Flying Ants or Swarming Termites?
There are lots of winged insects in the world. This makes it hard to recognize a wood-destroying pest when we see one. But it is actually easier than you might think. Let's take a look.
Flying Ants
The ant that chews on a home's wood is a carpenter ant, and carpenter ants are the largest ant you're going to see climbing (hopefully, on the outside) of your home. A carpenter ant swarmer can be as long as an inch in length. They are usually black, but they may be a mix of black, dark red, and yellow, depending on what species you're looking at. And, being a large ant, you'll be able to look to see if it has 1 node between its thorax and abdomen. If it does, you have yourself a carpenter ant.
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Is It Important To Be Able To Tell The Difference?
If you identify either of these two insects crawling on your property, it is time to call a pest control company, but it is important to know that carpenter ants and termites do not present the same threat to your equity. There are three main reasons why.
- Carpenter ants don't consume wood. Your home is not a food source for these insects. They create tunnels and galleries in wood to establish a safe place to put their nests. Their goal is not to systematically consume every inch of your support timbers.
- Subterranean termites eat wood. When a carpenter ant infestation takes root in a structure, it is often detected because of the frass (sawdust) that carpenter ants push out of their tunnels. When deposited in a location that can be seen, this frass will prompt a property owner to take action. Termites eat wood. They do not need to push anything out of their tunnels. So they can feed on a structure for years without being detected.
