We've Found Carpenter Ants, Now What?
We recently got a message that said, "While working on a windowsill with some wet rotting wood today, we found a tunnel running through the sill lined with dead carpenter ants and egg cases. We found roughly 20 ants and 20 cases.
Okay, let's look at the most prominent question being asked: Do we need to go to this home and inspect these dead ants? Chances are, we wouldn't learn too much more about this homeowner's pest problem by looking at those dead ants. Our technician would look to confirm that they are, indeed, carpenter ants, but there isn't much more that can be gathered from these dead ants.
But is an inspection needed? Absolutely. It just wouldn't be focused on those dead ants. It would be focused on the home. If this homeowner is finding 20 carpenter ants and 20 egg cases in one window sill, there is a good chance that there is a carpenter ant satellite colony living inside the walls. Our technician would be focused on finding this colony site because carpenter ants can do a lot of damage in a home. Homeowners in the United States pay out millions of dollars each year to fix the damage caused by these burrowing insects.
Please know, finding a carpenter ant colony inside the walls of a home is no easy task. It requires training and experience. Plus, it's a lot of hard work. The entire home has to be examined carefully--this includes hard-to-see places under decks, porches, stairwells, patios and other structures near the home. Monitoring devices need to be put in place, entry points need to be sealed, baits need to be put down, and pest pressures need to be analyzed.
The most cost-effective approach to protecting a home from carpenter ants is to keep carpenter ants (and other pests) from coming inside in the first place. With our TopCare programs, we use modern Integrated Pest Management plans and state-of-the-art pest control products to create a barrier that locks pests out.
Don't wait until you find carpenter ants living in your sills and eating away at the inside of your walls. When you have TopCare you get the immediate benefit of a home without pests. But also, the long-term benefit is not having to find out that carpenter ants or termites have been eating away at your equity for years. Give us a call and get started today. Our nationally certified, QualityPro technicians are looking forward to working with you.