Visible ants, droppings, or discarded wings are a few telltale signs of an infestation
Carpenter ants often require professional treatment to remove.
Signs of an infestation include ant trails, droppings, nests, or discarded wings.
Hearing strange sounds in the walls of your home may indicate a carpenter ant infestation.
The cost to hire an ant control pro is $250 to $500.
Piles of ants outside the home shouldn’t be cause for concern. But if you spot a trail of large ants inside or hear scratching noises in your walls, those are signs of carpenter ants in your house, which is a larger issue. Knowing other common signs and what steps to take once you’ve identified them can help you figure out who to call next and what prevention methods to put in place.
Exclusion is the best practice for keeping unwanted pests out. Examples include replacing weather stripping around windows and doors, using dehumidifiers to keep moisture content down, sealing up cracks and crevices both on the exterior and interior of the house, repairing any household damage, and taking care of water-related leaks sooner than later.
The most obvious sign of carpenter ants in your home is physically spotting them. The most prominent feature that sets carpenter ants apart from regular ants is their segmented body, which consists of three main parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen. They are also on the larger side, about 6 to 13 millimeters long.
Since many signs of a carpenter ant infestation are similar to a termite infestation, getting visual confirmation is important. Termites are often smaller than carpenter ants and have a broad body with no defined waist, which ants do. They can be black, brown, whitish, and other similar shades, while carpenter ants are either black or dark red.
Keep in mind that a carpenter ant or two doesn’t mean that your home has an infestation. Carpenter ants are known to forage for very long distances in search of food, so seeing one doesn’t mean that a nest is nearby. However, it does mean that the ants have found a way to access your home, and could make it more likely that carpenter ants will target your house for a satellite nest.
It’s rare to find a single ant without a trail following close behind since they tend to travel together for long distances to forage for food. A few ants inside and trails of them outside is a good indicator that it’s time to hire an exterminator. These pest control pros can put together and implement a treatment plan before the infestation gets out of hand.
“Swarmer” carpenter ants are likely to leave behind discarded wings near window sills, baseboards, or vents, since those areas tend to be helpful entry points. Whether you notice a few wings or a whole pile, both are signs that you have a carpenter ant problem.
Finding droppings in your home is a sign that carpenter ants are there to stay. Droppings from carpenters ants are part of their frass, or the general bits of matter that infesting insects leave behind. In this case, ant frass is usually a mixture of wood dust and droppings. At first glance, it will look like a small pile of wood shavings, typically left against a wall or corner.
Note the difference between carpenter ant frass and termite frass. Carpenter ant frass tends to be less uniform in shape and a lighter color than the dropping termites leave behind.
Wings aren’t the only sign of a carpenter ant problem. In late spring and early summer, ants from a nest emerge to mate. Watch for swarmers that are frequently inside your house, or always swarm just outside it. Try to capture one of the swarmers if possible: It can be very difficult to tell if they are carpenter ants or termites without a closer look.
Carpenter ant frass can look a lot like wood shavings. If you find anything that looks like an unexpected pile of wood dust in your home, it’s time for a closer inspection.
Like termites, carpenter ants prefer soft wood that’s wet or decayed, so they often come with moisture problems in a home. While rotten wood can fall apart on its own, it won’t create the small piles of frass that are such a classic sign of a bug problem.
That faint rustling you might hear inside your woodwork isn’t from stray leaves or rodents—it could be carpenter ants. Because they tend to burrow into woodwork, they can make a scraping or rustling sound when they’re scraping out wood particles. If you hear noise frequently, it might be time to call your local ant exterminator.
Carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood, but they eat all kinds of protein and sugar. Inside your home, they’re attracted to any sweet, sticky surface and accessible protein like pet food.
Like the name indicates, carpenter ants primarily live and work in wood, and especially love dying stumps or logs to build their homes. However, they’re also attracted to sheds, wood piles, damp decks, and indoor wood vulnerable to chewing.
Carpenter ants have an additional surprise, though. They have one “parent” nest with the queen that needs a constant source of water nearby. They create several “satellite” nests away from the parent nest to make it easier for them to forage for food. That often means that the ants can set up a parent nest outdoors and start creating a satellite nest inside a home. To fully remove the carpenter ant problem and prevent repeat infestations, it may be necessary to find the parent nest—something pest control professionals can resolve.
If you've attempted to control the carpenter ant infestation on your own using store-bought baits or sprays, but the problem persists or worsens, it's time to seek professional help. DIY methods may not effectively target the root of the infestation or reach hidden nests. You should call a pest control professional if you experience any of these issues:
Constant ant trails
Multiple nests near your property
Damaged wood
Extreme allergies or health risks
You can attempt to remedy your ant problem by setting ant bait and sealing entry points, but carpenter ants are harder to eliminate than other varieties. Since they like to chew through wood, carpenter ants can cause structural damage to your home. They are better treated by a professional with the right pesticides and equipment to get the job done. Plus, they’ll know how to get rid of ants in either one session or multiple treatment sessions in order to eliminate them for good.
The cost to hire an ant exterminator ranges from $250 to $500, depending on the extent of the infestation and the location of the ants. If you opt for the DIY route for smaller, more contained infestations, ant traps or insecticides will likely run you about $5 to $10 per trap or treatment.
Because carpenter ants tend to be more difficult to remove, an exterminator may be the best route to go. You may pay more upfront, but the issue will be resolved sooner and you won’t risk damage to your home waiting for your own remedies to take effect.
The best way to prevent carpenter ant infestation is to keep both the inside and outside of your home well maintained.
Carpenter ants are always on the hunt for sweet, protein-rich food, so make sure to clean out your pantry and kitchen as often as possible.
Sealing any prevalent cracks or crevices can also keep the ants at bay so they don’t have an easy entry point into your home.
This species of ant is also attracted to dead or decaying wood, so it helps to remove any rotten debris, firewood stacks, or tree trunks near your property.
You can find most carpenter ant nests in or around decaying wood in areas near chimneys, window sills, door frames, or sinks. These pests like to nest in structures that have already been damaged by other pests, so you’re likely to find their nest in rotten wood outside your property.
Carpenter ants can go away on their own if their food source is eliminated, but this could take weeks or months. If you have an infestation on your hands, carpenter ants need to be treated by pesticides from a licensed professional in order to go away as soon as possible.
It’s very unusual for insurance to cover ant damage unless you have a specific rider to cover infestation damage. Homeowners insurance rarely covers any kind of ant, termite, or insect-related damage. It’s seen as part of expected home maintenance, a responsibility of the homeowner, not an unstoppable event like a break-in or a fire. That’s why it’s so important for homeowners to properly seal their home and make sure pests can’t get inside.
No. Carpenter ants range far when seeking out food, usually proteins or sugars. They may be attracted to dead pests near your house, or crumbs in the kitchen or pantry. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have an infestation, or that there is a nest nearby. It does mean that the ants have found a way to enter your home, so it’s time to be vigilant.
They do not. It’s a common misconception because many kinds of termites do eat wood as well as live inside it. Carpenter ants, however, are omnivores and only chew into wood to create pathways and nests, discarding the chewed wood as frass which is a major indicator of a carpenter ant problem. They prefer to eat smaller insects, sweet things like spilled honey, and sources of protein like pet food.
