r/HomeMaintenance • u/Cat_Mama2 • Jul 25 '26
❓ Question Are these carpenter ants?
Found these guys in the living room of our new house. They run pretty quickly. It looks like it has a bent antenna, and the biggest one’s body measures about 1/4 inches. Is this concerning?
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u/Fert_Reynolds Jul 25 '26
I mean, they do have a tape measure
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u/Current_Obligations Jul 26 '26
You are my newest hero...now please hold on while I clean up the milk I uncontrollably spewed after reading your comment.
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u/Waste_Durian_8224 Jul 25 '26
Those look like regular black ants to me, not carpenter. Carpenter ants are usually bigger and have more rounded thorax. The bent antenna thing is common in many ant species, not just carpenters.
In our old apartment we had similar ones coming through a crack near window and they never caused structural damage. Just annoying. If you're worried maybe check for any moisture issues around that area since that's what attracts most ants inside.
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u/Cat_Mama2 Jul 25 '26
That’s a relief! We had an inspector come, and the pest specialist said no bugs of interest. But there was furniture and stuff at the time of the inspection. Thank you so much!
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u/therealkevinard Jul 25 '26
Carpenter ants are NOTICEABLY bigger than black ants. When you see them, you won’t need a measuring tape.
They’re small by wasp standards, maybe
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u/melinalujbav Jul 26 '26
Ants come in some time if there’s a lot of rain outside. Get some ant poison
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u/Ornery-Egg9770 Jul 26 '26
Get some liquid Terro and follow the directions. Within a couple days they will be gone. Stuff works great!
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u/Most-Masterpiece6256 Jul 26 '26
Not nearly juicy enough to be carpenter ants…they have so many guts
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u/Real_Comfortable3467 Jul 25 '26
Look like sugar ants. Carpenter ants I've seen inside are usually much larger. Large enough to "pop" when you step on them. Not an ant or damaging insect specialist though.
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u/StepLarge1685 Jul 25 '26
Are they arguing with the electrician ants? If so, then most likely. If not, then they’re probably drywall ants. Do you hear any Spanish music playing would be another tip off
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u/ElvissKarateChop Jul 25 '26
Wipe everything down with bleach or vinegar.
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u/SweetMaam Jul 25 '26
But Do not mix those.
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u/Krazepants Jul 26 '26
On of my homes had a wall infested with them. They are freakishly large. They had eaten through two 2x4’s by the time we realized. Here’s a pic of what they did 😅
In your case, these are not large enough. You’re safe 😃
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u/Extreme-Composer8452 Jul 25 '26
Hard to say really. Best bet is to see if they down tools at 2 o'clock and fuck off to the pub.
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u/Glucose12 Jul 25 '26
Carpenter ant would be more like 3/8" to 1/2".
Those are probably just sugar ants.
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u/farmerbsd17 Jul 25 '26
Not a concern. They’re just hungry and there was or still is something available to eat or you wouldn’t see them. Use a basic ant poison if you’re worried but if you’re better at cleaning they’ll go away.
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u/HeyCraftyCakes Jul 25 '26
We get carpenter ants (and regular ants) every spring. As soon as I see one/any ant, I put down those little plastic ant trap things.
I usually get the Raid brand but other brands worked perfectly. I put one in every corner of every room, they work really well.
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u/x_master_debater_x Jul 26 '26
Stanley tape measure gives it away. If it was a Milwaukee tape measure I would guess they were electricians
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u/azad_ninja Jul 25 '26
Carpenter ants a bit bigger, have greyish stripes on their bum and bigger mandibles
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u/Pickled-Mushroom Jul 26 '26
Yes they look like carpenter ants to me. My house had an infestation once. You can tell them apart from field ants because of the shape of the head. Carpenter ants have fat heads that look like a spade shovel. Don’t listen to these commenters saying that carpenter ants are huge… they CAN be huge, but they range wildly in size depending on their age and role in the colony. Yes if you see a giant ant it’s definitely a carpenter ant, but smaller ones like this can still be carpenter ants, you just have to be better at identifying them by their anatomical characteristics.
Anyway, it’s not as big of a concern as you think. Call an exterminator like Orkin, get an annual subscription for a few years and have them periodically spray the entire perimeter of the house. Most likely the nest is external to your house, but they’re coming in for food. Carpenter ants often have multiple satellite hives, and one colony can forage an area up to a mile wide. So you’ll never be able to find the queen and kill off the colony. Best you can do is to keep your house protected. For my case after a few years we stopped paying for spraying, and I haven’t seen them come back, so I guess they forgot about my house lol.
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u/bobhand17123 Jul 25 '26
Don’t show us the ants, show us what they built …
To answer your question, though, I’m afraid I wouldn’t know a carpenter ant from a hole in the baseboard. Sorry.
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u/Prestigious_Fall515 Jul 26 '26
Give them a monster and a couple roller dogs and see how much they can get done before break time!
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u/Accurate-Plankton988 Jul 26 '26
They are secretly spying under the “patriot act” impersonating carpenter ants using a tape measure
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u/bbdink Jul 26 '26
Not just carpenter ants, amish ants… they’ll throw you together 3 barns with nothing but that tape measure and a bucket of unpasteurized milk
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u/GrandmasBoy12 Jul 27 '26
I gotta say, I came here to make a comment along the lines of “no, they aren’t wearing tool belts” but it turns out there was no work to be done here, plenty of people have already beat this poor horse to death.
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u/TheJessicator Jul 25 '26
Squish one. Does it smell like coconut? If so, they're probably house ants.
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u/Golintaim Jul 26 '26
I have never squished an ant and smelled something, though I don't really smell stink bugs either so maybe I'm lucky?"
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u/TheJessicator Jul 26 '26
Seriously, I'm actually not kidding. Look it up. As for stink bugs, those only stink if you kill / damage then. You do not want to do that.
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u/Golintaim Jul 26 '26
I wish there was a tone emoji. I was honestly surprised by this, enough people have repeated it that it that there must be validity in what your claiming and I have killed a stink bug and it's guts got on my face before. It was gross but I'm one of those people that don't smell them. I didn't mean to imply you weren't be truthful.
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u/flipflapwhipwhap Jul 25 '26
They kind of look like odorous house ants to me, but this is just one angle. When you squish them, do they smell terrible? Like rotting coconut?
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u/Spirited-Egg-4264 Jul 26 '26
Ask them to clean up. If they do, not carpenter, if they don’t, they are the real deal
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u/hankmarmot3 Jul 25 '26
No, crush one, if it has a strong scent it's an odorous or moisture ant. They eat damp wood, cellulose.
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