New York Carpenter Ants

Damage from carpenter ants

Carpenter ants are one of the most popular pests that is found in New York and surrounding states. Carpenter ants are large black ants, that. We are going to provide you a lot of information about New York Carpenter Ants in this article.

What Do They Look Like?

Carpenter ants are large black ants. They range in size from ¼” to 5/8.”

Where Can I Find Them?

Carpenter ants can be found nearly anywhere. They love moist and rotting wood. If you have wood piles around your house or rotting wood anywhere around your home, changes are there are carpenter ants present. The most common areas in your home to find carpenter ants are on exterior columns, steps, decks, porches, doors, windows, and door & window frames. These are all made of wood, and are known to have carpenter ant activity. In addition, these areas are known to have rotting wood if you do not take good care of those areas of your home. Roof trim, siding, flooring, walls and interior trim are the next most common area to find activity. These areas are more difficult to find activity because the ants are most likely to be under the siding. Also these areas of your home are not seen everyday like your front porch may. Additional areas in your home that you may see activity is in your attic, on rafters, joists and sheathing. The least common areas that you may spot carpenter ant activity is on furniture. There is no nearby food on your couch in your living room. Carpenter ants love moisture.

Do They Eat Wood Like Termites?

Frass, left behind from carpenter ants

Carpenter ants do not eat wood, termites feed off wood. Carpenter ants hollow wood out and use it for a nesting area. You can tell the differences between termite and carpenter ant damage by the way the wood is hollowed out. Termites leave wood galleries coarse, while the damage to wood from carpenter ants is very smooth. Carpenter ant activity is most easily spotted when frass is spotted. Frass is described as wood shavings, usually larger then sawdust.

What Do Carpenter Ants Feed On?

They DO NOT eat wood. Carpenter ants mainly feed on dead and living insects, honeydew, meat, sweets and fats.

How Do You Control Them?

The main goal in controlling carpenter ants is to find the colony. Pest Control Technicians have been treating carpenter ants for long time, and understand the activity of them. Sometimes it is very hard to find the colony as the ants will travel up to 100 yards away from their home to find food. Many times we find after we treat that a person’s home was allowing 5+ colonies of carpenter ants to enter their home.

On a Do-It-Yourself note, there are ways that you can prevent the ants. Making sure there are not leaks or moisture buildups in the common areas we noted above is key. Most people that call us regarding these ants say that there is moisture present. Once the carpenter ants start hollowing out wood in your house, a pest control company must be contacted because, in New York, there are no over the counter treatments that are known to be effective.

For More Information:

We published an article on EZine article describing more about Carpenter Ants. Or, visit out website:

JP McHale Pest Management – Pest Management for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.  Here is our partnering Blog About Carpenter Ants with update posts! If you have any questions about Carpenter Ants or any other pests contact us

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