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Termite Colony Information

The Eastern Subterranean Termite is the variety thats prevalent in the New England Area. The termite colony lives underground with a queen and king, which can live up to 25 years. The termite colony consists mainly of termite workers, which are responsible for the termite damage and can number around 500,000. Termite Soldiers with large dark orange colored heads and strong jaws (mandibles), protect the termite queen, king and termite workers from predators like carpenter ants and other ant species. There are only a couple thousand termite soldiers in a colony, but termite workers can quickly change into soldiers when needed for defense. Termite workers travel daily from the wood they are eating to the main termite colony underground by routes known as mud tubes. Termite activity usually goes unnoticed until the termite damage to the wood is discovered during a buyers home inspection or by an inspection from a trained pest control technician.If termites go unnoticed in your home for a period of years, the cost of the wood repair is usually much greater than the cost of a professional termite treatment to eliminate the termite colony from the structure.

Termite Swarmers

The most common way homeowners discover they have a termite problem is when they notice thousands of termite swarmers pouring out of their wall in the spring time to mate. Termites usually swarm in the New England area during a two month period from April till May. It's usually on a warm humid day in April or May and can continue for a few weeks until all the termite swarmers have left the underground colony. These female and male termite swarmers are produced by the termite Queen when the colony reaches maturity. They are gathered up by the termite workers in stages and pushed into the most recently used tunnels being used by the workers from the colony to the food source (wood). The workers leave the ends of the tunnels and continue eating the wood and the termite swarmers leave the tunnels and head for any light source. If this swarms happens during the night and a light is left on inside your home, the termite swarmers will mistake the inside of your house for the outside and the swarm will be all over your floor. After they swarm from your foundation or walls, the swarmers will start shedding their wings. They do this so they can mate. They then try to get back into the ground to start new termite colonies. If they accomplish this before they dry-out they can live as new Kings and Queens for 25 30 years producing up to 500,000 more workers. Finding a pile of dead termites or loose wings is a sure sign that termite workers are active somewhere in the structure.

Termite Swarmer Identification

What do termite swarmers look like? Termite Swarmer with wings dropped off To the untrained eye, termite swarmers may appear to be flying ants, but two things will distinguish them from flying ants. The main difference between termite swarmers and flying ants is the following. The termite body is dark brown or black colored, straight antennae and a one piece body (Ants have 3 segments to their body). Also, you may notice whitish, clear wings on the floor which have been dropped off by the termite swarmers before mating (carpenter ant swarmers retain their brownish wings and have elbowed antennae andare much larger).

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Security Termite Control..Termite Control..Inspection MA

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November 26, 2014 at 6:55 am by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Termite Inspection and Control