Carpenter ants in Kentucky homes: signs, damage, and what they are telling you
Published Updated
By John Stopka, Co-Founder & CEO · Reviewed by John Stopka
Carpenter ants are the big ants — about a quarter to half an inch, black or red and black — that nest inside wood rather than in the soil. They do not eat the wood; they chew out galleries in it and push the shavings out, which is where the little sawdust piles come from. They go for wood that is damp or already softening, so finding them usually means finding a moisture problem too, and the colony is usually somewhere you cannot see.
What do carpenter ants look like?
Large, compared with the ants that trail across a kitchen counter.
- Size. Workers run from about a quarter inch to half an inch long, and they vary in size within one colony. Queens and winged ants are bigger still.
- Color. Usually solid black, sometimes red and black [1].
- Shape. An evenly rounded back when you look at it from the side, and a single small bump, or node, at the narrow waist.
- Antennae. Bent in the middle, like an elbow, as on all ants.
The black carpenter ant is the one most often found in homes across this part of the country [3]. If the ant in your kitchen is tiny and brown or black and travels in long lines to food, it is almost certainly one of the household ants covered in our kitchen ants article instead.
Do carpenter ants have wings?
Only some of them, and only for a short time.
The workers you see foraging never have wings. Once a colony is mature, it raises winged males and queens that fly out to mate and start new colonies, usually in spring. After mating, the queens chew off their own wings.
Winged carpenter ants are easy to mistake for termite swarmers, which come out in the same season. The quick check: an ant has a pinched waist, elbowed antennae and front wings longer than the back ones; a termite has a thick waist, straight antennae and four wings of equal length. Our flying ants vs termites article goes through it in detail.
Winged carpenter ants coming out of a wall, ceiling or window frame inside the house is one of the clearest signs there is a nest in the structure.
Do carpenter ants eat wood?
No. They excavate it.
Carpenter ants chew wood to make room for their nest and push the shavings out, but they cannot digest it the way termites can [1]. The galleries they leave are smooth and clean, almost sanded. Termite galleries, by contrast, are rough and packed with soil and mud.
What they actually eat is sugar and protein: honeydew from aphids on nearby trees and shrubs, other insects, and sweets and meats in a kitchen. They forage mostly at night, which is why a large ant on the counter after dark is worth paying attention to.
Do carpenter ants bite?
They can. Carpenter ants have strong jaws, and a worker defending the nest will bite if it is handled or pinned. The bite is a sharp pinch, and some carpenter ants spray a little acid into it, which makes it sting for a moment.
They do not have a stinger, and the bite is not dangerous to people. A carpenter ant is not going to come after you; bites happen when someone picks one up or reaches into a nest. If a bite or reaction worries you, that is a question for a healthcare provider.
What are the signs of carpenter ants in a house?
Most people find the evidence before they find the nest:
- Sawdust-like shavings, often mixed with bits of dead insects, in small piles below wood trim, windowsills, beams or door frames.
- Large ants inside, especially at night, and especially in spring.
- Winged ants coming out of walls, ceilings or window frames.
- A faint rustling or crackling inside a wall or ceiling when the house is quiet.
The shavings are the most telling, because they are pushed out of the gallery through small openings. Where the pile is, the nest is close.
Where do carpenter ants nest?
In wood that is damp or already softening [1]. Around a house that means window and door frames with leaks around them, wood under a leaking roof or around a chimney, porch posts, deck boards and sills, and wood that touches soil.
The colony often does not start inside. The main nest is frequently outdoors, in a tree, stump, landscape timber or woodpile, with smaller satellite nests inside the house that the workers travel between along branches, wires and pipes. That is why ants keep appearing after you have dealt with the ones you can see.
Are carpenter ants dangerous to your house?
They are slower than termites, but a colony left for years can do real damage.
A carpenter ant colony takes a few years to grow large, and the galleries expand as it does. Over time, framing, sills and trim can be hollowed out enough to weaken them. The bigger point is what the ants are pointing at: wood that has stayed wet long enough to soften. Fixing the moisture matters as much as dealing with the ants.
Why doesn't spraying the ants you see get rid of them?
Because the ants on the counter are a small share of the colony, and the rest are inside a wall or out in a stump in the yard.
Killing foragers on sight does not reach the queen or the brood, and a colony with satellite nests can simply keep sending workers out. Getting rid of carpenter ants means finding where they are nesting, treating the nest areas, and taking away the damp wood that drew them.
How do you keep carpenter ants out?
Take away the damp wood and the easy ways in [1][2]:
- Fix roof leaks, clogged gutters and leaky pipes that keep wood damp.
- Replace wet or rotting wood around the house.
- Store firewood away from the house and up off the ground.
- Trim tree branches and shrubs so they don't touch the house.
- Remove old stumps and scrap wood from the yard, and seal gaps where pipes and wires enter.
How does Liberty handle carpenter ants?
Carpenter ants are not part of Liberty's plans, so carpenter ant work is arranged on its own.
Carpenter ant treatment starts with a free inspection. A local Service Advisor does a thorough inspection to see how bad the problem is, where the ants are getting in and nesting, and what draws them, like damp or softened wood, leaks and branches touching the house.
- Treat the nest: Your Service Specialist treats the nest areas they find, like damp wood around windows, roofs and decks.
- Bait placement: They place bait along the trails carpenter ants use, which the ants carry back to the colony.
- Outside treatment: They treat around the outside of your home, where carpenter ants travel in from trees, stumps and woodpiles.
Your Service Specialist comes back for follow-up visits as needed to check the nest areas.
The small ants that trail in for food are a different matter: household ants are covered by every pest control plan.
When to call a professional
Call when you find sawdust-like piles below wood, when winged ants come out of a wall or window frame inside, or when large ants keep appearing at night after you have cleaned up. Call as well if you have seen damp or soft wood around the house, since that is where carpenter ants go.
The inspection finds where they are nesting and what is drawing them, and the work is arranged from there.
Common questions
What do carpenter ants look like?
Large ants, about a quarter to half an inch long, usually black or red and black, with an evenly rounded back and a single small node at the waist [1]. They are much bigger than the ants that trail across a kitchen.
Do carpenter ants bite?
They can, if handled or pinned. The bite is a sharp pinch that may sting briefly, but carpenter ants have no stinger and are not dangerous to people.
Do carpenter ants eat wood?
No. They chew out galleries to nest in and push the shavings out, which is where the sawdust-like piles come from [1]. Termites are the insects that eat wood.
Do carpenter ants have wings?
The workers do not. Mature colonies produce winged males and queens that fly out to mate, usually in spring. Winged carpenter ants coming out of a wall inside the house point to a nest in the structure.
Are carpenter ants covered by a Liberty pest control plan?
No. Carpenter ants are not part of Liberty's plans, so carpenter ant treatment starts with a free inspection. Household ants are covered by every plan.
Sources
- University of Kentucky Entomology. "ENTFACT-603: Carpenter Ants." https://entomology.mgcafe.uky.edu/ef603 (opens in a new tab)
- University of Illinois Extension. "Carpenter Ants." https://extension.illinois.edu/insects/carpenter-ants (opens in a new tab)
- Penn State Extension. "Carpenter Ants." https://extension.psu.edu/carpenter-ants (opens in a new tab)