If an infestation is severe you may notice carpenter ant damage in the form of wood shavings beneath window sills and other wood objects in your home.
Carpenter ant nest in attic.
Parent colonies are usually outdoors found in wood that is moist or rotted places such as tree stumps logs old boards rotting trees or tree roots.
However carpenter ants maintain a system with a main nest and satellite colonies.
The vent pipes skylights and chimneys are areas ants can thrive building their nest from the wood available.
As a result most carpenter ant nests are found in decaying wood in areas such as windows chimneys sinks doorframes or bath traps and in hollow spaces such as wall voids.
Baiting has two benefits.
The queen is located at the main nest and is supported by the satellites.
I believe the most effective way to eliminate carpenter ants is a combination program focused primarily on baiting.
It s important to note that the carpenter ants do not eat wood but are attracted to damp wood.
Parent colonies and satellite colonies.
The main nest is therefore the objective.
Ants will build nests where ever they can find a suitable area to do so.
With rotting damp wood that is normally found near the roof penetration your attic offers sustenance to carpenter ants.
Getting rid of carpenter ants naturally.
There was a pretty good amount and some were huge.
Provided with the ideal conditions of damp wood appropriate temperatures and protection from predators and environmental changes carpenter ant colonies can thrive.
However this isn t necessarily a sure sign that an entire colony and any satellite colonies of carpenter ants have established their nest within your home.
While it would be unusual to have an entire colony in your attic it is not unheard of.
Carpenter ants found in attic.
Since carpenter ants burrow into wood to create their nests you might hear a rustling sound inside walls or woodwork.
So i was removing attic insulation and found some carpenter ants just hanging out under the insulation blown in cellulose.
The good news here is that the ants are visible to you and they are still going outdoors to forage which means they will walk through areas that that you treat outdoors.
The ants were killed on contact and the homeowner was thrilled at the prospect of no longer having carpenter ants.
A carpenter ant nest and signs of an infestation showed up right when we needed it.
I hit them with some raid ant killer and got a lot of them but a lot fled the scene.