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Carpenter Ant

  • Scientific Name: Camponotus pennsylvanicus
  • Nicknames: Working Ant
  • Length: Vary Greatly, Majority 1/8" - 1/2"
  • Color: Majority Black, Variations of Reddish Black and Two Tone Exist As Well
  • Aggressive? Can Be
  • Do They Bite? Yes
  • Poisonous/Venomous? No
  • Disease Carrying? Yes
  • Invasive Species? No

The Carpenter Ant

Carpenter ants are difficult insects to control and can cause extensive damage to wood members in a fairly short period of time. Carpenter ants do not actually eat wood but excavate galleries within it to use as nesting sites. Foraging activity can occur at any time of day but usually peaks at night. When foraging inside houses, carpenter ants are attracted to sweets, meat, grease and fat.

A carpenter ant colony is usually formed by a queen who begins a nest in a piece of old buried wood or in a partially decayed tree or stump. In mature infestations, there may be as many as ten satellite colonies linked to the parent colony by trails. Colonies normally do not produce winged reproductive forms until they are at least three to six years old with emergence of swarmers typically occurring from May through July.

The most common way in which homes become infested is through emigration of an existing colony. Houses located near wooded areas or brush covered vacant lots are good candidates for infestation. Carpenter ant colonies are inclined to move if they are disturbed, as often happens during construction. Thus, new homes or those surrounding a new building lot present likely locations for attack.

Living Spaces

Attics, wood piles, trees, debris/clutter

Diet Choices

Honeydew, dead insects

Fun Fact

They cause damage to wood when creating galleries

How Do We Remove Them?

Once you give McMahon Exterminating a call in Evansville, Indiana we will bring a trained technician out to discover the issue and infestation, identify and develop a unique solution to your problem as every home and infestation is unique as some might require different or more intensive methods depending on the severity and location.

We remove them by discovering where they are nesting to get rid of the nest, if there are multiple nests we will need to further analyze and close off spaces that the ants are entering to help deter them from entering the home.

It is important to remember when dealing with large infestations near the home that one simple treatment will most likely not solve the issue in a lot of cases, instead, we will need to assess and monitor the situation as it evolves because ants might find newer entry points or might be resilient depending on the type of ant we are dealing. With McMahon's C.A.N. initiative and our three easy steps — Canvas the area, Act on those results and Negate re-entry for the pest.