Carpenter Ants
In New England, Carpenter Ants are the most likely of all ant species to invite themselves to move into your home, swarming in early Spring, but still around all Summer. Black, reddish-black, or at times even a bold red color when young, these social creatures live in large colonies and do their most damage to your home by carving tunnels through wood – usually moist wood that has a fungus or dry rotted wood – to build their nests. That carving is one of the telltale signs you have Carpenter Ants – little piles of what looks like sawdust, but often also contains ant body parts. They also like fiberglass and foam insulation, so look carefully. What else do you need to know?
In addition to eating wood in your home, ants eat other insects, like termites. But they also eat sweets, grease, suet, and meat products, carrying them to the nest from where they find them…like inside your house.