Florida Carpenter Ant

The Florida carpenter ant is the big two-tone ant: rusty-orange head and body, black rear end, up to half an inch long. You see them at night, one or two at a time, walking the kitchen counter or the bathroom floor, and that's the tell. They forage after dark and nest somewhere damp. In the Keys that means wall voids around a leaky window, the insulation over a bathroom, a wet spot under a dock, a rotten fascia board, or the dead fronds in a palm next to the house.

They don't eat wood. They hollow out wood that's already soft from moisture to nest in it. They also nest in wall voids and under insulation in the attic.  Carpenter ant problem is usually a moisture problem first, and the nest tells us where the water is.

Signs you have them

• Large orange-and-black ants indoors at night, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms.

• Winged ants inside in spring and early summer. That's a swarm, and it means the nest is in or on the house.

• Fine sawdust-like debris (frass) under a window frame, along a baseboard, or on the deck below a soffit.

• A faint rustling in a wall or ceiling when the house is quiet.

• Ants trailing down a palm or a tree branch that touches the roof.

How we treat Florida carpenter ants

We inspect at the right time. Carpenter ants forage after dark, so we may ask you to take a short video of where they're trailing at night. That shows us the route to the nest without waiting on another visit.Then we treat the nest directly with baits and a targeted liquid, foam, or dust application into the void, and treat the trails outside so the satellite nests don't rebuild. Perimeter spraying alone doesn't work on this ant; you have to reach the colony. We'll show you the moisture that drew them in so it can be fixed, and you get a written price before we start.

What you can do in the meantime

• Trim palms and branches so nothing touches the roof or the walls. That's their highway.

• Fix the leak: a dripping window, a sweating A/C line, a hose bib against the wall.

• Pull stacked wood, old dock boards, and lumber away from the house.

• Don't spray the trail. It scatters the foragers and makes the nest harder to find.

Florida carpenter ant FAQ

Are they termites? No. Termites are pale and soft with straight antennae; carpenter ants are hard-bodied with a pinched waist and bent antennae. Winged ants with a narrow waist and front wings longer than the back are carpenter ants. If you're not sure, send us a photo.

Will they damage my house?  The damage is to wood that was already wet and soft, so the moisture is what to fix. Catching them early keeps it minor.

Why do I only see one or two? Carpenter ants forage in small numbers at night. Two on the counter at 11 p.m. is a colony somewhere, not a stray.