Carpenter ants where I didn't expect them

[wahoowad]

I live on a wooded acre so know I have carpenter ants and uncover them occasionally in a rotted log, but today I found some where I didn't expect.

9 years ago I built a bat house, mounted it on top of of a 10' steel pole, then mounted that steel pole so it stuck up 8' above my garage. All in all it was easily 25' above the ground. Well, bats never ever moved into the house and it was falling apart so today I dismantled it before it started dropping pieces onto my garage roof. I was surprised to see a small colony of carpenter ants living in it. I'm really surprised to see them living so far from ground where there is no moisture. I doubt they are in my garage but will certainly give it a good inspection.

It was 5 degrees last night, and maybe 20 degrees when I found them and they were moving real slow. I put the board they were in inside my 500 degree Jotul to warm up.

 

[Destructor]

I had bats living in my masonry chimney for two years. They roosted between the newer SS oil burner liner and the original clay liner. Occasionally one would go down the SS pipe and enter the house through the furnace damper. They'd flap around the basement until they found their way upstairs and out the front door. I haven't seen a single ant in my house since buying the dump.

 

[johneh]

I hope the ants enjoyed the heat of your stove

 

[hickoryhoarder]

If they can be inside wood, they seem to live anywhere. And seem able to survive some pretty low temperatures, 20 degrees anyway, if they're in a log.