What To Do About Carpenter Ants In Your Baldwyn Home

a carpenter ant crawling on a wood deck
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Pests of any kind are not supposed to be in your home, but many people aren't particularly bothered when they see an ant or two. Unfortunately, ants, especially carpenter ants in Baldwyn, can be some of the worst pests that you can find. They're hard to notice until it is almost too late and the structure of your home has suffered as a result. Carpenter ants can be a major problem for your home, so when you're looking for pest control in Baldwyn, call McCary Pest Control to keep you and your home safe.

Carpenter Ant Identification

Carpenter ants in Baldwyn can be hard to spot at first because they stay hidden for so long, but it is still important that you try to spot these carpenter ants in your house. Other ants, like the odorous house ant, are annoying to find in your home, but if left alone, they will not be as damaging as carpenter ants in your house can be.

Carpenter ants can be identified by their size, sitting at about 1/2 to ⅝ of an inch long, and their color, which is typically red, black, or a combination of the two. Because of their behavior, though, you will likely never see these pests. They form their nests and tunnels in the wood of your home, and even if these colonies can contain more than 50,000 different ants, you will often not see them. Rather, you will more likely see different signs of carpenter ants.

Signs Of A Carpenter Ant Infestation

Some of the different signs of carpenter ants that you can find in your home are:

  • The appearance of small openings in the wood foundation of your home.
  • Carpenter ant frass (excrement) in your home will look like sawdust and can contain pieces of insulation and insect body parts.
  • The wood in your home feels very smooth, almost like sandpaper.
  • Wet, soft, and rotting wood, indicative of a moisture problem, is especially attractive to carpenter ants.

Carpenter ant frass in your home is one of the most prominent indicators of these ants being in your home and is also one of the most indicative, right behind just seeing the ants crawling around. When you see any of these signs, it is important that you contact professionals, because if you try to eradicate an infestation yourself, things often do not work as intended. 

DIY Treatment Does Not Work

Many people, when they find that they have carpenter ants in their home, will try almost anything to get rid of them. They buy over-the-counter carpenter ant bait and insecticides and try to flush out the ants and their nests, but in the process, they can damage their own wood and property trying to find these ants. Even if they do find and kill some carpenter ants, there is no guarantee that the whole ant colony is dealt with, and the infestation can grow back to its original size very quickly. 

Professional Ant Control Is The Way To Go

Enlist the help of the professionals at McCary Pest Control if you have a carpenter ant infestation. We have the experience and knowledge to deal with pests like these, so we know how to take care of them and keep you and your home safe in the process.

We will inspect your home and, after finding where the ants are and where they are coming from, we will treat your home with dust or liquid treatments. We will also properly use professional-grade advanced carpenter ant bait in a safe and effective way to remove the infestation and keep you protected for good!