How To Find Carpenter Ants In Your Home
How To Find Carpenter Ants In Your Home
by
Vasiliy Terkin
Carpenter ants are often creatures of habit and if you already suffering with an infestation there are several methods you can try that should guide you in the right direction towards finding a colony. When looking for a colony in your home it would be prudent to continue looking even after you have found one as quite often you will have several colonies occupying the same house. Carpenter ants often build satellite colonies to supplement the food supply needed to sustain the main colony.
The best times to survey for Carpenter ants is after sunset or early in the morning as this will be when they most actively forage for food. Grab a flashlight and follow any trails of ants you find closely. More often than not you will find them in wood that has had some damp recently causing it to start decaying. If you have had a pipe burst recently, or an area where condensation gathers regularly, check here first.
It has been documented that Carpenter ants have been found in insulation foam, perhaps mistaking this for rotting wood. Hollow panels in doors, walls or ceilings are also susceptible to infestation. If your walls are built from panel boards, check behind you bathroom and kitchen tiles by taping them lightly with a screwdriver and listen for hollow spots.
Your ceiling and attic are an almost ideal environment to house Carpenter ants as they are more than likely either constructed with wood paneling or contain an abundance of wooden beams supporting the roof. Also the air cavity between your ceiling and roof has quite often got small air vents to the outside to help with circulation. The ants could use these to gain access to food sources located outside the home.
Remember that Carpenter ants only nest in wood and require a food source to be close by to survive. The general sources of food are generally ones which can give them protein and sugar. Outside of the home they would normally east insect that can be dead or alive. In the home the sources are more varied; from meat products to honey, sugar and syrup along with other sweet products. Attracted by the scent of sweetness the sugar pot is often where you will find the first signs of infestation in the form of dead ants. As with most things in life early detection of the problem will make it easier to cure as long term infestation can cause mass structural damage.
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