Carpenter ants are destructive insects capable of infesting your indoor space. Although these ants prefer to live in stumps and trees, their search for accessible shelter can bring them into the household.
What attracts carpenter ants the most are food sources, though they also need moisture to survive and a place to build their nest.
Keep scrolling to learn what attracts carpenter ants, explore the signs of an infestation, and the steps you can take to implement the best carpenter ant control.
Reasons Why Carpenter Ants Are Attracted to Indoors
Food Sources
Besides gathering food from organic sources outdoors, carpenter ants will eat any meaty and sweet food source they are provided. Examples include pet food, food leftovers, honey, fruit, candy, and meat.
Carpenter ants have a strong sense of smell and can quickly locate these foods. If you see them in your kitchen, around cupboards, or in the pantry, it’s a sign of carpenter ant infestations and should be dealt with immediately.
Damp Areas
Many believe carpenter ants eat wood. But, the wood is actually used as a nesting ground.
Carpenter ants dig galleries and use this space to make their nest and multiply. Damp areas are the ideal breeding ground for ants. Buildings affected by water damage have a lot of damp areas like moist support beams, wet window sills, damp supporting pillars, and soaking wall spaces.
If your house’s support structure is made of wood and stays damp due to a plumbing leak, carpenter ants will most likely infest the system, weakening it further. The mold growing in these humid areas becomes their food source, allowing entire colonies to thrive.
Other potential breeding areas include bathrooms, kitchens, pipe fixtures, vents, and damp laundry rooms.
Piling Firewood
Stacking firewood near the household can become a carpenter ant’s home if the wood is left unattended for long periods. Weather changes and rain can turn the wood damp, attracting ants to infest the wood.
When their colonization is complete, the ants will start spreading from the area to indoors.
Presence of Stumps and Trees Near the Home
If your garden or backyard has one or several tree stumps, ants can occupy the stumps and burrow into them, especially in rotten parts of the stump. Furthermore, if the branches are touching the outdoor walls of the property, carpenter ants can use these branches as a bridge to get access into your home.
Keeping Your Home Shaded
Leaving the backyard or garden moist and shaded always increases the chances of carpenter ant infestation. As the colony grows, ants will naturally look for food sources nearby, eventually identifying the potential food sources present within the household.
Gardening and Landscaping
While a few flowering plants are no big deal, having a garden full of different varieties creates a remarkable thriving space for carpenter ants. Several other insects will also inhabit the garden, serving as the ant colony’s food source. Carpenter ants are plant-friendly and will eat any pest or insect that can damage the plant.
However, these pest-controlling ants can wreak havoc indoors as they can easily access your home from your garden. It’s imperative to implement pest control practices to eradicate the issue.
See How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Ants In Mulch: The Definitive Guide.
Leaving Organic Debris Unattended
Leaves, twigs, and other organic matter can pile up on the ground if not cleaned properly.
Beneath the pile, moisture builds up, making a perfect location for the carpenter ants to infest. Make it a habit to rake the accumulated leaves and debris from the ground to avoid attracting carpenter ants.
Signs of Carpenter Ant Infestation
Although carpenter ants are large, they are still small enough to go unnoticed if you do not know what to look for. Here are some important signs you should always pay attention to.
- One or two ants wandering around your floor. Seeing a few ants every few days means there’s an infestation you are unaware of because this means there are carpenter ant colonies nearby.
- Another significant sign of an infestation is evidence in a basement or attic. If there’s an infestation, the spider webs in these areas will have dead ants stuck in them.
- Another sign you’ll notice in wooden structures is grooves or channels the ants make. Most of the time, these burrows are created within the wooden beams, but sometimes an exposed tunnel can become visible on the outer surface of the wood.
- Noticing sawdust every time you clean your house. This sawdust can be seen pouring out of a wall crack, a chipped window, or beneath wooden doors and cabinets. Their digging activity produces this sawdust. (See What Damage Can Carpenter Ants Do?)
- The appearance of winged ants on the inside of a window trying to reach the outside. These winged pests are an evident sign of colonization.
Carpenter ants infest and colonize different areas, one after another. They can start by invading one place, like the outdoors, and then spread and occupy indoor regions.
Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants
If left unchecked, carpenter ants spread like wildfire. The following steps can be practiced to prevent carpenter ants from infestation.
- Carpenter ants thrive in moist and damp places. The timely removal of stagnant water from wet areas will reduce their infestation rate.
- Make sure the area surrounding your household is clear of any accumulated debris. Keep your lawn or backyard raked and safely dispose of leftover kitchen food.
- Keep an eye out for rotting wood.
- Ant baits can eradicate the colony. The bait is taken by worker ants into the settlement like any other food left over.
Their bait kills the thriving population effectively. An anti-ant spray can be used if you can locate a colony.
- Fill up cracks and crevices in the wall and repair chipped wooden floors, windows, and related household structures will prevent infestation.
- Treat wooden structures with ant-repellant chemicals that will stop them from burrowing into the wood.
Final Thoughts
Following the tips we shared can keep an ant population from spreading and keep them out of your household. However, remember that sometimes the infestation is far worse than you think.
The ants might have a satellite colony indoors and another main colony outdoors. In situations like this, it’s best to contact professional pest control services in your area, as doing it on your own might only resolve the problem temporarily. The issue will remain unless addressed adequately.
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