Carpenter Ants

What is a Carpenter Ant?

Carpenter Ants are one of the biggest ants found in Manhattan and throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as well as the majority of the United States. They are social insects with strong mandibles which are used to dig their nests in timber and many other wooden structures. One of the first signs of Carpenter Ants will be either the ants themselves – black, red or brown or differing combinations of red and black ants anywhere between 1/8 to 1/2 an inch in length – or the small piles of sawdust that are created as a result of their nest building activities. The worker ants are smaller than the queen, who can be up to 5/8 inches long.

Why do I have Carpenter Ants?

If you have rotting, decaying wood around your premises then it is there that Carpenter Ants will usually build their nest, before moving into wood that is less rotten. A Carpenter Ant nest inside your premises is a fair indication that a smaller group of ants, started by a larger colony nearby, have built their home inside your building to more easily forage for food. While they are not generally considered to be dangerous, Carpenter Ants are primarily known and feared for the damage they can do to building structures. They are extremely tenacious insects and when foraging for food will discover many different ways of entering your properties, including gaps around door and window frames, or gaps where utility lines enter and leave buildings.

How do you exterminate Carpenter ants?

Carpenter Ants are particularly tricky to exterminate as they generally have a number of nests laid out in a network that they can move to without being seen. Unless all of the nests are destroyed it is all too easy for the Carpenter Ants to regroup and rebuild the network of nests and their colony. At Assured Environments, our trained pest control operatives know just how to rid you of your Carpenter Ant problems in the shortest time possible, with the least inconvenience to you.

Can I do it myself?

Because of their ability to survive unless all nests in the colony are destroyed, Carpenter Ants are not easy pests to eradicate without professional help. Carpenter Ant nests in larger buildings pose even more of a problem, due simply to the scale of the area the ants are moving and foraging in. Most chemicals used in do-it-yourself solutions are simply not effective because they are not of the correct type or sufficient strength. Because of this it can be very dangerous to attempt to rid yourself of Carpenter Ants as pesticides can cause serious injury to people and pets if misused. At Assured Environments we commit to being there when you need us, which can be the same or next day in most cases.

Is the Carpenter Ant treatment safe?

Every product used by Assured Environments has been passed for pest control use by the EPA and is applied under the strictest of guidelines. This means that you can be sure that those products cause no threat to people or pets. Our service professionals will inform you if any specific safety procedures are required.

How can I prevent this in the future?

Carpenter Ants can be very difficult to put a stop to because they are such resolute foragers. The best course of action is to remain vigilant and to take steps to treat infestations as they arise.