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Carpenter Ants: Home Invaders
websitebuilder • May 20, 2019
Ants are invasive. They not only enter your home uninvited, but they also want to eat your food and make a mess of your lovely home. Carpenter ants can be quite a problem, and you certainly should not have to deal with them on your own.
But while carpenter ants are a nuisance, how do you even begin to determine if the ants you see actually cause damage to your home? And what do you do if they are? This guide will help you figure it all out.
How Can You Identify Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants are typically black, often with a slight hue of another color (like red). These ants have six legs and segmented, oval-type bodies. Some of the ants have wings, especially after the colony has had time to create offspring.
Many people realize they have ants when they see them in the kitchen. After all, ants like to eat many of the same foods humans do. You might find them on your counters or in your pantry, feasting on tasty food you were saving for yourself.
Confuse carpenter ants with other types of ants can be easy to do, so you may have to look for the tunnels to make a full diagnosis of the problem. If people only see the chomped wood and not the ants themselves, these pests could also be confused for termites.
If you do not see tunnels or ants, look for wood shavings. The ants will chew up the wood and then spit it out, leaving behind a lot of evidence of their occupation.
What Damage Do Carpenter Ants Cause?
Quite a bit. These ants will chew tunnels through wood in order to construct nests right inside the structure of your home. Tens of thousands of ants can enter your home at once, leading to many different tunnels.
However, a common misconception is that carpenter ants eat wood. Actually, they typically gnaw on wood just to make a safe place for a nest. Inside the nest is typically a queen ant preparing to create more ants to infest your home.
What Can You Do About Carpenter Ants?
Fortunately, you do not have to live with carpenter ants. By taking a few quick steps, you can eliminate these pests from your home — hopefully for good.
One of the first things you might consider doing is addressing excess moisture in your home. Ants love moist wood, and the presence of these ants could reveal that your house has moisture issues. You may need to make some repairs to keep the ants away for good.
Ants also love water. If you have a lot of standing water around your house, now is a good time to get rid of it. Ants may take the water as an invitation to join your household.
Then, look outside at any potential bridges ants may use to make their way inside. Carpenter ants will use anything to get inside, from garden hoses to tree branches. Look carefully to ensure you do not stack anything near the home that could provide an open invitation.
Finally, you can call a pest control company. Pest control services deal with carpenter ants every day. They can find the weak entry points and prevent ants from coming back.
Anteater Pest Control Inc.
offers pest control services in your area. When you feel like pests have taken over, call us. We will fight back against insects and other pests taking over your domicile.
We are ready to handle your pests. Also, we are happy to answer your questions and concerns about pests in and around your home.
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Bats can be cute when you see them in nature, but inside your home, they are more than just a nuisance. Bats can carry deadly diseases, like rabies, which means that if you have a bat, you need to take steps immediately to solve the problem. Removal Options Removal is best left to a professional due to the risks involved. Single Bat A single bat may get into the house through an open window or the chimney. The good news is that this usually is a one-time event and you don't have an infestation. The best course of action is to remove pets and people from the room with the bat, open all of the windows in the room, and then close off the room so the bat can't get into the rest of the house. With luck, the bat will find a window and leave. If you must handle the bat, wear gloves and do not touch the bat directly. The safest option is to call in a pest service if the bat doesn't leave on its own. Roosting Colony Sometimes your home provides the perfect place for daytime roosting. Little-used attics are most at risk, but bats may also colonize crawlspaces, spaces in your walls, or outbuildings. You should not try to remove an entire colony of bats on your own. A pest professional that is aware of local and federal wildlife laws should be called in to trap and remove the bats. Prevention Tactics Once you are free of the bats, your next step is to ensure that they cannot return. Exclusion If a bat can't get into your home, you can't have a bat problem — which is why exclusion is your main goal. Your pest service will inspect your home and find the likely entry points that the bats are using. You can also watch your home during the twilight hours to find where the bats are emerging. Once you know the likely entry points and have had all bats removed from the house, you can seal up the openings so the bats can't regain access to your home. Alternative Dwellings If you live in an area with a high bat population or would simply like to keep these beneficial insect-eaters nearby, then providing alternative dwelling options can be just the ticket for diverting bats away from your home. You can buy or build simple bat boxes. These boxes are typically attached to trees or poles to provide a more attractive roosting space for the bats. Cleanup Safety Bats are not clean animals. If a bat has been roosting in your home, then you will have droppings (called guano) and urine to deal with. Guano Sanitation Bat guano can carry histoplasmosis, a fungal spore that can cause a chronic respiratory disease. If you must try to clean up on your own, you need to cover all of your skin, wear gloves and eye protection, and use a respirator mask. All debris must be cleaned up and all surfaces must be sanitized with a bleach solution. Professionals will also use a HEPA vacuum, which has a strong filter that ensures none of the possible fungal pathogens remain in the air. Dead Bat Removal Extreme caution is necessary if there are dead bats in your home. Conditions like rabies can still be transmitted from dead animals. Wear gloves and do not touch the bat directly if you attempt to remove it yourself. The area where the bat was found must also be completely sanitized with a bleach solution. For more assistance with a bat in the home, contact Anteater Pest Control, Inc.