The weather is starting to brighten up and get warmer, and we are all starting to finally emerge from our homes. This is generally great news! Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones excited to see the warmer weather. Nice weather in New Jersey also means unwanted pests will start to emerge and wreak havoc on our homes, and plans!
We have been talking a lot about ants lately and it is for a good reason. They are one of those pests that are starting to make their way out and possibly into your homes – where they stay until OCTOBER! One of these common troublesome pests that you may be seeing is the carpenter ant.
These not-so-little black ants can do some big damage to the wood of your home. So it is important to keep these creatures out! But how exactly? Let’s get into it!
How do I Know If It Is Carpenter Ants?
With many of us starting to venture out into our yards with spring projects, you may start to notice a few pesky creatures out there with you. If you notice big trails of large black ants, chances are you have carpenter ants. Sometimes you will notice that they will have wings and can fly. But most times they will just be crawling around on the ground trying to find something to feast on. Spoiler alert: that food is almost always coming from you!
If you have carpenter ants, they will try to make their colonies both indoors and outdoors in moist, decaying, or hollow wood. They will try to create tunnels through the wood to navigate their way through. These creatures may be tiny but the damage they can cause is not. So if you start to notice piles of wood shavings around along with ants, this is another sign that you have carpenter ants.
Are you Sure It Isn’t Termites?
We know what you are thinking. You notice tunnels in the wood around your home and you have pests. That must mean termites, right? Well not necessarily. If you are finding piles of wood shavings or sawdust around your home or yard then it is definitely carpenter ants.
Termites are going to eat the wood that they are making their way through – which means no left behind wood shavings to encounter. Carpenter ants do not eat the wood that they are tunneling through. So you will see leftover wood around their tunnel entries.
It is very important to know whether you may have carpenter ants or termites in your home because while carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage, termites can cause much more. Termites will just continue to eat any wood until the wood is gone and no structure remains. The carpenter ants will not do as much damage because they are just nesting in the wood not eating it.
Basically, the carpenter ants are trying to make their homes inside the moist wood. They aren’t trying to destroy it for the sole fact of food. They would much rather eat insects or perhaps sweet things you may have inside your kitchen like sugar, jelly, or other sweet foods.
This doesn’t mean Carpenter Ants are harmless even the tunnels they dig out for their nests can be significant enough to cause property damage and they should be dealt with straight away. With the right pest treatment, you can keep carpenter ants from making their way into your home and causing some significant damage.
How To Stop Carpenter Ant Wood Damage
Carpenter ants will continue to nest in wood in and around your home through October. And if they aren’t eliminated by that time, once it becomes cooler, they will start to make their home in the walls of your home. The best way to prevent that from happening is to eliminate the entire colony.
Many times clients are tempted to spray immediate kill treatments. You will see a trail of ants and want to rid them from the area immediately. We get it. No one wants ants marching into their personal space. But, these types of treatments aren’t efficient in eliminating the colony. The colony will just keep sending more ants out to take their place.
The best way to eliminate the colony is with a slow-acting treatment. With this type of treatment, the ants will take the bait and bring it back to their colony not knowing what it is. Then eventually the colony will be eliminated leaving you free of carpenter ants and your home protected from their wood damage.
How can we help?
If you find yourself with a carpenter ant problem we are here to help you. Kapture offers a protection plan where we treat your yard every 3 months. Like we mentioned before, these ants will continue to nest in the wood around your home until October and then start nesting in your walls. No one wants to have to deal with that situation.
And If you aren’t sure if you are dealing with a carpenter ant problem or a termite problem, we are always here to answer any questions for you. We offer FREE phone consultations and are always happy to help!
Contact Kapture for a No-Obligation Phone Consultation and Quote:
Call 1-888-811-5813 or schedule online now to start protecting your home and family today!
