Termites cause a lot of damage to buildings and are serious pests of buildings. The problem with termites is that they are difficult to detect as they hide within floors, walls, and wood. There are many things you may not know about termites as you will see after reading this article.
Fascinating Facts About Termites
All Termite Species Don’t Build Their Colonies Underground
The fact that colonies of termites build their colonies underground and move through subterranean tunnels makes it hard to detect them. However, some termite species like Conehead termites in Florida live and forage over the top of the ground and spread quickly and easily if they are not controlled early enough.
Termites Have A Big Appetite for Wood and Other Materials Containing Cellulose
Termites have an insatiable appetite and eat flooring, wood and wallpaper 24/7. It is believed that an established colony of subterranean termites can eat 1 cup of sawdust within 2 hours! If the termites can do this within 2 hours, imagine the amount of wood the colony would eat if they are not controlled early enough.
Termites Have Mob Mentality
All termite species are social insects and work as a group. A colony of termites can compromise of millions of individual termites. Swarm intelligence dictates the activity of a termite colony making a termite colony work as a single unit with the needs of a termite colony preceding that of individual colony members.
This enables a termite colony to take advantage of more resources than an individual termite hence making colonies very efficient at establishing themselves in buildings.
Colony Cliques
Each member of a termite colony has a job to perform depending on its caste with each caste having its own job to do. The castes of termite colonies include soldiers, nymphs, workers and reproductive individual members. Worker termites are the most abundant individuals in termite colonies. Their job is to forage and maintain the nest and the termite colony’s eggs. Worker termites are highly likely to be found in infested wood.
Soldiers protect their colony. They have enlarged jaws to help them do their job. These jaws block tunnels in case ants try to attack. In fact, most of the soldiers have big jaws that make it impossible for them to feed themselves.
Nymphs are young termites who take on the duties of workers in some species. What makes a termite colony different from other social insects is that a termite colony has a primary queen and king who mate all through their lives. However, a termite colony has a class of winged reproductive members who may leave a colony to start other termite colonies.
If you suspect you have a termite infestation or would like to prevent termite infestation, look for a licensed pest professional to help you. This is because a professional knows how to deal with termites in the best way possible.
