Each nest may have hundreds, to hundreds of thousands of ants.  Queens may live twenty years or more– workers seven or longer.  (Other areas have different species of carpenter ants with different habits.)

The ‘main’ nest site is always located in an area that will never freeze or dry out.  Typical ‘main’ nest sites are trees and stumps.  Ants can retreat to lower levels of the tree or stump to avoid temperature extremes.  Satellite nests can be located anywhere, in other trees or stumps, and in every conceivable construction component, void space, and at every moisture level (including hot and dry).

The ‘main’ nest site for commonly encountered Northwest species is rarely found inside a home (5% or less).  If you do not have a long term major rot problem in your home—you do not have a ‘main’ nest site.  Satellite nests, which can also be found outside, are typically the nest type found in a home.  Many structures which have satellite nests will have more than one.   Even after careful inspection, most nest sites in a structure cannot be pinpointed exactly.  Nests can be in crawlspaces, interior or exterior walls, between floors in multi-level homes, in between the layers of flooring in any home, and in any combination thereof.  There are far too many possible areas to mention.

Carpenter ants do not ‘eat’ wood.  They eat other insects – they tunnel in wood and other building products, especially the solid core insulation, found most often in certain type of roof configurations, and under fake stucco facades, thereby causing damage.  While not as extensive as termite damage, it can sometimes cost many thousands of dollars to repair carpenter ant damage.  Damage, if occurring, may be happening in areas which are not visible or available for an inspection. 

Scent trails connect the ants to feeding areas. They also connect all the nests in a colony, including the ants in your building with the ants in the main nest site. These trails are comprised of formic acid and other chemicals and may take as much as ten years to fade.  Even after your nest is eradicated these trails will act as flashing neon signs pointing to your structure.

Related ants from other nests, especially the ‘main’ nest site, will follow these scent trails back and re-infest previous nest sites, including the sites in your structure. Carpenter ants have two egg laying cycles every year and bring more ants to all the nesting sites soon after these cycles complete.  Winged ants are reproductives and indicate the main nest site is at least 5 years old and well established.

Conditions which made your home attractive for the ants to begin with are usually still present after a treatment.  This makes a home which has had ants a prime candidate for re-infestation.

Ants which show up early in the year and then vanish, do not leave a home, they just stop looking for food inside.  Damage, if occurring, does not stop when ant sightings cease.  They will only look food inside a home in the late winter or early spring in this manner.  This is a sure sign of an active infestation.  As soon as their normal exterior food sources are available they will almost always stop showing up in your living space.

There is no such thing as a ‘baby’ ant.  Ants are the adult stage of the insect.  Carpenter ants can be told from other ants based on how they are shaped.  They can come in different sizes and colors.  We have 2 or 3 very common species in the northwest and at least 10 less common species.

Carpenter ants are not the only wood destroying ant in the Northwest.  Moisture ants and Velvety tree ants also destroy wood.  Anyone who sells a home in our state is required by law to disclose any infestations of vermin, including Carpenter ants when they sell their home.  Being able to show a professional response by a well trained and qualified pest control expert goes a long way toward giving prospective buyers peace of mind.