Dry wood termites.
Ant colony in attic.
They can look quite similar to each other.
Below is a list of common ants that may nest in walls with some tips on how to identify them.
Ants in the walls.
Ants will build nests where ever they can find a suitable area to do so.
To find an ant colony place food such as jelly honey sugar or bacon where you have seen ants and watch the ants that show up for dinner.
When ants do this to your attic structures it could significantly compromise its stability and your roof could cave in any time.
When you see an ant your first impulse is probably to step on it.
These ants are about 1 8 inch long and range from pale brown to black in color.
They will cross the residual and eventually get it back to the nest where it will slowly transfer to the colony.
A single ant colony could have as many as 50 000 individuals.
Carpenter ants have also been known to invade.
It sounds a bit out of character for ants to be in your attic they generally only are found in places that have a food source of some type.
For permanent control you need to get rid of the whole colony.
They prefer warm regions.
Carpenter ants have built a reputation for shaving through wood making holes and tunnels that damage it.
The ones you see are scout ants foraging for food to take back to the colony.
They will bring the bait back to the colony to share which will help destroy the colony.
Technically we are not supposed to spray it indoors.
These ants actively excavate wood.
Depending upon distribution and cold weather conditions ants may be as likely to nest outdoors as indoors especially in many parts of the warmer more southerly portions of their distribution also the preferred indoors locations and food preferences of the ants listed below may vary to some degree since there is a lot of species specific variability among ants.
Baits have the added advantage of being easy to place and relatively mess free.
Use these scouts to wipe out the entire colony.
Light brown these ants are between 1 12 and 1 8 inch long.
Prebait ants in areas you ve previously seen them.
The ants that are nesting in the attic have to leave periodically probably at night.
It is important to check insect traps regularly and refresh them periodically to ensure they continue to be effective.
All types of ants live in colonies that consist of hundreds or even millions of individual ants with one or more egg laying queens.
While it would be unusual to have an entire colony in your attic it is not unheard of.
Are you sure they are ants and not termites.
You ll kill it but for every ant you see there may be hundreds more hiding in the house.