Carpenter Ants – Can they Survivce the Winter

October 22, 2015

One of the enemies of most wooden structures are termites and carpenter ants. If you are seeing signs of the pest it might not necessarily be needed to call an ant control Toronto exterminator. Ants are common household pests, especially in wooden houses. Houses with wooded doors, windows, stalls, cupboards etc are also targeted by them. Most of the time carpenter ants are fault, they are actually inhabitants of rain forests but they can seek refuge in any wooded structure. A common question that people ask is “Can ants live in my home throughout the winter?”. As we know ants are generally supposed to be seen in summer or spring as they are cold blooded but they can take shelter in wooded walls as they are heated by sun’s rays. Other hiding places can be wooden decks, roofs, door and window sills etc.

Finding ant in winter inside the house is an indication that ant nest is present in the house as they cannot be active in winter without heat sources. Ants can stay active throughout the winter if they receive enough heat from the sun or an artificial source like furnace or ovens in kitchen. Food is generally available  for them as people are never very tidy. Carpenter ants don’t eat wood but they scrape them off and build hollow chambers that eventually make the structure fragile and it can even house other pests. One of the popular mistakes that people do in winter is they bring a lot of firewood inside their house and store them, they don’t know that these wood may contain fertile queen ants and winged workers who can mate to start a colony in the house.

Getting rid of a ants nest is not an easy job but actual challenge lies in finding out their nests location. Ants prefer to stay near humid areas like near leaking pipes, damp roof, below wooden flooring etc. home remedies like lemon juice, vinegar, petroleum jelly etc can be used is the nest is located. Diagnosis and removal of ant nests is necessary for keeping the house safe. Professional pest control teams can easily take care of these situations with mild pesticides.