Appearance
Length: Carpenter ants are among the largest ants in the United States, ranging from 3.4 to 13 mm long. More size information.
Color: The most common color is black, but some species have reddish or yellowish coloration. The color also varies among species, ranging from jet-black to dark brown, red, black, yellow, orange, yellowish tan or light brown. Some ants exhibit both red and black coloration.
Mandibles: Workers have large mandibles.
Read more about carpenter ant identification.
Habitat
Carpenter ants reside both outdoors and indoors in moist, decaying or hollow wood.
Diet
Carpenter ants do not eat wood as termites do, but instead remove wood and deposit the debris outside of their nests in small piles. They will feed on a variety of food people eat—particularly sweets and meats. They will also feed on other insects.
Attraction to Moisture
In natural environments, carpenter ants dwell in both dead and living trees, stumps and rotting logs. However, they may also establish their nests inside of homes and buildings where wood is found, especially where wood has been exposed to severe moisture.
Reproduction
Queens lays 9 to 16 eggs the first year and may live up to 25 years. Eggs complete their life cycle in about 6 to 12 weeks.
Galleries & Nests
Ants of the genus Camponotus are known as carpenter ants because they prefer to establish their colonies in galleries excavated from damp or damaged wood. They cut galleries into the wood grain to form their nests and provide passageways for movement from section to section of the nest. This activity produces wood shavings mixed with parts of dead ants which provides clues to nesting locations.
Carpenter ants clean their nesting sites, and their galleries are not lined with mud or moist soil as termite galleries typically are. The workers keep their galleries as smooth as sandpapered wood.
Parent vs. Satellite Colonies
Carpenter ants build two types of nests: parent colonies and satellite colonies. Parent colonies consist of a queen, her brood, and workers. Satellite colonies consist of workers, older larvae, and pupae. Workers create satellite colonies when the parent colony lacks sufficient space or when there is a suitable supply of food or water. There may be several satellite colonies associated with a parent colony.
