Carpenter ants - Economic importance because of the damage they do to structures, the food they contaminate and their unsightly and unwanted movement. Inside and outside of the buildings carpenter ants excavate nest galleries in wood.

They do not use wood for food, they eat a great variety of both animal and plant food or other insects, both living and dead and nearly anything people eat. There are 2 to 3000 thousand ants per colony, this takes 3 to 6 years to have a colony this size. They forage up to 100 yards from the colony, they cut galleries with the wood grain, the galleries are generally smooth and clean. Workers lay down trail pheromones at least on major for aging trails. They range in size 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, carpenter ants camponotus spp black some brown or reddish coloration. They can appear two toned, with one node on abdomen.

They do millions of dollars of damage in the United States every year.

Each year other wood destroying insects such as the carpenter bee damages wood by boring into wood up to 3 meters or 10 feet.



Other wood destroying insects, powder post beetles used in the broad sense applies to any three closely related families, Lyctidae BOstrichide and Anobiidae within the super family Bostrichoidea the common name is appropriate because the larvae of these beetles reduce timbers to a mass of very fine powderlike material. They are second only to termites in destruction and cause millions of dollars worth of damage in the United States each year also old house borers.



You need a professional to inspect and identify which wood destroying insect is present and recommend the correct treatment to solve your problem.