What Do Carpenter Ants Eat?

Knowing what a pest’s diet consists of can help with control and prevention efforts. Since carpenter ants are one of the most damaging pests in the home, this information can come in useful and help you save a lot of money on control and repairs. Let’s take a look at what these insects love to eat.

The diet of the carpenter ant

Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat the wood that they infest, they just use it as a medium in which to build their colonies. Instead of wood, they have a pretty regular ant diet, which consists of protein and sugars. This means that they have to forage like normal ants, which is when you can detect an infestation. Because carpenter ants are much larger than normal ants, they will be exposed to detection when they are out looking for food. If you see ants that are about half of an inch long foraging for food in your kitchen, odds are that you have a carpenter ant infestation.

How to use this information

This information can be used for two purposes – prevention or control. When it comes to prevention, you will need to keep protein and sugars out of the reach of ants, either by storing all your food in sealed containers, and by making sure that you clean up any crumbs or spills that you may have in the kitchen. You should also keep in mind that pet food is also attractive to carpenter ants, and store it accordingly. If the ants do not have any food sources nearby, the odds that they will infest the home are lowered.

When it comes to control, professionals will use baits that are highly attractive to carpenter ants. Sometimes this means using something like a sugary syrup or honey, and at other times, it could mean using products that are specifically designed to appeal to carpenter ants.

Control efforts

When it comes to removing a carpenter ant infestation, the job is best left to professionals, because the colony can regrow if it’s not fully destroyed. The control process itself will consist either of using baits, if the colony is inaccessible, or direct insecticide applications.

If you would like to know more information about carpenter ant prevention and control methods, or if you have an active infestation that needs to be removed, contact us today and we will gladly help you out.