Total Termite Control For Nassau County Homeowners

How To Identify Termites And Their Damage 

Termites stay hidden. Worker termites hate the light and don't even like to come out in the moonlight. You won't see them crawling around on your home as they slowly nibble at it. But you might uncover termites by accident (or purposefully). You can see termite workers when you pick up dead branches in your yard or when you move objects that are resting on the ground. If you do, you may not pay much attention to them, there are lots of bugs that live in your yard. Here are a few ways people miss worker termites:

• A worker termite is a mere ⅛ of an inch long. That is incredibly tiny. If you don't have great eyesight, it will look like a pale speck.
• A worker termite is an ant-like insect. It has three body parts, two antennae, and six legs. Some Nassau County residents contact us and tell us that they have a problem with fat, white ants.
• A group of worker termites can look like maggots. Sorry. It is gross but true. There are two key differences. Maggots don't have legs and they don't eat wood. 

Termite workers hide from view, and when you uncover them, you may not realize it—but it is possible to detect termites without actually seeing them. They can provide other clues. Along with termite identification, it is helpful to know these other warning signs and how to analyze the signs you find.

A Termite Swarm: You may get lucky and see a swarm of termites. Lucky? Yes. Termites rarely provide an obvious warning sign like this, and swarms last less than an hour, which makes it uncommon to see them. Unfortunately, a termite swarm isn't a great warning sign. If you see a swarm of termites, it is evidence of a termite problem that already exists. The reason is that swarmers don't travel far from their nest of origin. In many cases, they don't travel farther than the distance workers travel to find food, which is about a hundred yards (not actually yards, but yards of measurement; it would be scary if they could tunnel through a hundred yards to get to your yard). What do termite swarms look like? Dozens or hundreds of black insects with long white wings. 

A Single Swarmer: It is best to see one swarmer. If you see an individual swarmer on the ground or on your skin, it may have come from a termite swarm and is considering your yard as a nesting location. That tiny swarmer may go unnoticed if you don't realize what it looks like in real life. What do we mean? A termite swarmer is only ⅜ of an inch long. At that size, it is easily ignored, particularly if you see one on your walkway or exterior stairs. Keep watch for the wing color and wing shape. They are the only insects that have white wings that are a stretched-teardrop shape. It is also important to note that the wings stack on top of each other and do not have a cleft at the tips, like the wings of a flying ant.         

Wings: When termites mate, they shed their wings. The shed wings from a couple of termites, or dozens of wings from a termite swarm, may appear in your yard. These wings will have a uniform size and the stretched teardrop shape we mentioned. They are lightweight and can easily get blown away. They are also likely to be deposited underneath structures. A good location to check for termite wings is spider webs. 

Shelter Tubes: Subterranean termite workers create mud tunnels above the ground. They do this to hide from the light and to maintain hydration. You'll find these in hidden locations because workers avoid light as much as humanly (or termitely) possible. Most mud tubes look like thin wiggly lines running from the ground up the sides of exterior structures.   

Damage: Subterranean termites do most of their damage on the interior of wood members. When they eat your home, you won't likely see the damage unless you inspect wood-to-soil contact. If you see termite damage, it will look somewhat like corrugated cardboard. Termites create tunnels that stack on top of each other. Over time, you may detect termite damage in your home. Floors may sink down. Doors may start to stick. The damage subterranean termites do often looks like water damage.

When you look for signs of termites in your yard, you need to look in hidden places. We touched on this, but it bears more consideration. Let's look at how this works.