Active termites in Tennent

Challenge

I arrived at our customer’s home in Tennent for a termite treatment. Before starting any treatment, I always perform an inspection of the termite-affected areas of the home. Here, there was termite activity in the garage, so I wanted to be sure that all areas were accounted for and nothing stayed hidden from view. This homeowner had a second storage refrigerator in the garage. As I was moving it away from the wall, I observed hundreds of wings behind it.  

Although many signs of active termite activity are subtle, there is one that is not: Piles of wings laying on the ground in or around your home.  

What is that messy pile of abandoned termite wings doing there? To answer that question, you need to know a little something about the termite life cycle. Just like ants and many other insects, termites are social insects that live in large subterranean colonies deep in the soil. A colony is made up of workers, soldiers, and swarmers, and each have different functions. The job of the swarmers (also called winged reproductives) is to create new colonies. These are only termite that has wings. Each one has two pairs of wings that lie flat over their abdomen when not in use.  Almost like clockwork, in the spring, the swarmers emerge from their nests in large groups ready to mate. The female termites release pheromones to entice the male termites. Once they attach to mate, they shed their wings. Some pairs make it back to the soil to create a new colony, and those that don’t simply die off. Those “successful” pairs become king and queen of a new colony. The queen that produces the thousands of termites for the colony during her lifetime can live for 30 or more years. So, if you see a bunch of termite wings laying in or around your house, it means that there is a termite colony nearby — and its workers are busy somewhere literally eating parts your home in order to feed themselves and the rest of the colony.

As I continued my inspection, I observed active mud tunnels, another important sign of termite activity, on the cinder block in the same area (see photo). Termites are fragile insects that need to stay away from the outdoor elements. To move between their colony and your home, they build these protective mud tunnels to get back and forth. 

Solution

It was time to treat and get rid of these termites for good. To eradicate this termite infestation in this homeowner’s garage in a fast and effective way, I drilled a number of small holes through garage floor to gain access to the soil. I then injected a powerful termiticide into the soil where the termites live and breed. The foraging workers will take this formulation back to the colony, spreading it among the other termites. Soon thereafter, the colony will die. I also performed a treatment around the home’s exterior perimeter to ensure that all colonies around the home would be eradicated.