What Attracts Carpenter Ants to Bathrooms?

While many different species of invasive insects live in Canada, few cause more widespread damage to your home's wooden structures than carpenter ants. These insects chew into wood, make nests and tunnels from the pulp and spread throughout your home, including your bathroom. At Truly Nolen, we offer professional carpenter ant extermination and some useful information about why you might find carpenter ants in your bathroom.

Carpenter Ants Target Moisture

Once carpenter ants establish a nest, they send scouts out in search of food and water sources. These ants may find their way into your home's bathroom for several reasons, including:

• Damp or soft wood under sink cabinets
• Rotting wood along windowsills
• Moist air ducts

Once carpenter ants gain a foothold in your home, they may take up residence behind the bathroom wall and create tunnels that allow them to enter and exit as they like and take food back to the parent nest to feed their young. These insects eat a variety of food and enjoy sweet liquids and protein, including meat-based pet kibble.

How To Get Rid of Carpenter Ants In the Bathroom

When you find carpenter ants in your bathroom, you may see them following a scent trail that alerts other ants to the nearby presence of food and water sources, such as in your kitchen. One of the first steps in getting rid of these invasive insects is to find those sources and remove them. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat the wood they find. They chew it to create intricate tunnels and then gather food to feed the colony. This behaviour can make parent nests difficult to find; however, keeping your kitchen counters clean and storing food properly can discourage these insects from nesting in your bathroom. Wipe up sticky spills right away and avoid leaving dirty dishes in the sink or on the kitchen counter. Pick up and rinse pet food bowls before bedtime and discourage your kids from storing snacks in their rooms that may encourage carpenter ants to spread to other rooms in the house.

The Importance of Professional Carpenter Ant Extermination

For every few carpenter ants you see in the bathroom, you may have thousands more hiding behind a bathroom wall or in moist wood near a leaking sink pipe. You may attempt to eliminate these insects with store-bought traps and sprays, but these products only help you handle those you see. The hidden colony continues to thrive and causes further damage to the wooden structures in your bathroom and creates large nests in damp drywall, making them even more difficult to eliminate. Calling in our experienced exterminators from Truly Nolen can provide you with complete services all year round. Our technicians understand the habits of these insects and can help you identify the damage ants cause before treating any nests they find. This prevents the cycle of repeated spraying and baiting carpenter ants only to have them relocate somewhere else in your home or yard. Our professional services also keep you and your family safe, as carpenter ants may attack in defence of their nests and can deliver a painful bite or spray formic acid on the skin, which can cause considerable skin irritation.

Contact Us Today for Carpenter Ant Treatment

Carpenter ants can cause considerable damage to the wood in your home once they establish a nest near or in a bathroom wall or under a wooden sink cabinet. The multitude of tunnels they create makes them difficult to eliminate, but we can help. Contact us here at Truly Nolen and schedule an inspection for the best carpenter ant extermination near me today and rid your home of these invasive and destructive pests for good.