Carpenter ants are often compared to termites because they tunnel through wood. However, unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood. They are fierce predators with a diverse diet that includes insects and plant matter.
What Do Carpenter Ants Eat?
Carpenter ants are known for building their nests in wood; however, they do not eat wood. Instead, they eat a wide variety of food that changes depending on whether they live outside or indoors.
Outdoor Carpenter Ants
Outdoor carpenter ants feed on living and dead insects, honeydew and various plant materials. These pests are predators and scavengers, so they are skilled at hunting down other living insects or finding dead insect carcasses. Carpenter ants prefer to eat other insects because they contain plenty of protein and nutrients.
However, carpenter ants are attracted to honeydew’s sweetness, which aphids and other sap-sucking insects secrete. Surprisingly, ants do not hunt and kill the insects to access the honeydew. Instead, carpenter ants protect these insects in exchange for access to their honeydew.
Lastly, outdoor carpenter ants eat many plant materials, such as fruit, nectar and plant sap. These foods fuel carpenter ants with carbohydrates and give them the energy to scavenge and build their nests.
Indoor Carpenter Ants
When carpenter ants move inside, their diet changes based on what is available to them. For example, since carpenter ants are attracted to protein, they will eat meat scraps, pet food and other protein sources they can find.
As mentioned above, carpenter ants also have a sweet tooth. When they live indoors, they’re drawn to syrup, honey, fruit juices and jelly.
The residue left on your dishes, countertops and floors can also attract carpenter ants, who like to feed on grease, fatty foods and crumbs.
How to Keep Carpenter Ants Out of Your Home
The best way to deter carpenter ants from taking up residence in your home is to avoid leaving out foods they are attracted to, such as meat scraps, honey and crumbs. Keeping your food in airtight containers in your refrigerator and pantry is a great starting point. However, it’s also important to keep your entire kitchen clean.
Wipe up spills and clean up messes immediately to avoid attracting carpenter ants. Also, do not leave dishes with food residue in your sink for too long.
Carpenter ants also move indoors to find a water source, so it’s important to eliminate them. Inspect your home for leaking faucets and refresh your pet’s water bowls daily.
When to Contact a Professional Pest Control Service About Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants can cause structural damage to your home, so it’s important to act quickly when you see them on your property. Contact a pest control service when you spot these pests, even if you do not see the nest.
An expert will find the nest, treat it and can implement prevention methods to deter carpenter ants from returning in the future. They can also help you identify flying carpenter ants.
Do Coffee Grounds Repel Carpenter Ants?
Using coffee grounds to deter carpenter ants is a home remedy that some homeowners try before using professional solutions. However, does it work?
It is true that carpenter ants do not like the smell of coffee. In fact, they do not like any strong smells.
However, coffee grounds are not an effective carpenter ant control method. You may temporarily see fewer carpenter ants when you use coffee grounds to deter them, but it is not a long-term solution.
These ants are persistent and resourceful pests, and the smell of coffee grounds is not enough to keep them away. Carpenter ants move inside to find food, water and shelter, and they do not give up on their mission easily.
The Right Ways to Deter Carpenter Ants
There are better ways to deter carpenter ants than using coffee grounds. For example, inspecting your home for potential entry points and sealing them up can limit their access.
Look for gaps, holes and cracks and seal them up, especially around your doors and windows. Make sure that your doors and windows have tight-fitting screens and weather stripping.
Next, maintaining a clean home can deter carpenter ants because it limits their access to food and water. Clean up as you cook, wash your dishes right away and store food in airtight containers.
You can also make it harder for carpenter ants to enter your home by making a few outdoor changes to your property. For example, keeping your vegetation trimmed back and away from your house can prevent carpenter ants from using it as a walkway into your home.
You should also keep wood piles away from your home and clear your yard of debris where carpenter ants could nest and forage. Finally, eliminate any moisture sources that could attract carpenter ants to your home. Fix all leaky pipes, clear out your gutters and ensure your drainage system works properly.
The best defense against carpenter ants is using professional-grade solutions instead of at-home remedies that only provide temporary relief. Contact a pest control professional for a long-term solution if you see carpenter ants on your property.
Should I Be Worried if I See One Carpenter Ant?
It’s always unsettling to see ants on your property, and when you only see one ant, it can be difficult to know whether or not a larger colony is nearby. When it comes to carpenter ants, seeing one ant does not automatically indicate that you have an infestation; however, it is a red flag.
Carpenter ant colonies have a unique caste system, and each caste has a different job. Some carpenter ants are sent away from the nest to scout new food sources and potential shelter sites. When you see only one carpenter ant, it’s likely that it is on a scouting trip and will report its findings to the rest of the colony.
This should raise concern for two reasons. First, the larger colony may not be in your home, but they are somewhere nearby. Second, if the scouting carpenter ant finds a suitable shelter in your home, the rest of the colony could soon join.
It’s also important to know that carpenter ants are famous for establishing satellite colonies. You may not have a large infestation in your home, but you could still house a smaller satellite colony instead.
Signs of a Carpenter Ant Infestation
There are several ways to tell if your home is infested with carpenter ants. For example, you may see frass around your home, which looks like wood dust. Carpenter ants excavate wood to create their nest, and as they build, they push frass out of small openings in the wood.
If you see loose frass around your baseboards, window sills and other wooden structures in your home, it could be due to carpenter ants.
Next, reproductive carpenter ants have wings that they use during their mating flight and shed when mating is complete. Spotting their translucent wings around your home is a common sign of a carpenter ant infestation. You are most likely to spot them in the spring and summer months, as that is when carpenter ants leave their current colony to start a new one.
At nighttime, if you listen very closely, you may even hear carpenter ants rustling around inside your walls, ceilings and other structures. This is the sound of the carpenter ants excavating your wood.
Lastly, carpenter ants’ activity can damage wood. If you knock on the wooden structures around your home and they sound hollow, it could be because carpenter ants have excavated the inside of the wood to build nests.
Carpenter ants can cause structural damage to your home, so it’s important to act fast when you spot one. Do not wait until you see a large infestation before taking action against carpenter ants. It’s best to contact a pest control service for help.
Contact Your Local Pest Control Service to Get Carpenter Ants Out of Your Home
Carpenter ants are not a pest to take lightly. Whether you spot one ant or an entire colony, you should work with a professional to kick them out of your home. An expert will have the experience and tools needed to control carpenter ants and put prevention methods in place for the future.
ABC Can Treat the Carpenter Ants on Your Property
If you’re dealing with carpenter ants, contact ABC Home & Commercial Services. Our professionals will create a custom pest treatment plan for your property. We even offer preventative pest control services so that any potential pest problems will be stopped in their tracks. They can also help you with other types of ants, like red fire ants.
