Pests are usually a problem when they are visible and interfering in our everday life. Odorous house ants getting into food or sugar, raccoons getting into the trash, or yellow jackets bothering you during your BBQ. It’s easy to take action against these pests because we can easily see the damage they are doing and we want to get rid of them as fast as possible.
However, there is another type of pest that may not be quite as visible, but can be just as destructive. Many times these pests aren’t seen, but are going about their daily business of destroying your home. I’m talking about carpenter ants, odorous house ants, and carpenter bees (we have all of these in Auburn, CA), as they can all do substantial damage to your home and you may not notice them. Left untended, they can cause a large amount of damage and even make a house unsafe to live in.
Many times you won’t know that you have carpenter ants until you actually remove parts of the walls, but there are a few signs to look for. The first is sawdust and wood shavings. They have to remove the wood that they are braking apart and this may fall from a wall or the roof. A sign of sawdust may mean you have carpenter ants, odorous house ants, argentine ants or another insects that is nesting in your home. The other is a scratching sound. Whether or not you can hear it will depend on your proximatey to the wall where the workers are, as well as the ambiant noise, but if you listen closely you can hear a scratching noise.
If you think you have seen the signs above please give us a call, we can help you identify the problem and get rid of the pests before they do any more damage.