HOW YOU ARE ATTRACTING CARPENTER ANTS TO YOUR HOME
Warmer temperatures are just around the corner. As the snow melts and buds start to appear on trees, sure signs of the arrival of spring, insects also start becoming active. Carpenter ants are one such insect that thrives in the warmer spring and summer months. Carpenter ants can cause a lot of damage to your New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or Eastern Shore of Maryland home, so it’s one insect to keep an eye out for.
Why Carpenter Ants Are Dangerous
If carpenter ants stay outside, they are relatively harmless. The problem with carpenter ants is when they get inside your home. Most of the time their main nest will be outside somewhere around your home. As they search for food, they will often find their way inside your home and start satellite nests. While they don’t eat your wood like a termite, they tunnel and dig their way through your support beams, foundation and any other soft damp wood. This can damage the integrity of your wood supports, cabinets, flooring and more.
What Attracts Carpenter Ants
Without realizing it, you may be doing things that are attracting carpenter ants to your home. Carpenter ants only make their nests in very damp areas. This might be rotted logs, wood piles, tree stumps, wood sheds, or rotted structures on your property. Removing these things and keeping them far away from your home is key.
As mentioned, carpenter ants do not eat wood. While they prefer to feed on protein and sugar, they will also consume other insects and honey dew created by aphids. Removing these food sources from your home and property can help make it less attractive to these pests.
How to Preventing Carpenter Ants
- Removing desirable nesting locations and food sources from in and around your home can help prevent carpenter ants.
- If you do have a wood pile, keep it up off the ground and far away from your home under a structure that will help to keep it dry.
- Remove decaying leaves, trim back plants from your foundation, cut down old trees and grind the stumps, take down any old outbuildings or structures from your property that aren’t in good shape.
- Seal up any cracks and openings in your home and be sure to avoid moisture in your basement, attic or crawl spaces. If there are no suitable nesting places, meaning moist wood, in your home, the carpenter ants can’t move in.
Professional Carpenter Ant Extermination in NJ, PA, MD, and DE
If you’ve found yourself with a carpenter ant problem or just want to prevent one from happening in the first place, you’ll want to seek the professional help of Viking Pest Control. They will work with you in your home to come up with a prevention and treatment plan that will keep your home safe from pesky carpenter ants. Call today to see what Viking Pest Control can do for you.
Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about our carpenter ant control and extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!
