Jun 29, 2012 – Carpenter Ants Run In Crowds
QUESTION:
Not sure if I have a problem situation here or not, and it's in my own house. I have a two story house and I have found two Carpenter ants upstairs, one in the bathroom (winged) and one in my daughter's closet (not winged), both found in a week. The house was built 3 months ago, so not sure how I am getting them in the house. I see no trailing on the house and nothing in the mulch, etc. where I have found them before in clients' yards. I haven't been in the attic and think it may be a good idea too. Just want to know if it's something to worry about right now.
ANSWER:
I would say that two ants should not an infestation be..........hopefully. Several of your observations are of interest. First is that this is a new home, which means the area where the home was built got disturbed, and this often riles up the previous residents of that property. It may be that a carpenter ant colony or two or three were happily living there and had their lives completely disrupted by the construction, and now are still wandering about looking for new places to live. Since they generally are not going to initiate a colony indoors unless they can find a really moist place to be, I don't think there is a worry in that situation.
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Not sure if I have a problem situation here or not, and it's in my own house. I have a two story house and I have found two Carpenter ants upstairs, one in the bathroom (winged) and one in my daughter's closet (not winged), both found in a week. The house was built 3 months ago, so not sure how I am getting them in the house. I see no trailing on the house and nothing in the mulch, etc. where I have found them before in clients' yards. I haven't been in the attic and think it may be a good idea too. Just want to know if it's something to worry about right now.
ANSWER:
I would say that two ants should not an infestation be..........hopefully. Several of your observations are of interest. First is that this is a new home, which means the area where the home was built got disturbed, and this often riles up the previous residents of that property. It may be that a carpenter ant colony or two or three were happily living there and had their lives completely disrupted by the construction, and now are still wandering about looking for new places to live. Since they generally are not going to initiate a colony indoors unless they can find a really moist place to be, I don't think there is a worry in that situation.
The second is that one of the ants had wings and one did not, but the one that did not could still have been a swarmer that simply had already removed its wings. Like termites the wings of the reproductives have no use once mating or dispersal flights are accomplished, and would be in the way once they begin a new colony in a chamber in the soil or wood. If you still have that un-winged ant take a really close look to see if you can detect the stubs on the thorax where wings may have been attached. Hopefully both are swarmers and it then is very possible that these ants just managed to come to the home, perhaps drawn to lights at night or lighted windows, and found their way inside.
But, it still would be useful to do a careful inspection of the attic, looking for ants or for evidence of their presence in the form of powdery sawdust on floors or other horizontal surfaces. After 3 months, though, this would seem to be far too short of a time for ants to get in and get started, much less to leave any noticeable evidence like that. Since these ants are generally nocturnal it also may be useful to take a good flashlight and some patience and do an inspection in the evening, carefully looking around the entire exterior to see if any carpenter ants are trailing along the ground or up the walls.
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