New Englanders truly have a love/hate relationship with Old Man Winter. The skiing is great, the snow is beautiful, and the temperatures are not. There is a saying; the only two seasons in New England are preparing for winter and winter. That’s true for pests as well. As homeowners all over the area are ordering home heating oil and stacking wood, pests like carpenter ants are finding a safe spot to build their new nesting sites before the cold weather hits. Massachusetts residents can rest easy that for the next few months carpenter ants will probably not be moving in.
However, that doesn’t mean that they are not already there. If carpenter ants nested in your house prior to winter, not only are they still there, but they are still doing what carpenter ants do all summer long. Thanks to the wonderfully warm weather inside your home 365 days a year, household pests can enjoy summer year-round. Carpenter ants are going about their business, working on their nests by burrowing in any damp or rotted wood that might be in the structure of your home. The queen is laying more eggs and the worker ants are off rummaging in the kitchen looking for food to take back to the colony. Their choices include anything sweet such as sugar or honey, and proteins like pet food or meats if they can get to them.
Carpenter ants can be a big problem for homeowners. Though they do not eat wood, they do nest in it pushing the shavings out of the nest and out of their way. Over time, untreated nests can actually expand into satellite nests elsewhere with worker ants causing even more damage to the structure of the house. Plus, there isn’t anything pleasant about opening up your sugar bowl in the morning only to have an ant the size of a dime crawl out of it.
If you are noticing ants or the signs that ants are in your home it’s time to give Big Blue Bug Solutions a call. Our team will work to investigate the source of the infestation and determine just how bad it is. Then, we will come up with a plan to eliminate carpenter ants from your home. Don’t wait for better weather. Established colonies won’t go away in the spring. Call today to get a free estimate on carpenter ant control.