Carpenter Ant Control In Alexandria VA

Carpenter Ant Exterminator Serving Alexandria VA

If you're dealing with a carpenter ant infestation in Alexandria VA, it's important to call in a professional exterminator to handle the problem. Carpenter ants can cause significant damage to your home if left untreated, and can be difficult to get rid of on your own. An experienced exterminator will have the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively eliminate the ants and prevent them from returning. Look for an exterminator with a good reputation, and be sure to ask about their experience with carpenter ants specifically. With the right exterminator, you can rest assured that your carpenter ant problem will be solved quickly and effectively. Contact us and we'll start getting rid of the carpenter ants in and around your property right away!

Carpenter Ants In Alexandria VA

Carpenter ants get their name from their nest building, where they will excavate the wood and form smooth tunnels inside of the wood. Carpenter ants do not eat wood, they only tunnel and chew through wood to create nests.

The western black carpenter ant colony, when mature, contains about 10-20,000 workers, with large colonies of more than 50,000 individuals. There is usually only one functional, wingless queen per colony. Swarmers are not produced until the colony is more than two years old. They are produced in the previous year and held over the winter in the nest for release the following year. Swarmers appear from May until August in the eastern United States, where Alexandria VA is located, and from February through June in the west.

How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Ants In Alexandria VA

It's not as easy as killing any ant you happen to see. Like all ants, carpenter ant colonies start with scout ants that forage your home for the best places to eat or hang out. Then, their buddies (the "workers") follow the trail once they've hit a good food source, building a nest nearby in your wall. If you've spotted a few stray carpenters, congrats, you've probably found these little explorers. Here's what to do next:

Make a bait to find the nest. Pest experts advise setting out a bait for the ant to take back to the nest, so you can actually find the nest just by watching them. They're attracted to sweets, so a little bit of jam or jelly can work. You can also mix equal parts sugar and borax, then place the mixture in a shallow dish. The sugar attracts the ants, but the borax will kill them naturally.

Eliminate scent trails. Carpenter ants rely on pheromone trails to find food sources and to travel. By cleaning surfaces where ants have traveled, you've destroyed this treasure map to your home. Some people use essential oils like tea tree, lemon, orange, or cedarwood on a cotton ball to wipe down surfaces, which can interrupt these trails. Or, make a solution of one part dish soap to two parts water and pour into a spray bottle. (You can also use this to kill ants, after you've found their nest.) You could also use a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water.

Destroy the nest. Once you've found the nest by following ants, by spotting "frass" near a wall, or can detect a faint rustling sound in the wall, you'll need to get into the wall to destroy it. For a more invasive approach, you could try drilling 1/8" holes every six inches in the area where you suspect the nest might be. Then, use a bulb duster to "puff" boric acid through the holes. (The boric acid will kill the ants.) You might have to repeat treatments multiple times in order to destroy the nest.

For professional assistance getting rid of carpenter ants in Alexandria VA or the surrounding areas, contact Miche Pest Control. Depending on what you need, our team of experts will give you a free quote or a free inspection. Contact us today.

Big Black Ants In Alexandria VA

Finding big black ants in your home in Alexandria VA can be shocking and scary. What exactly are they, how did they get in and what are they looking for? Most of all, how can you get rid of them, fast? Unfortunately, most big black ants found in people’s homes are carpenter ants. They’re called carpenter ants because they build their homes in wood by chewing and tunneling through it. Much like termites, if they aren’t discovered and eliminated, carpenter ants can cause a lot of hidden structural damage in a home.

Unlike termites, which also look to some people like big black ants, carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood. Rather, they use their large mandibles—their strong mouthparts that are used for chewing—to build tunnels, called galleries, by crunching up the wood. Instead of swallowing the wood, they spit it out, creating wood shavings that look a lot like loose, shredded sawdust. Along with spotting these big black ants themselves, finding piles of wood shavings near wooden areas like baseboards, window sills and door jambs is another common sign of carpenter ants in the home.

Carpenter Ants With Wings In Alexandria VA

If you see large ants with wings on your property, you might be dealing with flying carpenter ants. While not all ants in the nest have wings, some are part of a special reproductive caste born to spread to new areas. These winged carpenter ants are in charge of producing offspring to expand the colony.

Although often mistaken for flying termites, winged carpenter ants have a few distinguishing features. Some of the easiest to spot are their narrow waists, bent antennae, and shiny black bodies. The top set of a carpenter ant’s wings are also longer than the bottom pair, while the wings of a flying termite are all the same size.

An established carpenter ant colony with enough stored food will produce a generation of flying carpenter ants. Once grown, several hundred of these pests leave the nest in a swarm. Male and female winged carpenter ants will pair off and mate. The male dies, while the female finds a sheltered spot to drop her wings and start a new colony as its queen.

Homeowners, groundskeepers, and landlords in Alexandria VA may notice flying ants around late spring or early summer. In heated buildings, swarms can happen even during winter. Seeing winged ants in the house or office means the pests may have a nest indoors. Carpenter ants hollow out galleries for their eggs inside rotting wood, so moist walls, windowsills, and roofing are common places to find them.

Carpenter Ant Queen

Carpenter ant queens are much larger than other ants in a carpenter ant colony, and may measure up to an inch in length. If the queen is ready to lay eggs, she is easy to identify because she is the largest ant in the colony. A single carpenter ant colony may have multiple queens. When females reach reproductive maturity, they have wings and participate in mating flights, or “swarms,” in which they fly along with winged males. These typically occur in the spring and summer.

After mating, the males die, and the females lose their wings and search for a suitable nesting place. Each queen feeds her first eggs, usually a brood of 15-20, completely on her own using stored fat and her wings. This first brood becomes the colony’s workers. They then assume the duties of foraging for food and caring for young. The queen’s sole purpose then becomes laying eggs.

Carpenter Ants In Your Home In Alexandria VA?

Are carpenter ants bad for your home? Of all the ant species found in Alexandria VA and the surrounding areas, carpenter ants are one of the most problematic. They can cause serious property damage to homes and other buildings. Carpenter ants get their name because they excavate wood in order to build their nests. Their excavation results in smooth tunnels inside the wood. Much like termites and other wood destroying insects, this excavation can compromise the structural soundness of the wood over time. You may wonder: "Is carpenter ant damage covered by homeowners insurance?" Although policies can vary, many do not cover damage caused by carpenter ants.