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PEST OF THE QUARTER:
Carpenter Ants in the
House
arpenter ants are very abundant
in Iowa, and are common pests
in homes and other buildings.
CThe most common carpenter by chewing an interconnecting series of
ants are the familiar “large, black ants” tunnels and cavities. Wood is removed
that are one-half inch or more in length as coarse sawdust that is pushed from
and shiny black. Other kinds of carpenter the nest. The sawdust may include other
ants, however, are as small as one-quarter debris such as dead ants and parts of
inch and are reddish brown or two- insects and other food.
toned. One consistent characteristic of all Carpenter ants found indoors in
carpenter ants is the smoothly rounded the winter usually come from nests
outline of the thorax when viewed from somewhere within the house. Ants
the side. See the ISU website for an found indoors during spring or summer
identification guide to common ants of or on very warm days in winter could be
Iowa. https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/ invaders wandering in from outdoors or
ants-iowa-common they may be foragers from a nest in the
wall or ceiling. While there is no easy
way to determine the source, it does pay
to check carefully before making any
treatment.
Locating the source of carpenter ants
is as important as it is difficult. It is
especially difficult if you see only a few
ants at one time. Our best suggestion
is to spend time observing ants to see if
you can detect a pattern of movement.
In spring and summer carpenter ants are
more active at night and observations
Carpenter ants do not eat wood but
instead construct their nests in wood
such as hollow trees, stumps, logs, posts,
landscaping timbers, and the lumber used
in homes and other structures, especially
moist, decaying wood. Carpenter ants
will also excavate soft materials such as
foam insulation boards. Nests are made
Page 6 IPMA Connection • 2nd Quarter, 2019
