 | Carpenter Ants (Camponotus Spp) are a reasonably large ant pest around the Cairns area. Quite often ranging in size from as small as 3 mm up to 12 mm. They can often look strikingly similar to the Green Weaver Ant but brown, orange or black in colour. The nesting habits of Carpenter Ants in outdoor situations will predominantly be in decaying tree stumps, tree limbs or hollow logs. They're also known to nest indoors in any hollow object they can find like the hollows of internal doors and in many cases old termite damaged timber where they will utilise the old hollow timber damaged by Termites. |
| The frass that Carpenter Ants discard from their nests can sometimes lead people to believe they have a Termite issue because they find all this sawdust like timber shavings in their houses below a door, or window frame etc. But this frass is just from the Carpenter Ants nesting activities. They don't eat timber, but they can cause damage through their nesting habits. It is is also common to see this ant at night time, with some people being unaware of them until they notice them at night and will sometimes only see them at night. |  Sawdust like Carpenter Ant frass. |
Carpenter Ant infestations are generally treated with a combination of non-repellent sprays and heavy baiting, after several days the colony will die off. A lot of sprays sold at supermarkets and hardware stores may actually make the infestation worse by causing the colony to break off (budding) and start other small colonies which in turn makes the infestation harder to treat later on.
If you'd like some tips and info on how to help prevent ant infestations in your home, click on the link below.
If you'd like some tips and info on how to help prevent ant infestations in your home, click on the link below.