Carpenter Ants vs Nuisance Ants

There are some house guests that drop by uninvited. They eat you out of house and home and leave you wondering if you’re ever going to get rid of them. While sometimes these visitors are friends, siblings or in-laws, other times, it’s ants. Ants can be the ultimate in unwelcome house guests. And once they get inside your home, it seems no matter how hard you try to get rid of them, there are more.

Some ants are pretty harmless, they are just really a pain. The ants most commonly found in homes in Montgomery County and throughout Maryland are odorous house ants, pavement ants and carpenter ants, among many others.

Odorous ants get their name from the smell they emit when they are crushed. These ants are tiny, well under an inch long in length. They are brown or black in color and they usually make their way into your home in search of food...and they will eat pretty much anything.

Pavement ants are another small black ant species. These ants tend to make their nests in the cracks of pavement. Like odorous house ants, they will eat pretty much anything and find their way into your home in search of a food supply. Both odorous house ants and pavement ants can contaminate any food they come in contact with but neither one of them bite or do any other damage to your home.

Another ant that finds its way into homes and buildings in search of food are carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are red, black or sometimes a combination of both. They are a bit bigger than odorous house ants and pavement ants. Carpenter ants can do some pretty serious structural damage to your home should they get inside and begin to build a nest. While they don’t eat wood like termites do, they carve through it, making paths for nesting and foraging. They especially like wood that is damp or damaged as it’s easier for them to nest.

In order to get rid of ants in your home, you have to eliminate the entire colony because killing one or two here and there won’t cut it. So even if you’re just seeing a few ants foraging through the kitchen, it’s likely that you’ll need a pest control pro for help. Where there’s a few ants, there’s also a massive colony nearby.

There are some things you can be doing around your home to make it a little less appealing to ants. One is to keep things tidy. Make sure you sweep and mop on a regular basis, including behind appliances to make sure there are no crumbs hiding. Do not leave dishes in the sink. Make sure you wipe down your counter tops regularly, especially after food debris or a beverage has been on them. Check for leaky pipes and rotting wood that could attract different types of ants. For more information on ant control in your Montgomery County home, give us a call!