Carpenter Ant Detection
Detecting Carpenter Ants
The presence of Carpenter ants colonies can be detected if one knows what to look for. These ants are drawn to moist or very old wood. In a home, this is most often seen around and beneath windows but can happen anywhere. They will also utilize dry rot, such as structural supports and beams in old barns, but this is less common in Minnesota due to our climate. These ants re-emerge with heavy activity in the spring, often outside.
Typical indicators of an ant infestation include:
- Ant trails through the kitchen
- Piles of frass (debris from colony, ant corpses, or wood shavings) located near water damage
- Galleried wood
Carpenter ants are predators, so having things like mulch that can attract other insects can give clues to potential food sources. Alternatively, sometimes they are the food, such as for woodpeckers, which have been known to drum holes in homes or trees in search of food such as these ants.
Carpenter Ant Locations
Outside colonies can be found in:
- Partially shaded areas, usually in the open, often appearing as large bare patches of soil piled up from colony excavation
- Near moist wood in the yard such as railroad tie landscaping
- In damaged or rotted trees. There is no height they care about one way or the other
Once a Carpenter ant colony reaches a certain size and requires supplemental food sources, a satellite colony will often be set up within 30 feet of its parent colony. These satellite colonies will work with the parent colony, ferrying food back to both locations.
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