Like most living creatures, ants need food and favorable living conditions to survive. In the case of the carpenter ant, they require three things: moisture, food, and shelter.
Moisture – Carpenter ants favor moist, damp areas. The moisture often makes things easier to chew through. Leaks that go unattended will lead to a softening or rotting of the wood and materials around the leak. They also seek areas where condensation collects such as doorways, windows, bathrooms, kitchens, drains, pipes, roof vents and laundry areas.
Food – Carpenter ants love protein and sugar. They are also extremely attracted to honeydew, which is a sweet liquid produced by aphids. Carpenter ants forage for food at night and look for anything sticky, sweet or meaty.
Shelter – Carpenter ants will take up residence in wood and leaf piles, dead tree stumps, rotting fence posts … just about any place they can find rotting wood and debris.