Ants
Do carpenter ants eat wood?
No. Carpenter ant chew galleries in wet or rotting wood to live in. They dump shredded frass that can include insect parts. They do not eat the cellulose as food the way Subterranean termite and Drywood termite do. Fix the leak, find the nest, then bait or dust. If the debris is hexagonal pellets, open the termite comparison guide.
The moisture is the infestation
A perfect bait placed in a dry kitchen while the parent colony sits in a rotten fascia is a subscription. Probe sills, follow night foragers, repair water. That is the carpenter-ant sequence.
Species pages
The question is only the field note. Control sequence, legal notes, and identification live on the species article.
Carpenter ant
Camponotus spp.
Carpenter ants excavate damp or rotting wood to nest. They do not eat wood like termites; they dump shredded…
Subterranean termite
Reticulitermes spp. (and related soil-dwelling genera)
Subterranean termites live in soil and build mud shelter tubes to reach wood. They are the default…
Drywood termite
Kalotermitidae (Incisitermes and others)
Drywood termites live inside the wood. They do not need soil contact. Pellets (frass) that look like tiny…
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