What Does A Termite Look Like?

Termites are often confused with ants. An alternative name for them is white ants, and, as can be gleaned from that name, the workers do look very similar in shape to an ant. They are a milky white colour.

However, it is not just the workers that you need to be able to spot. The soldiers, who protect the workers, usually have an orange coloured head that has large mandible pinchers, which they use when attacking an enemy. If you uncover a termite working, it is likely that you will see more soldiers than workers as they rush to protect their food source.

Another termite type you need to be on the lookout for is the swarmer, or alate. These are the winged termite that swarms in search of new food sources. Once they find one, they will mate, lose their wings and become the king and queen of a new colony. They look like the worker, except they have wings.

The last variant is one that you will not see normally, the king and the queen. While the king looks fairly normal, the queen is enormous compared to all the others. She has a massive swollen abdomen that can be up to 30 centimetres in length and can lay up to 2000 eggs a day. She can live for more than 25 years, making the number of offspring one queen can produce in the tens of millions.

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Preventing a Termite Attack

It is only after a flood that the saying “prevention is better than the cure” is truly understood. If you were lucky enough to have sufficient termite controls in place, you might want to revisit those measures to ensure they are still effective.

There’s actually no way of making a building completely termite-proof, but here’s some things you can do to make your place a less inviting location for termites:

Deny, minimize or challenge a termite’s ability to access cellulose-based materials, moisture or shelter – the three things they need to survive

• Ensure there is no timber in direct ground contact around the building – this is a direct path to a major problem

• Timber posts, staircases and door frames should never penetrate concrete floors or be in direct ground contact

• Timber should have at least 75mm ground clearance

• Treat timber with a borate if wood to soil contact is unavoidable

• Remove stumps, weatherboards, fibro, stakes, scrap wood, cardboard boxes, newspapers and books from under and around the building

• Minimise rain seepage, pooling, drainage problems, plumbing leaks, condensation and poor ventilation

• Divert water away from the structure with properly functioning gutters and down pipes. Clean these on a regular basis to prevent blockage.

• Clean weep holes to assist in ventilation

• Keep vents free of leaves, dirt and debris

• Remove dense vegetation such as shrubs, vines, trellises and tall grasses and prevent them from growing against the building

• Ensure mulch is kept away from the building – as it creates moisture in the soil and is a favourable breeding ground for termites

Signs you might have termites:

• A temporary swarm of winged insects in your home or from the soil around your home.
• Any cracked or bubbling paint or frass (termite droppings).
• Wood that sounds hollow when tapped.
• Mud tubes on exterior walls, wooden beams, or in crawl spaces.
• Discarded wings from “alates”.

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Sentricon Monitoring and Baiting

Sentricon Monitoring and Baiting provides peace of mind against the ever present danger of termite infestation. Call Cure-All Pest Control and they will take you through the process of protecting your home from the destructive ravages of termite infestation.

The first step is an inspection of the property to ensure that there are no termites. After this has been done the pest controller will install the Sentricon Monitoring and Baiting Stations flush with the earth in a strategic pattern around your home, providing ultimate coverage. The pest controller then monitors the Sentricon Stations for termite activity.

If there is any termite activity detected, then the pest controller will deliver the Recruit Termite Bait. Recruit is specially formulated to knock the entire termite colony out. It is a slow acting insecticide, meaning that the infected termites carry it back to the colony where they pass it on. Before the termites know it, the entire colony has been poisoned and your house has been protected. The other great thing about Recruit is that it is environmentally friendly and was the first termite treatment to be registered by the stringent United States’ Environmental Protection Agency.

Don’t let termites destroy your precious home, call Cure-All Pest Control and ask them about Sentricon Monitoring and Baiting.

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