The diet of carpenter ants includes living and dead insects, meat, fats and sugary foods of all kinds, including honeydew and nectar from plants.Ĭarpenter ants build nests anywhere they can find water and moldy or damp wood, such as tree stumps, firewood or in the plants around your house. A colony can eventually produce 2,000 or more workers.Ĭarpenter ants do not eat the wood they remove during their nest-building activities, but deposit it outside entrances to the colony in small piles. The colony population grows very rapidly. Once mature, this first generation of worker ants work to increase the food supply for the colony. When they are ready, those workers then get the job of gathering food to feed the next generation. She feeds them saliva and does not leave the nest or feed herself during this time. She starts her nest in a cavity in wood, where she raises her first brood of workers. ![]() ![]() measuring in size from one-quarter inch (about the width of a pencil) for a worker carpenter ant to three-quarters of an inch (about the size of a quarter) for a queen carpenter ant.Įach colony is established by a single, fertilized queen. This pest can cause significant damage to your house. Carpenter ants get their name because they build their nests in wood.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |