When carpenter ants get into your Annapolis property, you may be able to tell simply by detecting these ants in your kitchen or pantry. But carpenter ants don’t always invade interior areas where food is stored or prepared. And these are nocturnal ants, which means they’re going to come out at night while you’re sleeping. You should know more ways to detect these ants than seeing them. Today, we’re going to offer up some helpful tips that will help you detect carpenter ants in your Annapolis property. Have a look.

How To Identify Carpenter Ants

You can see carpenter ants in many places besides your kitchen or pantry, and it is important to recognize them when you do. The most destructive carpenter ants are black carpenter ants. As you can probably guess, black carpenter ants are black. They don’t have any dark red coloration like other carpenter ant species.

In a carpenter ant colony, there are minor and major workers. That means the ants won’t all be the same size. Typically, workers range from ¼ to 5/8 inches in length.

When a colony matures, it begins to produce flying carpenter ants. These ants are larger than the workers. Flying carpenter ants can be over an inch long. They’re hard to miss.

Warning Signs

Now that you know how to identify carpenter ants, here are a few warning signs you may see, when you don’t see ants.

  • Carpenter ant frass. These ants don’t eat wood. Therefore, as they damage your home, a material called frass is produced. Frass is a mixture of wood shavings, ant droppings, and ant parts.
  • Wings. When flying carpenter ants mate, they shed their wings. You may find these wings in your home or around the perimeter of your home.
  • Hollow wood. When carpenter ants damage a wood timber on the inside, the wood can sound hollow when you tap on it.
  • Damage. When carpenter ants damage your home, you may see the damage. What does carpenter ant damage look like? It’s hard to explain. This damage can look like wood rot, rodent damage, or something else. If you see changes to the wood of your home, it is best to contact a licensed professional to have it checked.

Can You Hear Carpenter Ants?

This is a curious question. Can you hear carpenter ants when they damage your home? Yes. But if it were easy to hear them, they wouldn’t be able to do so much damage. Carpenter ants damage a home, over time. While the workers can make a noise that sounds like rustling, it is very faint, particularly when these ants are carving galleries in wood that has been softened by water damage.

How Carpenter Ants Get Inside

There are primarily two ways carpenter ants will get into your Annapolis home. They will find a tiny opening or they will target decaying wood.

How To Stop Carpenter Ants

To stop carpenter ants, you’ll need to perform an inspection of your exterior and seal any entry points you find. Check these places first:

  • Exterior doors and windows
  • Utilities that penetrate your foundation or exterior walls
  • The sills of your home (These are the horizontal wood members that sit on your foundation slab or walls.)

How To Keep Carpenter Ants Away

There are prevention tips that can help you deter carpenter ants, but the best way we know of to keep carpenter ants away is to have a licensed pest professional apply products around your home. In light of the threat these ants present to your property, it is wise to go with professional control.

If you live in Annapolis and you need help with carpenter ant control, we can help. Reach out to Pest Czar. Our highly-trained technicians are standing by to assist you.