CARPENTER ANTS

Identification

The carpenter ant (or wood-spoil) is black with shades of red or brown, depending on the various listed species. The male measures about ½ inch (0.9 to 1 cm). It has a small head and two pairs of wings. Among the females there are 2 categories. First the workers, who are more numerous and measure ¼ to ½ inch (0.6 to 1.3 cm) and the future queens. The queen is much larger than the workers.

Reproduction

The reproduction is ensured by the young queen that mates in the spring with a single male. This phase happens in full flight, and then the queen loses her wings and looks for a place to establish her colony. She can choose a tree trunk, a stump or a piece of wood. The queen lays her first clutch of worker ants that will perform all the tasks of the ant-hill except laying eggs which is reserved to the queen. Carpenter ants need a few days to become adults. A colony is firmly installed after 3-6 years and can count 2,000 workers or more. As of the month of May, all the winged ants (males) leave the nest and fly away. The males die after mating.

An infestation of ants often occurs after water infiltration. It is thought that carpenter ants are all big and black but in reality there are 5 different species in Montreal and the surrounding areas and they not all look alike.

Sometimes one contacts the exterminator when, by chance, while doing renovations, one discovers a nest of ants in a wall. Targeting the extermination on that one nest alone is a mistake since there may be several satellite nests scattered around in the walls of the house. That's when the exterminator should take care to eradicate the carpenter ants both outside the home and inside in order not to give the ants a chance to escape.

Habitat

In our regions with harsh winters this species is established only in heated buildings. It is therefore inevitably associated with human presence. It is found in homes, multi-unit buildings, offices, bakeries, grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, pet shops. In short, almost everywhere where life is good!

Behaviour

The pharaoh ant is omnivorous . She eats sugary foods as much as fatty foods and/or foods containing protein, be it cheese, meat or dead animals. It also feeds on small insects and their eggs, not counting shoe polish and natural sponges. Pharaoh ants are walking in single file because the workers leave clues on the ground that tell other ants which path to follow to move from food source to the nest. These clues are often found on the edge of the kitchen and bathroom counters, in closets, wardrobes, etc.

Reproduction

From the infinitely small egg the adult emerges after 38 days. Moreover, queens and males need 4 days to reach the adult stage. The life span of workers is about 70 days and the one of queens is about 200 days. A new colony is formed when the working ants, often accompanied by a queen, establish a new nest bringing with them some eggs. Sometimes the pharaoh ants form temporary nests while waiting to find a location more conducive to their welfare, and this move can be the source of an infestation.

Because satellite colonies often remain in contact with the mother colony, pharaoh ants can become immortal in theory. That's when you need to contact an exterminator so that he can remove the insects in all stages of their development.

Identification

The pharaoh ant, like the other ants, belongs to the same order as the bees, the wasps and the bumblebees. Among the pharaoh ants , there are workers who are sterile females measuring about 1/16 to ¼ inch (0.15 to 0.25 cm). The queens measure about ¼ to ½ inch (0.35 to 0.5 cm) and are the largest ants in the colony. As for males, they are slightly larger than the female workers but smaller than the queens.

The colour of ants varies from pale yellow to brown, including red. Pharaoh ants form a society in which individuals are grouped into castes. Queens, males and workers have wings. Each colony can contain multiple queens and consist of 300,000 individuals or more. Just as with the carpenter ant, the male dies after having mated.

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