Carpenter Ant Holes In Siding
However carpenter ants don t always get into your home by chewing their way through wood.
Carpenter ant holes in siding. The regular black ants don t burrow into the wood. They burrow into it to make their nests so they leave behind a wood dust. Carpenter ants love wet and or moldy wood so if there is a moisture issue in any part of your home they ll be attracted to those areas. Carpenter ants actively burrow in the wood but don t feed on it as far as i know termites are the only common pests that actually eat the wood.
The worker carpenter ants will excavate sawdust like debris around or below the exit holes. If you have a serious carpenter ant problem you may find wood shavings underneath your siding. Solely relying on diy ant control methods. One sign of carpenter ant damage is the appearance of small circular galleries on the surface of the wood.
Once carpenter ants establish a nest you may see stage two. This is the appearance of sawdust frass underneath the kickout holes that lead into their tunnels. Carpenter ants often favor insulation and inner walls but will make their way outward to siding as their colony expands. Signs of an infestation include small piles of wood shavings produced as worker ants tunnel into the surface of the wood.
Boring ants will move up into siding because it provides an excellent location for them to build a nest as our on line boring ant article explains. How do carpenter ants get inside a home. Unlike termites carpenter ants do not actually eat wood. Inside the galleries will appear smooth and free of debris.
Carpenter ants damage wood by hollowing it out for nesting. The best product for treating boring ants in wood siding is the drione dust. Instead carpenter ant nests have a smooth sandpapered. Carpenter ants don t eat wood like termites.
They chew it and push it out. If your patio or siding stays wet this can attract carpenter ants. They typically prefer moist rotting wood so their presence can indicate a problem with decaying walls too. But pavement ants are around of an inch and carpenter ants are around of an inch.
Carpenter ants also are usually red black or all red all black or all brown. All the ants explore everywhere scavenging for food.