Termites seem to take a lot of heat when it comes to destruction to wood around your home. What about if you knew there was another pest that could actually be causing destruction that you aren’t aware of? Carpenter ants have a lot of similar traits of a termite, yet take a lot less heat than the hated termite does. Understanding the difference between the two could help you save wood surfaces around your home from being destroyed by annoying pests.
Since you were a little child you have probably thought of ants as fairly harmless. You learned that unless they were bright red fire ants that they were not going to hurt you. You probably didn’t learn about carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are large black and red ants that look very similar to a termite. Identifying the difference between a carpenter ant and a termite will take some knowledge and close looking.
Two of the biggest appearance differences include the size of the wings on the queen ants and the way their antennas lay. A queen carpenter ant is going to have different size wings. The back wings on the ant are going to be slightly smaller than the front wing. This differs from a termites wing. The wings on a termite are both the same length. Another identifying feature is their antennas. A carpenter ant’s antenna is slightly bent in the middle. When you look at a termites antennas you will notice that they are perfectly straight. It will take a close glimpse, but you should be able to determine if the small insect is a termite or a carpenter ant.
Level of Destruction
While both insects are destructive, they go about their destruction in different manners. An important thing to note about carpenter ants is that they do not eat the wood. Termites are known for demolishing your wood surfaces when they are searching for food. They break down the particles in damp wood and turn it into food. Carpenter ants on the other hand do not eat the wood that they remove. Carpenter ants purpose for creating tunnels inside of wood is to create a nest for them to grow their colonies. They will carefully remove each piece of wood as they go. They are neat insects and will leave a nice pile of sawdust behind as make their way deeper into the wood.
Once carpenter ants have created their nests, they will stay there for close to a year. Termites will continue to eat away at the wood because their purpose is food rather than shelter. Something you need to pay close attention to is where the insects are causing the destruction. If you are starting to see an influx of large ants inside of your home you need to do some inspecting. You need to determine if the ants that you see are carpenter ants or house ants. If they are carpenter ants you need to start paying close attention to where you see them.
It is very important that you are able to locate the ants inside of your home. If you can determine where they are coming from that is even better. However, finding the nest inside of your home can be very difficult. This is when a great pest control company like Pointe Pest Control comes in. If you choose to ignore an infestation of carpenter ants inside of your home you are going to have a big problem. The longer you avoid the problem the longer you give the insects to cause destruction and multiply in number.
If you think you may have an infestation of ants inside of your home you will need to be sure that you contact Pointe Pest Control as soon as possible. Waiting even a week may give the colony time time to greatly increase in number. The experts at Pointe will be able to come in, find the nest, and remove the ants from your home before it is too late.
