Ants are a nuisance no matter what, but some types of ants can cause more problems than others. Specifically, the carpenter ant, so named because of its affinity to eat away at the infrastructure of your home, can cause very expensive damages if left unchecked. If black ants require action now, carpenter ants require action right now, if you catch the drift.

So how do you tell the difference between a regular nuisance (the black ant) and a potentially dangerous nuisance (the carpenter ant)? Here are some of the most telling signs.

Physical and Behavioral Differences Between Black Ants and Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are generally larger than black ants and will usually be around 0.5″ in length. They are more likely to have a dual set of wings, and they have elbows on their antennae. If a carpenter ant is a reproductive threat, their front wings will be longer than their back wings.

Black ants usually come into your home from the outside because you have left a food source out in the open or unknowingly dragged the army into the house on a pet or a shoe.

Carpenter ants, however, live in the rotted wood of your home. As they nest, they will eat away at this wood even more, causing potentially expensive structural problems over time. They will contaminate the most vital rooms in your home, the kitchen and the bathroom, because these are the rooms that are most likely to have the dampened, rotten wood that they like to live in.

Infestation Patterns of Black and Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are much more likely to be found in rural homes without much light in attic and basement spaces. Indoor nests from carpenter ants tend to be extensions of a nest in a nearby tree. You will know that your home has definitely been infested if your windows have winged carpenter ants by them – this means there is an indoor nest somewhere. Black ants are much less discerning when they invade; most likely, they are just looking for food.

The first way to eliminate carpenter ants is to remove rotting wood from the entryways to your doors. Carpenters will not infest wood with a moisture content of less than 15 percent. Pest control baits will also be much less effective against carpenter ants; they tend to ignore traditional insect bait.

No matter the type of ant infestation you have in your home, you need a professional to get them out. Call the ant exterminators at Preventive Pest Control today to take your house back from this invading army!