Carpenter ants in a house in Toronto are a nightmare for homeowners because of the havoc they wreak on wooden structures and furniture. If an infestation is left to go on for long enough, carpenter ants can do serious structural damage to your home. It is imperative that you call pest control Toronto to resolve the problem as soon as you spot any of these signs. Pharaoh ants can also be an nuisance. They invade apartments in hordes looking for sweet and oily foods.
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Black/Red/Maroon Ants
Carpenter ants are generally black in colour but some are reddish/maroon or a combination of these colours. Some worker ants have wings and are often confused with termites. Winged carpenter ants have to pairs of wings where the rear ones are smaller than the front pair. Termites, on the other hand, have equal-size wings. Another distinguishing factor is carpenter ants have a slender waist and bent antennae while the termite has a broad waist and straight antennae.
Whatever the case, you need to exterminate the insects before they threaten the structural integrity of your home.
Noises in the Walls
If you suspect you have carpenter ants in the wall, simply hit the wall and you should hear faint rustling inside. This rustling noise, not unlike that of cellophane, is common when the ants are burrowing through the wood or moving around in the wall.
Sawdust and/or Wood Shavings
This sawdust-like material is known as frass which the ants kick out as they burrow through the wood. You are most likely to spot small piles of frass in dark areas, corners and crawl spaces. Contrary to popular belief, carpenter ants don’t eat wood because it has no nutritional value to them. The ants simply burrow through the wood to create nests deep inside the structure.
Wood Damage
One of the preliminary signs of a severe infestation is small, rectangular holes in wood. This indicates that the ants are chewing through the wood and the tunnel can go deep inside the structure.
How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
Most people who attempt DIY carpenter ant extermination in Toronto eventually have to call a professional carpenter ant exterminator because the infestation has become worse.
This happens because carpenter ants create satellite colonies when they feel threatened. A single nest can contain multiple queens. If the nest is destroyed or disturbed, the queens go in various directions, taking with them workers and eggs to form separate colonies. The infestation spreads even wider as the individual colonies thrive. Do not spray the nest.
