Friday 23 November 2012

The anti - carpenter ?...

My little project part II...
The ant above is called the 'carpenter ant' and it is this I discovered living behind the fascia of the lintel of my outhouse.


 I find this name rather contradictory as a 'carpenter' is 'a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects'. (from wikipedia), whereas these little fellows could help bring down a building with their cutting of tunnels and galleries.



I suppose it could be argued that they are building a home for themselves albeit to the detriment of the wood, though again they do only 'attack' wood that is damp and decaying, so the damage is already done.



Close up 

When I disturbed them initially they dropped of the wooden fascia on to my arms - there were hundreds of them - can still feel them crawling as I type! Sadly I had to 'Dalek' them - I read somewhere that most ant colonies, if disturbed (think I've seen a few disturbed ants in my day) will not return to that location.

Did you know that most 'experts' reckon there are a million ants for each of us on the planet - I can believe this - as they are everywhere! Fortunately we have never had a problem inside any of our houses but we have heard some horror stories from people who have! Imagine if they were even half the size we are...we wouldn't stand a chance!

PS After they had gone I was able to remove the damaged part of the lintel.
Good item from Auntie Beep here

1 comment:

  1. Jim... they aren't carpenter ants... carpenters are the BIG all-black ones you see around here. These are too small. A Carpenter ant is over half a puce long... huge beastie. The destruction they would be reeking would be greater.
    These look like wood ants with that red thorax [middle section]... as for species... I haven't tried to identify the many ones here but they go from the huge Carpenters to absolutely tiny ones about three-thirty-seconds of a puce long... and they ruin things in the potager, too!

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