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Signs of carpenter ants in house
Considered as one of the largest ants in the Greater Vancouver, the carpenter ant can be 3.4 to 13 mm long with either a black, red, or yellow color. They usually seek refuge in moist and hollow wood, hence the name carpenter ants.
The ants usually eat food that people consume and they are especially fond of sweets and meat. They may however, consume other insects.
Carpenter ant infestation is quite common in various countries and can be found in wooden houses. The ants can build galleries by hollowing out wood which means they can be residing within the walls of your house.
Are carpenter ants harmful?
A common question that most people ask is whether carpenter ants are harmful or not.
To begin with, carpenter ants do have large jaws that they use it to carve out wood. They can definitely bite through human skin and it can be really painful to be bitten by one.
If you happen to be bitten by a carpenter ant, you will have irritation near that area. However, carpenter ant bites are harmless as these ants do not carry any disease.
But needless to say, they can be a real nuisance since they will keep on chopping on wood and thereby damage wooden structures in your house. Also, if they start infesting your household, it can be very difficult to stop them from spreading.
Thus, it is necessary that you start looking for signs for carpenter ants in your house so you can take preventative measures early on and stop a major infestation.
Signs of Carpenter ants
Carpenter ants can appear to be very similar to other termites and so it is fairly easy to mistake the infestation for some other harmful ant infestation. Therefore, you should begin by identifying whether the infestation you are dealing with is actually caused by carpenter ants.
One of the places to look for carpenter ants is of damp wood. This is because Carpenter ants tend to build their nests in these places where the wood is damp, dark, and old. More commonly, inner walls are the primary target of carpenter ants.
Another sign of carpenter ant presence is wood shavings. This is quite obvious since Carpenter ants chew on wood and finding wood shavings in your house clearly indicates that there might be carpenter ants present in your house.
Moreover, sounds made by these ants are a clear sign that carpenter ants have infested your household. In order to hear the sound, you can simply tap on the area of the wall which you think has nests. If there are any, the ants will make a rustling sound.
Common places to tap can be wood near the kitchen sink as it is most likely to be damp, walls of your bathroom and window frames.
How to get rid of carpenter ants?
Now that you know what signs to look for when hunting down for carpenter ants, it is time to see how you can get rid of them completely.
Carpenter ant infestation can be eliminated using certain DIY techniques. The most common one is to use specialized carpenter ant baits. You can place baits alongside the ants’ trails and lure them into taking the bait to their nests.
However, if the infestation grows out of control, a professional pest control service becomes mandatory. As such, you can contact carpenter ants Langley or carpenter ants Delta to have the carpenter ants in your house completely eradicated.
The professionals are highly experienced in removing such infestations and carry out their tasks with incredible accuracy and safety.