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Feb 2, 2024 · Since these insects are mostly nocturnal, homeowners may not see carpenter ants with wings themselves. However, they might find remnants of shed wings.
Jul 24, 2023 · You will see carpenter ants frequently, over a period of several days or weeks. You may hear them inside walls, especially at night. The sound is sometimes described as a crackling noise and is caused by a large colony of ants gnawing at the decaying wood. You may see piles of sawdust (frass).
Apr 8, 2022 · Find out what carpenter ants look like, where they live, whether they are harmful to your health, what attracts them, and how you can get rid of them easily.
Males carpenter ants and queens can have wings, though the queens lose their wings when they start a nest. But don't confuse carpenter ants with termites. Winged termites' wings are of equal lengths whereas the hind wings on carpenter ants are shorter than the front wings.
Carpenter ants have dark-colored bodies, narrow waists, elbowed (bent) antennae and hind wings that are shorter than front wings (if wings are present). Termites are very uncommon in Minnesota. Workers are light-colored, have broad waists and straight antennae.
Unlike termites, they only nest in wood and do not eat it. Outdoors they nest in hollow trees, old stumps, and other wet, punky wood situations. Winged ants are the reproductive forms. They drop their wings soon after mating and begin to search for a suitable nesting site.
Winged carpenter ants can be distinguished from termites by their larger size and shape of their antennae, waist and wings. Besides being objectionable by their presence, carpenter ants damage wood by hollowing it out for nesting.
