Why do carpenter ants have wings?

Although it's possible that an ant (or two) is indoors because it lost its way during mating, it is a good idea to identify the ant species right away because carpenter ants and termites (which look like winged ants), can cause significant damage to homes and other buildings. read more

The wings allow the ants to search for mates and establish new nests; they drop the wings after mating. To eliminate winged ants, you have to eliminate the entire colony, and an effective way to do that is to bait the workers -- the ones without wings -- with a mixture of sweet or oily food and borax. read more

Differences Between Ants and Termites. Carpenter ants are very common across the U.S. but are often confused with termites. Some carpenter ants are much larger than termites. In fact, carpenter ants are one of the largest of all ant species! But other carpenter ants are very small, so size is not a way to determine species. read more