Have carpenter ants moved into your Illinois home? If so, you might be thinking about taking matters into your own hands. After learning a little about these pests, though, you’re sure to agree that it’s safer and more effective to let the professionals handle it.
Identifying Carpenter Ants
With lengths ranging from 3.5 millimeters to 13 millimeters, carpenter ants are among the largest ants in the country. As such, they’re fairly easy to identify. They’re usually black, but some are more brownish in color.
Where do Carpenter Ants Live?
Unlike many ants, carpenter ants don’t live in the soil. As their name implies, they prefer to make their homes in moist, rotted or hollowed out wood. They don’t care if the wood is indoors or outdoors.
Signs of Carpenter Ant Infestations
The most obvious sign of a carpenter ant infestation is the presence of swarmers, which are winged ants. Swarms only develop when a colony is very mature, so this is a very troubling sign. Additionally, tiny wood shavings from the ants’ tunnels and nests may be mixed with pieces of dead ants may be found in areas where the ants are living. If you listen closely, you may also hear a distinct rustling noise coming from within wooden objects, which is the sound of the ants building their nests and tunnels.
Carpenter Ant Removal
The basic steps to removing carpenter ants are to find the nest, remove it or treat it chemically and then eliminate the moist conditions that made the location to attractive to them in the first place. Without the right tools and expertise, though, you may not eliminate them all. The damage they do can be considerable, so it’s much better to let the professionals take care of it. Conquest Pest Solutions can help. Contact us for a quote today.