Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

If your home has leaks, wet areas, or high indoor humidity, carpenter ants can thrive. If you see carpenter ants in your home soon after the winter snowmelts, you may have a carpenter ant colony. Go to the basement and look at joists under the entrance doors, windows, or porches. Many times these areas have small leaks. You may have to pull back the insulation to look. If you find a small pile of sawdust, look at it carefully. If you see black, shinny specs mixed in with sawdust, carpenter ants are nearby. The main carpenter ant colony, which usually is in a tree or buried tree stump, can have many small satellite colonies of which several can be in your home. If you see flying insects with curved bodies that have two different sized wings, and two curved antenna, you have carpenter ant reproductive trying to find a new moist area in your home to start a new satellite colony. If you see many small translucent wings that are two different sizes in window wells, sills, or floors, in your house may be whispering to you and it is time to call the bug man.

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We have recently noticed a hole in our 80-year old wood floor that seems to be accumulating frass around it each night. The frass appears to be comprised mostly of dead insect (small, ant-sized opaque shells, almost like a molt) than sawdust. I have noticed distnct insect parts like heads with visible mandibles in the frass.

I invited an exterminator to come examine the damage and he automatically blamed termites because he "saw mud" in the hole. I, however, argued that what he thought was mud was actually wood putty from a pervious fix by the previous owner and spat on the "mud" and scrubbed it vigorously to prove my point. I also tried to point out to him that the frass was not sawdust, but was actual dead insects, but I guess his eyes weren’t so good.

Anyway, my real question here is now he has us beleiving we have termites even though my gut feeling is leaning toward caprenter ants, and is trying to sell us a 00 treatment (knocked down from 00 with "special discounts") even though there are zero mud lines to be seen, there is frass consistent with carpenter ant activity and we have even found small black ants near the hole… not to mention we live in Denver, where I have been told termites barely even exist.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts as to what this might be.

Thanks for your time.

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I just saw 1 carpenter ant on the carpet, I don’t have anything sugar-like in the upstairs except for in the garbage maybe.

I also saw 4-5 in the kitchen downstairs, My backyard mainly consists of woods and unfertile soil, as my house was built about a year ago.

How could I find the Nest(s) they’re coming from? And what do I do if I suspect a nest.
I do not want to call an exterminator until it gets bad.

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Ok, well about a week ago is when I first noticed them. I felt something in my hair & I pulled it out it was a big black ant. (every summer we’ve lived here we had those small teeny tiny black ants, but these ants now are huge!). After I pulled it out of my hair I looked up & there were 2 more on my ceiling. Anyway, I looked up black ant images search and it looks like a carpenter ant to me. I have a 2 yr old daughter & I think one bit her while she was in her room (bc she ended up crying saying "boo boo" and the top of her hand was red, then the next day there was a white bubble where it was red before and it was red around it). Anyway, I need a way to get these things out of my house. I don’t want them biting my daughter again, or anyone else. I just found one on the floor a minute ago (my daughter poited it out saying "bug bite!"). I also don’t want any harsh chemicals around my daughter. Thanks for the help! =)

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I found what appears to be a carpenter ant nest about 40 feet from my house. I’m of the mind to take it out, but my wife says that they’re good for the soil and we should leave them alone? Which one of us is right?

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how do I find a carpenter ant nest?

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I saw a carpenter ant in the bathroom last night (May 12, 2007). Do I have an infestation?

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Photographed at Grand Forks, North Dakota (03 July 2010).

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I have two carpenter ant queens and they have over 30 eggs and larvae and i’m planning on putting them in a large cage i got and i was wondering if they need any special treatment compared to burrowing ants?

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but they fly…Size about that of the carpenter ant thinner and have long narrow wings….resemble that of a sst airplane but on a very small scale…..do they eat wood(specially if it is wet)…my question really is what type of ant are they…and what does it take to get rid of them…I live in central florida…

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