They commonly excavate galleries or tunnels inrotting or sound trees and will readily infest the woodenportions of your home. They prefer to excavate wood damaged byfungus and are often found in conjunction with moisture problems. The adult winged female or queen loses her wingssoon after mating with the smaller male and selects a nestingsite where she secludes herself while raising the first brood ofworkers. These workers are very small but take over the care ofthe immature and the queen after they mature. Future workers areusually larger than those from the first brood because theyreceive better care.
All workers are wingless.
Carpenter ants may enter the home while foragingfor food. However, the appearance of large numbers of wingedadults inside a home indicates that the nest exists in the home. The workers will often expel fibrous sawdust from the nestthrough slit-like openings in the surface of the wood. Thesepiles of sawdust are good signs to look for when trying to locatea colony in an infested home. Itis important to locate the source of the ants and their nest.