Category Archives: Carpenter Ants

Ants, Carpenter Ants, Insect Control, News, Pest Control, Residential Services

Do Carpenter Ants Have a Queen?

Carpenter Ant Control
Carpenter Ant Control

Carpenter ants are an unwelcome sight in any home due to their propensity for causing significant structural damage in moist or rotting wood. Though comprised of thousands of workers, a typically colony houses only one queen, capable of surviving up to 25 years and laying thousands of eggs.

Identifying the queen:
The largest ant in the colony at up to 1 inch, the queen may be dark brown, yellow, red or black in color. Responsible for laying eggs, she sheds her wings after mating, seeking out a nesting site of moist or rotting wood for her young to establish a new colony. She seals herself into the wood, laying an initial brood of 9-16 eggs that will develop into workers and future queens.

The carpenter ant family:

• Winged female swarmers
Born in the spring for mating purposes, these ¾ inch females lose their wings after mating. Each wingless female then attempts to become the queen of a new colony.

• Winged male swarmers
These exist for the sole purpose of mating with female swarmers, dying shortly after accomplishing the task.

• Workers
¼-½ inch long, female workers are sterile and responsible for all activities except egg laying, including caring for the queen and developing ants.

Carpenter ants rapidly deconstructing your home or business? Contact Stern Environmental Group today. Our professionals have the skills and technology to solve your pest problems fast!

Ants, Carpenter Ants, Commercial Services

Don’t Let Carpenter Ants Take Bite Out of Commercial Property Investment

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If you notice large, black ants scurrying around your New York City of New Jersey commercial property, you could have a carpenter ant problem. While these ants can range over a territory the size of a football field, frequent or heavy carpenter ant activity around a structure and particularly inside a building typically indicates that a colony is located on the premises.

Ignoring a carpenter ant problem could lead to structural damage. Only termites cause more structural damage to commercial buildings than carpenter ants. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not feed on wood; but the damage they do can be just as devastating. These ants live inside wood, using their powerful mandibles to chew lengthy tunnels and large galleries into wood construction timbers, window and door sills, flooring, baseboards, trim work and landscape trees.

Attracted by wet, damaged wood around wet building foundations or damaged landscape trees, carpenter ants will expand the galleries that house their extensive nurseries and nests into undamaged wood. In time their tunneling can hollow out wooden beams and trim, leaving a thin shell of wood to cover the honeycombed interior. Without commercial ant control services, structural collapse can eventually occur.

To eliminate carpenter ant risk, the entire colony must be exterminated. If you notice carpenter ants on your commercial property, call the ant experts at Stern Environmental for fast, reliable commercial ant extermination services.

Ants, Carpenter Ants, Commercial Services

Quirky Weather Responsible for Summer Ant Problems

Ants are on the move in New York City and northern New Jersey. These pesky insects are invading apartment buildings, office buildings, restaurants and other commercial establishments at alarming numbers this summer. If your business has been the victim of marauding ants, you are not alone. Summer ant infestations are approaching record levels from the East Coast through the Midwest.

Commercial ant control experts say the quirky weather has created ideal living conditions for ant colonies. Last summer’s drought allowed ant colonies to flourish. The floods that usually wash away and drown enough ant eggs to keep colony populations under control never materialized. The warm winter exacerbated the problem, allowing ant colonies to remain more active that usual during the winter months and protecting larvae from exposure to killing temperatures. As a result, record numbers of eggs hatched this spring, swelling ant populations. The rainy spring only made life easier for New York and New Jersey ant species. Rain-softened soil has made burrowing easier, encouraging underground ant colonies to grow, expand their territory and spread.

Many NYC and NJ businesses and apartment buildings that have always been ant-free are being overrun by these annoying insects this summer. And it is more common than ever for ant exterminators to find multiple infestation sites on the same property. Stop ants dead; call Stern’s commercial ant extermination experts today.

Ants, Carpenter Ants, Commercial Services

Carpenter Ant Swarms Can Threaten Commercial Structures

Like termites, New York City and New Jersey carpenter ants swarm in the late spring to expand their colonies. When carpenter ant colonies reach maturity, specialized winged reproductives are produced. Flying off in mating pairs, carpenter ants bite off their wings when they land and crawl off to establish new colonies. Carpenter ants are such poor fliers, reproductives don’t go far, often landing on the same commercial property. Multiple carpenter ant colonies may be located in close proximity, multiplying the amount of damage these wood-destroying insects can do to commercial structures.

Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not ingest wood, they hollow out large galleries in foundation timbers, building trim and wooden structures to house their massive nests and nurseries. Frass, the sawdust-like by-product of their excavation activity, is sometimes found where carpenter ants are active. More often the ants themselves are spotted as they forage for food.

The largest ant species in New York and New Jersey, carpenter ants are typically black and grow to 5/8 inch long. Due to the prodigious numbers, a colony of carpenter ants can cause considerable structural damage to commercial buildings over time. In fact, carpenter ants can be expected to attack 1 in 4 New York and New Jersey buildings. If you notice large black ants in or around your property, you have carpenter ants. Call Stern Environmental for effective commercial pest management.

Carpenter Ants, Commercial Services

Protect Your Business from Carpenter Ant Damage

Left untreated, carpenter ants can cause serious damage to New York and New Jersey businesses. Carpenter ants live in large colonies that can number in the tens of thousands. In May and June, business owners may discover large groups of winged ants milling around foundation landscape plantings  or battering against sunny interior windows. Discovery of winged reproductives means you have a carpenter ant problem on the premises that should be addressed quickly before additional damage is done to the structure.

Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not ingest wood; but they do tunnel into wood to excavate large galleries where they live and raise their young. Carpenter ants may be hiding in plain site. These ants will frequently hollow out a window frame, baseboard or structural timber with their tunneling, leaving a thin veneer of wood in place. Carpenter ant colonies frequently go undetected until a worker inadvertently punches a hole through hollowed wood trim while performing maintenance or cleaning tasks.

Taking a do-it-yourself approach to pest control of any ant species, including carpenter ants, is typically counterproductive. In fact, non-professional ant control products, while they may kill the few ants that come into direct contact with the poison, will usually force the colony to relocate or split, making it that much more difficult for licensed carpenter ant exterminators to identify and exterminate your commercial carpenter ant problem.