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DITCHLING CORPORATION LIMITED
"Supplying professional Pest Control products since 1964"
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DITCHLING CORPORATION LIMITED
"Supplying professional Pest Control products since 1964"
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The common name, Carpenter Ant, is applied to the large ants, usually black in color, often as much as ½ inch long which make their colonies in wood of various kinds. Colonies may be in logs, poles, stumps, posts, retaining walls, in apparently healthy or in dead trees outside the house or in timbers, studs, beams, sills, joists, rafters and other wooden parts of a building. Slightly rotten or damp wood or wood adjacent to a source of moisture seem to be preferred; however, sound, dry wood is often used as a site for the colony.
Damage
A Carpenter Ant colony lives in a network of communicating galleries in the wood; the Ants do not eat the wood but remove it in small irregular, sawdust-like pieces (frass)
Carpenter Ant colonies become established in a new situation either through the activity of a fertilized female (queen) or by the movement of part or all of an existing colony, especially if the original colony has been disturbed. Buildings adjacent to trees and in wooded areas are often subject to attack by Carpenter Ants.
Habits
Carpenter Ants are omnivorous and can feed on almost all types of human food as well as on insects, insect secretions, plant juices, fruits, etc. In infested premises Carpenter Ants may be seen wandering about aimlessly, this may occur in several rooms or they may congregate about a damp area or a particular food on which they may be feeding at the time. Rarely do they seem to have a definite pathway between the colony and a source of water or food - increasing the difficulty in locating the colony.
Life History
Under suitable conditions swarms of winged Carpenter Ants consisting of males and females leave established colonies, usually between May and August. They mate on the wing and on returning to earth shed their wings. A fertilized female seeks a suitable place to establish a colony, she seals herself into a small chamber and in a few days commences laying eggs; when these eggs hatch into soft white grubs, the queen feeds them on body secretions until they pupate.
The workers which emerge from these pupae are small and undersized (probably due to the small food supply available to them as larvae). The first workers make an exit hole from the colony and forage for food, feed the queen and the larvae and generally take over the care of the colony. Subsequent generations of workers carry on these duties, enlarging the galleries as required. Once the workers have appeared, the queen becomes strictly concerned with egg-laying. After the colony has become established, supplementary reproductives may be developed, their activities accelerating the growth of the colony.
The colonies may continue for years. These ants are often long-lived. Queens have survived for 8-12 years and some workers for 4-5 years. Workers can live 7-9 months without food; eggs can withstand temperatures of 23ºF and will remain dormant in cold weather.
After 2 years or more, winged males and females are developed in the colony. These may remain in the colony over winter until the following summer before taking flight. Often there are several thousand Ants in a well established colony.
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CONTROL
DRAX Ant Kil,is an effective bait registered for use against Carpenter Ants. BORID powder insecticide is effective against Carpenter Ants. PROPOXUR, PERMETHRIN, and PYRETHRIN formulations, and MAXFORCE Ant Killer are also registered for use against ANTS; however some of these products can only be purchased, and applied, by a Licensed Pesticide Applicator.
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