| Budget Termite & Pest Control Carpenter Ant Control
Carpenter Ants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts
Rhode Island Carpenter ants, vary in size and color but are
usually large (1/4-1/2 inch) and blackish. Occasionally, swarms of
winged carpenter ant reproductives will emerge inside a home.
Carpenter ant swarms usually occur in the spring and are a sure sign
that a colony is nesting somewhere inside the structure.
Besides being objectionable by their presence, carpenter ants
damage wood by hollowing it out for nesting. They excavate galleries in
wood which have a smooth, sandpapered appearance. Wood which has been
damaged by carpenter ants contains no mud-like material, as is
the case with termites. Shredded fragments of wood, similar in
appearance to coarse sawdust, are ejected from the galleries through
preexisting cracks or slits made by the ants. When such accumulations
are found sometimes containing dead ants and bits of insects which the
carpenter ants have eaten, it's a good indication that a
carpenter ant nest is nearby. Oftentimes, however, the excavated
sawdust remains hidden behind a wall or in some other concealed area.
Carpenter ants nest in both moist and dry wood, but prefer wood
which is moist. Consequently, the nests are more likely to be found in
wood dampened by water leaks, such as around sinks, bathtubs, poorly
sealed windows/ door frames, roof leaks and poorly flashed chimneys.
Nests are especially common in moist, hollow spaces such as the wall
void behind a dishwasher, or in a hollow porch column. There will often
be no external signs of damage.
Carpenter ants may establish nests in a number of different
locations. It is important to realize that these locations can be either
inside or outside the structure. Carpenter ants actually
construct two different kinds of nests; parent colonies which, when
mature, contain an egg-laying queen, brood and 2000 or more worker ants,
and satellite colonies which may have large numbers of worker ants but
no queen, eggs or young larvae. The carpenter ants inside a home
may have originated from the parent colony or from one or more satellite
nests. For example, the ants may be coming from the parent nest located
outdoors in a tree stump, landscape timber or woodpile, or from one or
more satellite nests hidden behind a wall in the kitchen or bathroom, or
perhaps from wood dampened by a roof leak in the attic.
The extent and potential damage to a home depends on how many nests are
actually present within the structure, and how long the infestation has
been active. Although large carpenter ant colonies are capable of
causing structural damage, the damage is not normally as serious as that
from termites. In some cases, the damage may be relatively
insignificant, but this can only be determined by locating and exposing
the nest area.
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