Termites
Termites are probably the most feared of structural infesting insects and have developed very effective ways to get to and to attack the wood in your home. They live in colonies which are usually underground, sometimes they will live within your home itself.
From their colonies in the ground, these subterranean termites will build earth tubes between the soil and the infested wooden structure. These earth tubes can travel up the side of a foundation wall, along your plumbing or just directly to the wood and they are a sure sign of infestation. Within the colony of termites there is a miniature society with kings, queens, workers and soldiers.
The king and the queen have really one job within this society and that is to reproduce new termites, they focus on the production of eggs.
Soldier Termites protect the the colony, the king,
the queen and the eggs from other insects. The termites have a long armored head with mandibles which are capable of cutting an invader in half. When the colony is invaded, the soldiers will sound an alarm by banging their heads against the side of a tunnel, which will draw the workers deeper within the colonies and the other soldiers out to fight off the predators.
Worker termites forage from the nest to the wood supply, returning with food for the colony. They also construct earth tubes to food sources and tend to the eggs during the incubation period.
Queen Termites are known to live up to 50 years, most live about 15 years. A Queen Termites only job is to lay eggs. She will typically lay 30,000 eggs per day.
The colonies spread with the help of young kings and queens, known as swarmers, they have wings which allow them to fly short distances in search of suitable places to start new colonies. When the short flight is over, the wings are lost and the swarmers scramble to find mates and establish their colony. Very few survive to establish colonies because they are easy prey for other insects and birds. Having a professional come and treat these infestations is imperative because of the large amount of damage that they can cause to the wood around your foundation in a short amount
of time.
This map shows Termite activity in the United States.
It is recommended that anyone finding themselves in the high to moderate risk zones, have their home inspected for termites. The risk is too high in these areas to let such a potential threat go unchecked.
