What You Need to Know: Finding Carpenter Ants Carpenter ant activity is both seasonal and nocturnal, so these ants can be difficult to find during a home inspection. Carpenter ants are endemic to woodland areas and they perform an important function in the ecosystem, but you do not want them setting up a satellite colony in your house. Carpenter ants do not “eat” wood, as termites do, but they can tunnel in wood and as they excavate wood to build their...