk.Ĭarpenter ants are nocturnal, so set the bait out at night and then wait. However, even if you have an ant problem, you might not always see actual ants out and about.

You may even need to follow them outside if they’ve nested in tree stumps or dead trees. You may need to be patient and follow them back to baseboards, cabinets, doors, or other wooden structures. As these ants walk, they lay down scent trails that allow other ants to follow them to and from food sources. Finding the NestĪs soon as you see carpenter ants in your home, follow them. The first step is to locate the nest so that you can destroy the colony. They have straight antennae (no “elbow”), only have two body segments, and their midsections are thicker.īecause these insects live in hidden nests, it’s important that you don’t immediately start killing the first carpenter ants you see inside your home. Termites, on the other hand, have veiny wings, all four of which are the same size. If these ants have wings, there are few veins, and the front pair of wings are longer than the rear pair. Carpenter ants have a narrow “waist,” or middle body segment (thorax), and their antennae have an angle to them, like an elbow. However, you can easily tell these two pests apart with the naked eye. and February through June in the west.īecause carpenter ants build nests in wood, winged carpenter ants are sometimes confused with termites.

These wings assist the ants in swarming to find a new location for a colony, which happens in the spring-May through August in the eastern U.S. They’re usually black or reddish, and some may have wings. However, the most common carpenter ants in North America are very large, from one-quarter inch all the way up to five-eighths of an inch in length. There are multiple carpenter ant species, and they vary by color and size.

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