Carpenter ants are no stranger to American homes in fact; they are found in a great deal of places the world over. These pests enjoy making their homes in damp or rotting wood, the kind of material that may pose more than one problem if it happens to be part of the structure of your home. You may find it somewhat comforting to know that these ants do not eat wood unlike termites. If you find that these bugs have made their home within yours, carpenter ants extermination will likely be your next step.

These large black bugs live up to their name by tunneling through the wettest wood they can find. They tunnel through the stuff in their search for edible substances to bring back to the nest. They leave telltale frass fragments, or piles of chewed-through debris, in their wake as they go about building their nests and subsequent tunnels to and from the area. The frass, obviously, is the remnants of the wooden structures these critters have moved to call home.

A member of the genus Camponotus, these carpenter critters reside in great colonies much like other types of ants. They can live in your home as well as outside of it, as long as they have found a locale featuring damp, rotted wood of the sort featuring hollows. They will create even more space within the wood by using their powerful pinchers to chisel tunnels from one open space to another.

Periodically check the places within your home that can become home to these creatures such as outdoor decks, patios, floor joists, roof rafters and window frames. Any part of the home where drainage or standing water has become an issue may cause conditions that will attract these bugs as well. Waterproofing your home is an important step to protect you from these harmful pests, as well as from all sort of other problems.

These large ants have developed some handy defense mechanisms: some varieties of the species are able to shoot a glue-like substance from their large midsection. They aim for the head of any invaders. With some varieties, some ants of the colony are actually able to explode, causing any invader to become covered in a similar sticky substance. The exploding ant does not survive his own defensive attack.

They should be no match for you, however, as long as you put the right obstacles in their path. The best way to get rid of a heavy infestation may be to contact a professional, who will already have all the tools necessary for eradicating this precise problem. You can tell you have a problem with carpenters if the ants present have only one node or hump other types of ants have a two-sectioned back or more than one node.

Sometimes people confuse carpenter ants for termites both types of colony feature winged versions of each respective pest, leading to confusion. Carpenters tend to be dark in color and narrow in the waist. They also have bent antennae, unlike termites.

Author Bio: Stewart Wrighter is in need of carpenter ants extermination for his downtown hotel. They have found evidence of carpenter antsat that location.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: carpenter ants extermination,carpenter ants