Carpenter Ant Bite: Is It Dangerous?

Carpenter ants are larger than the traditional pavement or sugar ants you find around your home. Does their massive presence mean they can cause more peril to your family? Is a carpenter ant bite dangerous?

Carpenter ants are common in New Jersey year-round and are luckily not toxic. That doesn’t mean their bite can’t pack a powerful punch. You’re probably gonna feel a sharp pinch that results in a mild stinging sensation. So unless you’re allergic, you should be okay if bitten.

While it’s a good thing that their bite is unlikely to be dangerous to you or your pet, the damage these industrious builders can do to the foundation of your home and other structures is a different story. Carpenter ants love to tunnel and nest in wood, so they have the potential to be as destructive as termites. If you don’t find and resolve an infestation of these ants quickly, it can cost you thousands in structural repairs.

Unlike termites, they don’t feed on wood. They only chew on it to burrow and create hollow areas where they can nest. These ants aren’t dangerous to humans or your pets, but they are drawn to the wood in your home. Damaged areas are an especially tempting area for these workhorses.

Places where water damage has occurred in your home are softer and therefore easier for carpenter ants to bite and tunnel through. The same can be said for a tree in your backyard that’s started to rot from damage. They prey on weakened structures—it’s simply easier to chew their way through them.

The carpenter ant can thrive both indoors and out and they like to build their colonies inside wooden structures making your porch or foundational supports perfect for their needs. They do prefer to stay outside and leave you alone, but will go inside your home when they need nourishment. Since they don’t feed on the wood, they still need to find a source of nutrition for their colony. Unfortunately for you, if they find your home provides what they need to feed their brood, they will start the nesting process. A few ants can quickly turn into an infestation due to the rate at which they breed.

The Bug

It’s easy to tell a carpenter ant from other varieties based on size so if you get a glimpse at the insect who bit you, you’ll know quickly if the carpenter ant is your perpetrator. There is some variation in how big they grow. For example: the queens and winged kinds are pretty massive. They can get up to about an inch long while the worker ants are the smallest coming in at ½ an inch or so.

You’ll notice that the coloring of these ants is different from sugar ants—they’re not always a solid black color. They can be shiny and black, but also, you might find them in hues of red, orange, or a combination of red/black. If you examine them closely, you will see that their body structure differs quite a bit from other ants.

Pay attention to the thorax and abdomen areas. There’s one node instead of two. Another difference that you should be able to see if you get close enough, is that the abdomen has tiny hairs on the tip of it which the other ants won’t have. Their thorax area is also distinct because it’s round and uneven.

The Bite

Now the jaw, known as mandibles, of a carpenter ants is distinct. It is large and has a serrated edge similar to a saw which allows them to easily chew through wood. Those powerful mandibles are also the reason a carpenter ant bite, while rare, is painful. Well that, and the fact that they inject formic acid into the bite—intensifying the sting.

Carpenter ant bites are not venomous and typically look more like a mosquito bite than a fire ant bite.

Some familiar places we look to identify an infestation are:

• Porch ceilings along the roofline
• Damaged flashing
• Near plumbing in kitchen and bathroom
• Crawl spaces
• Under porches
• Attics
• Near bathtubs and showers
• Wooden doors
• Near window trim by the curtain rod
• Door framing
• Backside of moldy cabinets
• Behind dishwasher

Like most destructive critters, carpenter ants like to do their work at night. They’re pretty creative in maneuvering their way into your home. They will use tree branches or other objects that can give them a clear path right to your front door.

We’ve already established that the carpenter ant doesn’t eat the wood they chew, but what do they eat? Fascinatingly enough, this ant is omnivorous. They eat plant and animal-based products, which can be a double threat to your home.

Carpenter ants will dine on the nectar of plants and small insects alike. They prefer sweet treats, eggs, grease from your bacon, cake, and even meats. Therefore, it’s essential for you to clean up after your meals.

That piece of banana your toddler dropped under the table might go unnoticed, but a carpenter ant can smell it up to 30 feet away! It’s scary to consider that their sense of smell is that keen, especially since it’s so easy to miss food crumbs.

You must find the nest if you want to get rid of these wood-biting carpenter ants. Good News! You don’t have to search through your walls—worker ants will take the food back to the colony for you. Because of this, baits work the best. Watching the workers grab the bait and take it back to their nests is fascinating.

Bait

Homemade bait can be made of a combination of things. The most popular is some type of sugary substance and borax. The sweets will entice them, and the chemical will kill them. Get a small dish and mix an equal part of borax or boric acid and sugar.

Then add a little bit of water to make it into a paste. Leave this dish out, and you will notice ants crawling in it within a few hours. It takes them a bit to locate the scent, but once one of them does, carpenter ants will bite, chew, and eat that poisonous sugar. Then signal all their fellow workers to come dine and help take food back to the rest of the colony too.

You may be shocked to learn that pheromones work both in the human and pest world. Pheromones are chemicals that are excreted from a body that triggers a response by others, but carpenter ants and some other insects use them to make a trail that’s easy to find.

As the ant travels, they leave this hormonal scent for others to follow that acts as a map of your home. Remember, these creatures are pretty small, so they need to ensure they can find their way around.

If you want to confuse them and destroy their map, you need to eliminate these pheromone trails. Essential oils are a great way to disrupt these scent trails and you can wipe them away. Any areas where you’ve seen ants crawling should be cleaned to eliminate these external hormones. An equal parts vinegar and water mix will also work fine to spray in these areas.

Even with these efforts, eliminating all ants in the colony may take a few treatments. Sometimes it’s best to call our Kapture Pest Control experts. We are well-versed in dealing with these carpenter ants and other challenging insects.

Getting rid of carpenter ants can become an overwhelming job, which is why so many people call in the professionals at the first sign of trouble. Just because you eliminate the nest doesn’t mean you’ve got all the ants; the ones left behind can build a new nest.

It’s easy to see how they can quickly become a significant headache when you consider drilling holes in the wood, mixing boric acid pastes, and destroying pheromone trails.

We can help you avoid carpenter ant bites on you and your home! The longer you let them actively chew, the more it’s going to cost you should they damage any essential structures of your home. If you’ve tried and failed to rid your home of them, or you just don’t have it in you to try at all, give us a call!

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