Termite Control Is A Year-Round Battle In Reno

There are many ways to detect a termite infestation. Unfortunately, they're all subtle. You need to know what to look for and where to look if you hope to find signs of termites in your yard.

An Indoor Termite Swarm: If you find a termite swarm in your house, you don't have to wonder if you have an infestation. But we don't recommend waiting until you see a swarm in your house! Most of the time, termite swarmers emerge outdoors. They are attracted to light and prefer daylit outdoor environments to dimly lit interiors. If you find swarmers in your home, it is a warning sign of a severe infestation because it is evidence that the nest is very close to your home. 

An Outdoor Termite Swarm: It isn't just bad to find termite swarmers inside your home; it is bad to find them outside too. When you find swarmers crawling on the outside of your home, there are two things you should know. Termite swarmers aren't interested in traveling long distances. They gather in a swarm to find mates, pair off, and get busy establishing nests. They don't travel far from their original nest. They are also not going to swarm for long. A swarm lasts less than an hour. It can come and go in the time it takes you to get groceries. 

Swarmer Wings: Often, termite swarms appear and disappear before they're seen. The only evidence is swarmer wings left on the ground or on exterior structures, like your back deck. These wings are white and uniform in length. The wind can easily blow these wings away. We recommend checking spider webs for swarmer wings. Spider webs are like nature's sticky traps!

A Termite Swarmer: A warning sign of an impending infestation is the appearance of a single swarmer. You may see one land on your skin, crawl on your walkway, appear on your driveway, or on some other surface. That one little swarmer is easy to miss. A swarmer is only about 3/8 of an inch long. You'll need to look for details that will help you tell a swarmer apart from all the other insects that crawl around on the outside of your home. Depending on the species, a swarmer is black with white wings or dark orange with yellowish wings. The wings stack on top of each other and have a stretched teardrop shape.

Termite Workers: It is rare to see termite workers, but it is possible. The secret is knowing what they look like and where you may see them. Termite workers hide from view. They have a strong aversion to light. But you may pick up a dead branch in your yard and find these insects on the bottom. Termite workers are about 1/8 of an inch long and look like fat ants. The reason for their portly appearance is that they don't have a pinched waist like an ant. In fact, you may have difficulty telling where the thorax ends, and the abdomen begins. If you see pale-colored, fat-looking ants on a dead branch, those aren't ants; they're termites. 

Shelter Tubes: Subterranean termites have a high moisture requirement. The reason is that the skin of a termite worker is thin and easily dehydrated. For this reason, they must create shelter tubes to go from the moist ground to the tunnels they create in the wood of your home—which they keep moist by lining the tunnel walls with soil. You may see shelter tubes on your foundation walls, but it is rare to find these structures out in the open. Worker termites have a strong aversion to light; they don't even like moonlight. Therefore, they create their tubes on surfaces hidden underneath structures or in crawlspaces. You're going to have to get dirty to find most shelter tubes.

Termite Damage: The vast majority of damage done by termites is on the inside of wood. The only evidence you'll likely see is splintering or tiny mud patches created when workers accidentally breach tunnel walls, which doesn't happen often. One way to tell if a wood timber is damaged is to tap on it. If it sounds hollow, that is a warning sign of hidden damage inside. 

Termite Noises: It is rare for termites to make noises, but it does happen. The noise you may hear will sound like a rustling or clicking. What you're hearing is soldier termites banging their heads on tunnel walls. Why do they do this? It is a warning to workers and other soldiers that an enemy has entered their tunnels. It is rare for this to happen because soldiers actively plug entry holes into the tunnels with their big heads.

There you have it. Now you know how to detect termites on your property. As you can see, it isn't easy. That is why property owners invest in termite control. When a termite treatment is applied around the structures on your property, it stays in place all year long and continually works to keep these sneaky insects out.