How Do I Know If I Have A Carpenter Ant Problem In My Huntsville Home?
April 30, 2020
Do you ever worry about your home being destroyed? Alabama has fallen victim to many natural disasters over the past 20 years. Hurricanes have rolled through, earthquakes have leveled homes, and some areas have even experienced severe flooding. What if we told you, one of the most serious threats to your home isn’t even a natural disaster? Of course, we are talking about carpenter ants. Is your home at risk for an infestation of these tiny wood-destroying pests? Let’s figure that out now.
What Are Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants are about as big as ants come. In fact, they are the largest ants on the continent and can grow to be upwards of 12 mm in length. Depending on the species, these ants can either be black or reddish-brown in color and sometimes a combination of the two. Because they are not equipped with any kind of stinger or venom, these wood-eating creatures are not typically dangerous. The worse they can do is bite you, which might feel like a sharp pinprick followed by irritation around the area of the bite.
The only thing carpenter ants are good at is helping in the decomposition of wood out in the wild which is an extremely important function that aids in the health of our planet. They only start causing trouble when they try to help our homes return to the ground as well.
Carpenter Ant Double Threat
By this point, you know that carpenter ants are a huge threat to your home’s wood. You may not know, however, why this is the case. You see, carpenter ants prefer to build their nests in water-damaged or decayed structures of wood. If your home seems right for building, they will tunnel inside and begin construction. As populations grow, the damage they do becomes worse. Given enough time, severe structural problems can present themselves such as tight-fitting windows and doors, bubbling wallpaper, dipping ceilings, buckling support beams, overly squeaky floorboards, and hollow-sounding wood.
Carpenter ants are much more than just wood-destroying pests. If it wasn’t enough that carpenter ants can eat a home from the inside out, they can also contaminate food when they scavenge their way through homes. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood, but instead, they sometimes hunt for food inside the homes they have infested. This behavior can get your family sick, especially if carpenter ants hunt through the dirty trash before climbing over your left-out food.
How To Identify A Carpenter Ant Infestation
The good news is that carpenter ants are a hundred times more easy to spot than termites. This is due to the fact that they can be seen wandering around the homes they have infested, while termites never come out of hiding. Another thing you can look for to identify carpenter ants is frass. This is the fine sawdust carpenter ants expel from holes they have dug and can be found either in piles at the base of walls or sticking around the holes it has been pushed out of.
How To Keep Your Home Carpenter Ant-Free
Want to know the secret to keeping carpenter ants out of your home? Just let the professionals here at Custom Pest Control help. We have the detailed and reliable solutions you need for your home in Northern Alabama, not only to get rid of these pests but to keep them away, year-round. Don't worry anymore about your home’s wood being turned into sawdust.
Give us a call today to find the right protection plan for your Huntsville home.