Blog

What You Should Know If You See Signs Of Carpenter Ants Around Your Bronx Home

The Bronx is full of homes, new and old. Whether your home is in a historic building or a structure with newer, more modern construction, your residence is susceptible to carpenter ant activity. Carpenter ants are wood-destroying insects and the largest ant species on the continent.

What Are Carpenter Ants?

Carpenter ants measure up to ½ inch long and they chew through wet, decaying wood to construct their nests and grow their colonies. They range in color from dark black to reddish-brown and they have a huge pair of jaws that they use to eat other insects, shave down timber, and feed on sources of nourishment.

If you’re wondering how to distinguish carpenter ants from other ants, keep in mind that carpenter ants have a head shaped like a heart, while regular ants have more of a circle-shaped head. Carpenter ants also have more of a symmetrical thorax than other ants.

Which Is Worse, Carpenter Ants Or Termites?

Carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage to the construction of your home. Because of this, they are often confused with termites, but they’re actually quite different.

Carpenter ants may not hold a candle to the large-scale destruction caused by termites, but over time, carpenter ants can cause significant damage to your property and its overall structural integrity.

Another thing to keep in mind when comparing carpenter ants and termites is the fact that carpenter ants have to forage for food. Termites eat wood, but carpenter ants only use wood to construct their nests.

They don’t actually eat wood, meaning they need to find other sources of food. That means there’s the added threat of potential food contamination if you have carpenter ants wandering around inside your home. Here is a list of some common consequences of experiencing a carpenter ant infestation on your Bronx property.

• Damage to fence posts
• Destruction of decks and patios
• Food contamination
• Nesting inside of and destruction of wood
• Production of frass in infested areas
• Serious structural damage
• Warping of the structure
• Weakened studs, joists, and structural timbers
• Weakened support beams and foundation

How Carpenter Ants Get Into Homes

You may be wondering how these wood-destroying ants got onto your property in the first place. Well, carpenter ants mostly live in nests that they create outside of the home, but they do seek entry inside for regular access to food, water, and shelter.

When they make their way into your home, they enter through remote areas that aren’t always easy to get to. Some of the common points of entry include:

• Cracks in foundation
• Expansion joints
• Gaps around windows & doors
• Openings around utility pipes & wires

If you catch a glimpse of a carpenter ant, you need to act fast. Keep in mind, if you spot just one or two carpenter ants, it could mean you have thousands more just out of sight inside your walls. If you detect any indications of carpenter ant activity, contact the professionals at Hello Pest Control today.

How Hello Pest Control Can Help

Our team of experienced pest professionals is highly skilled in the accurate identification, elimination, and prevention of carpenter ant activity. We’re familiar with the habits and behaviors of these wood-destroying pests and we know the necessary modifications to put in place to keep them off your property.

Once we conduct a comprehensive inspection of your Bronx residence, Hello Pest Control will develop a customized treatment plan that works for you, your loved ones, and your individual property. No two carpenter ant infestations are the same, which is why we get to know each property before strategically treating it to eliminate any pest problems.

Contact us today to discuss your carpenter ant control needs and how we can be of service.

Copyright © 2022 Hello Pest Control – All Rights Reserved.   /  Terms and Conditions   /  Privacy Policy   /  Accessibility Statement