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Ideal-088-B1-Carpenter-Ants-Blog

Carpenter Ants: A Home Inside Your Home

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Typically, when someone finds small, winged insects in their home, alarm bells start going off in their head, and rightfully so, but maybe not for the right reasons. Carpenter ants are commonly mistaken for termites, which can lead to time delays in professionals getting to the root of the problem.

What are they?

Let’s go ahead and clear up one thing: carpenter ants don’t eat wood. They use it to build their homes, like a carpenter would, by excavating the framing in your house and living in “galleries,” carved into the grain of the wood. You can differentiate between termites and carpenter ants in a few different ways. The biggest differences are their wings and antennae. Carpenter ants are larger than termites, and have antennae bent at a 90-degree angle, as opposed to termites’ straight antennae. Additionally, although both carpenter ants and termites have a 2nd pair of wings, they have a small difference. Both pairs of wings on a termite are the same size, however, on a carpenter ant, the second pair of wings are a smaller size.

If you don’t see many ants but are still worried about your home harboring these unwanted pests, then there are some signs you can look for. When carpenter ants are building their galleries, they kick out the wood shavings and sawdust from their new homes. An accumulation of sawdust near points of entry like windowsills, baseboards, and doorjambs can be an indication of carpenter ants at work. These areas are most attractive to them because of the likelihood of the wood there being damp.

What can I do?

If you’re thinking that your home could be host to a carpenter ant colony, it is almost always best to go ahead and call a professional. When eliminating a carpenter ant colony, it is important to kill all of them, as even just a few surviving ants can go on to rebuild and reproduce into a brand new colony.

Call Ideal Partners for a free estimate on extermination services and an inspection for a potential home hiding inside your home, or to set up an interval pest control program that will eliminate the insects before they ever have the chance to set up shop in your home.

A plastic container on the floor with a fake christmas tree and blue ornaments inside

Keeping Pests at Bay After the Holidays

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The holidays have come and gone, meaning that it’s time to pack up all of the decorations until next holiday season. Before you do, it’s important to know that that pests like mice, cockroaches, and rats love to nest in poorly stored holiday decorations. Here are some tips to help you diagnose if you have a pest problem, and what you can do to prevent creating one.

Diagnosing the Problem

There are some key things to look for when trying to decide if rodents are calling your stored décor home. Look for telltale signs like rodent droppings or dead cockroaches. These are some of the more obvious signs. Always check to see if the corners of any storage containers have chew marks. These come from mice trying to get into containers. Check for these marks on cardboard storage boxes especially, as they provide a food source for cockroaches and allow easy access for mice.

What Can I do?

One big change you can make to prevent rodents from getting into your things is to use plastic storage containers instead of cardboard. As we previously mentioned, cardboard not only gives pests an easily-accessible place to live, but it also provides a food source for bugs. Try using plastic totes with lockable lids to keep a tight seal on your decorations. You can also tell if rats have been kept out of your plastic totes by the footprints they will leave behind in the dust. This also lets you know that you need an exterminator.

Another important step you can take is to eliminate any food items that may be stored with other items. Oftentimes, candy canes, gingerbread ornaments and popcorn garlands are stored with holiday decorations and this can cause big problems. Even if there is plastic wrap on things like candy canes, pests will still detect these items and be lured into your decorations. Taking extra care to separate and dispose of food items instead of storing them with the rest of your decorations is another great way to keep pests at bay.

The most important thing you can do is to regularly treat your home for pests through a proven pest control company, like Ideal Partners. An interval pest treatment plan gives you access to professional grade protection on a regular basis. Call Ideal Partners for a free estimate and to learn more about how pest treatment can protect your home and your stuff.

Takeaways

There are some great and easy ways to minimize the chances that pests will move into your holiday decorations in the months that they are tucked away in an attic or crawlspace. And, of course, there is still no replacement for a good pest treatment plan. If pests are a problem, or something you’re looking to avoid to start the year, contact Ideal Partners to learn more about their pest control treatments and to get a free estimate.