There is no doubt that the little pests that can inflict damage to your home or business are not only a nuisance but can cause stress and financial hardships as well. Termites and carpenter ants top the list in structural damage. They are tiny and silent assassins with a goal to forage or devour the wooden elements within your home. Termites and carpenter ants share very similar characteristics and are sometimes misidentified.

A-Tex Pest Management would like to expound upon termites versus carpenter ants.

How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants in Your House or in Your Yard

1. Carpenter ants range in color, from black to reddish-orange, golden, or a combination of reddish-orange and black. Termites are brown, creamy brown, yellowish-brown, and light brown in color.
2. Termites consume the wood they traverse through. Carpenter ants do not eat the wood they plunder; they bore through the wood to create nesting tunnels.
3. Carpenter ants are only interested in finding nests in the wood, and generally do not cause as much damage as termites do.
4. Carpenter ants are more prone to soft or damp wood, usually indicating water leaks or wood rot. Where they prefer softwood, hardwood can be just as susceptible to carpenter ants. Termites do not necessarily prefer one or the other, but will consume the wood they are introduced to.
5. Carpenter ants do not eat the wood as termites do but will consume anything a typical ant will, food scraps, sugary nectar, aphids, animal remains and other insects.
6. Carpenter ants are also more frequently discovered in places where a damp rain could have moistened up the wood and where the sun may miss it so it doesn’t dry quickly, i.e. window sills, wood scraps in the yard, under porches, roofs, and where wood might come in contact with soil.
7. Sawdust residue around wood that looks more worn than normal is a sign carpenter ants are nearby. Carpenter ants nesting areas are quite clean. Termites, however, are dirtier, and will often construct mud tubes to reach their next banquet.
8. A termite’s body is generally proportioned with the same width from head to toe. Carpenter ants have the general characteristics of an ant’s body with a slimmer portion between the abdomen and thorax.
9. Carpenter ants have two pairs of wings; the front pair is longer than the back pair. Termites, on the other hand, have two pairs of wings that are equally sized.

How to Get Rid of Termites

1. Termites raise their young in a group, making them more social insects.
2. Termite colonies are eating through their target 24/7.
3. There are a handful of groups of termites; subterranean, dry wood, damp wood, and Formosan. Subterranean termites are far more common and inflict the most damage than the other termite groups.
4. The termites look more similar to ants; they are more closely related to cockroaches.
5. Because workers and soldiers spend the majority of their lives in the dark, they are commonly found blind.

Termite & Carpenter Ant Pest Inspections, Prevention, Control & Removal in Austin, Round Rock, Leander, Pflugerville & Cedar Park Texas

There are many more distinctions between carpenter ants and termites, though at first glance they appear similar. No matter which infestation is destroying your wooden structure, have A-Tex Pest Management come and exterminate them sooner than later to avoid costly repairs. Contact A-Tex Pest Management for all your pest control needs!