Are you worried you’re sharing your home with pesky insects? Take a look at these signs of a termite infestation in your home and what to do next.
One survey revealed that 84% of homeowners said that they had an issue with a pest inside of their house within the past year.
One of the most difficult pests to get rid of is termites. They are also one of the most dangerous because they can eat away at the foundation of your home.
Clicking Sounds in the Walls
One sign that you have a termite infestation is that you can hear a clicking sound coming from the walls. Soldier termites will bang their head against their bodies when a colony is disturbed. This acts as a warning to the other termites in the colony.
The worker termites are the ones that eat your woodwork, and they’re not very quiet. If you put your ear to the wood, you should be able to hear the termites chewing away.
Termites are sensitive insects, and they can detect noises and vibrations in a few of their organs. These organs are at the bottom of their antennae and their tibia.
Some researchers think that termites can tell how big a piece of wood is by using vibrations to measure it from the inside. Regardless of how they can tell how much wood there is, you’ll definitely hear them at some point.
If you hear them, you should call a professional pest control company. If you aren’t sure about the cost of the extermination, you can learn more here.
Mud Tubes
If you notice mud tubes outside of your house where the house meets the ground, this could be another sign you have a termite problem.
These mud tubes are normally about the size of a pencil, and they can be located near some other food source like your house, a tree, fence, or shed.
Subterranean termites normally nest underground and then forage for their food surface. They tend to build their homes close to a food source.
These tunnels will block out cool, dryer air, thus giving them easy access to your house and making them harder to kill.
Discarded Wings
You may also notice discarded wings around your house.
Termite swarms can happen inside or outside of your home. The discarded wings are normally left from when mature termites leave the nest to start their own colony. After they take flight, they get rid of their wings.
You may find some piles of the wings in spiderwebs or around the surfaces near the foundation of your home. You should check your window sills for this.
White Ants
If you have complained lately about seeing white ants around your place, those probably aren’t actually ants.
Many people don’t realize that the white ants they see are actually termites. The two insects look very familiar and have similar behaviors.
However, there are some easy ways to tell which one is which.
Termites are lighter in color, and they can even look white or creamy. Sometimes they are more translucent as well.
Termites normally have wings, but so can some ants. However, the termites’ two sets of wings will both be the same size. On the other hand, the ants’ wings will be two different sizes.
There is also no such thing as a white ant. So if you think you found one, you’ve probably discovered a termite instead.
Drywood Termite Droppings
Drywood termites normally live inside the wood. They nest there and then eat and tunnel through it, creating their infestation as they go.
To be able to do this, they create little galleries in the wood to keep them clean. They will create holes in the wood where they can deposit their feces.
Since they eat wood, their feces will be made up mostly of wood as well. The result will likely end up looking like a mound of small pellets. If you see a mound of these, you probably have a drywood termite infestation.
Termite Swarms
Swarmers from a mature colony normally leave the nest one to two times per year. This normally happens during the spring and fall, but the exact timing can be different based on the species and the weather.
Some termites may swarm on your house, but you may end up missing it. It’s normally not a noticeable event, and it normally happens when people aren’t there to notice it.
For example, Formosan termites will swarm around dusk. If you do happen to notice these swarms though, you probably have a termite problem on your hands.
Tunnels in Your Wood
We already said that the termites will make galleries, or tunnels, in your wood.
You may notice the pellet mounds first, but then you should look to see if there are any tunnels in your wood.
If you can’t see any, there are all kinds of technology that have been used to detect tunnels in the woods even when you can’t see it. You can have a pest control company come into your home and run this test if you suspect you have a problem.
Discover More Signs of a Termite Infestation!
These are only a few signs of a termite infestation.
When you notice any of these signs, make sure you call a pest control company right away. The sooner you solve the problem, the less damage you will have to deal with.
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