Dealing with Carpenter Ants in Kansas City: Do These Ants Bite?

You may be sharing your home with different species of ants like carpenter ants. The presence of these ants may encourage you to learn more about them including their tendency to bite humans. To make sure you can effectively handle carpenter ants, learn about their behavior, including when they may bite you. Also, you must know when it is time to contact a Kansas City exterminator. A professional ant exterminator knows how to eradicate an entire colony and prevent ants from coming back. 

Will Carpenter Ants Bite You?

As with most species, carpenter ants will bite people under some circumstances. Learning about when they bite can help you understand how to interact with them safely. 

The main reason these ants will bite is when they feel threatened. As they act in self-defense, the ants can bite creatures of any size, including humans, household pets, and insects. They are likely to bite you if you squash them and miss them or when you pick them up. 

In addition, carpenter ants bite if they sense danger toward their nest. This can be a more serious situation than when they act in self-defense. Multiple ants may attack to protect their nests. You need to be careful when trying to eliminate the nest of carpenter ants due to the risk of getting bites. 

Does the Bite Hurt?

Bites from carpenter ants are painful. These ants have very strong mandibles and normal bites will feel like a hard pinch. Often, the bite leads to a burning sensation. The bites may even break your skin, which means blood may be seen after a bite. 

How Do Carpenter Ant Bites Look?

Usually, you may get a bite from a carpenter ant without seeing the ant. That is why you should know what the bite looks like. Because some carpenter ants are up to one inch long, their bites can be as huge as a pea. The bitten area will become red with raised skin. Once the immediate pain wears off, the bite will itch until fully healed. 

How to Treat Carpenter Ant Bites

After getting a bite from a carpenter ant, act quickly to minimize your pain and heal quickly. Use antibiotic soap and water to rinse away the substance called formic acid, which an ant releases when it bites. If the skin in the bite area is broken, apply a bandage. 

If a burning sensation occurs after a bite along with extreme discomfort, make a cold compress or apply ice directly to the bite. Do this for around ten minutes to get relief. If you have sensitive skin, apply a topical cream to address the symptoms. If the bite area does not feel better after 2 days, visit a doctor to address any underlying problem. 

How to Prevent Carpenter Ant Bites

To prevent carpenter bites, you usually have to avoid their nests. But this can be hard if the insects have built a colony inside your house. To avoid getting bitten, destroy the nest and get rid of the ants from your home. 

You can use traps, but this requires you to directly attack the colony. Carpenter ant colonies may not be easy to find and you need to kill the queen to stop your ant issue. The best approach is to have a pest control company handle the issue for you.