Keep A Lookout For These Termite Signs In Your Connecticut Home

Do you know the type of termites that get into Connecticut homes? Are you aware that the termites we battle in our region are subterranean termites? If so, then you already know one important fact about them; they live under the ground. Sub means "under" and terranean means "relating to the earth". Unfortunately, they don't stay under the ground.

These insects come up from the ground to get into our homes. Often, they do this in a very sneaky way. They'll work their way up through cracks in a foundation and get right into the wood of a home. They'll find a wooden deck support and use it as a superhighway to feed on a home. You could have millions of termites feeding on your home right now and not know it.

Today, we're going to discuss the warning signs you need to look for if you want to have any hope of guarding your property against subterranean termite damage.

Reproductive Termites

If you do nothing to look for termites, you may be fortunate enough to see this warning sign. When a termite colony matures, it begins to create male and female, winged reproductives. These are black insects, not pale insects like the worker termites. In contrast to their black bodies, they have long white wings that are round at the tips. While only ⅜ of an inch long, termite reproductives are difficult to miss when they emerge from their tunnels into a common area of your home.

Few Connecticut residents will put up with dozens, or even hundreds, of winged insects crawling around in their homes. But, before you get too excited about how easy it is to detect termites this way, there are a few things you should know.

• Swarmers don't usually emerge inside structures. The heart of a colony is in the ground, and it is likely to be far from your home.

• It is possible for swarmers to emerge inside your home without you knowing it. They can come out inside wall voids, attic spaces, and storage rooms.

• It can be years before swarmers are created. That means termites will have years to damage your property before you see this sign.

Wings

The winged reproductive termites of a colony are called swarmers. This is because they gather together in a swarm during the mating process. This swarming behavior helps to make it easy to detect these insects. If you're walking in your yard and you see hundreds of white-winged, black insects on your back deck, you'll take notice, right? You might. But keep in mind that a large group of winged termites can be crawling around in a space the size of a basketball.

They may also be in a shielded or protected location, such as underneath a layer of mulch, a brush pile, or a pile of wood. If so, they'll mate, shed their wings, and disappear into the soil before you get the chance to detect them. Termite swarms last for less than thirty minutes. The wings they shed during the mating process may be your only warning sign, and in many cases, it is a warning sign you'll have to uncover.

Shelter Tubes

Worker termites dry out easily. For this reason, they create structures made from saliva and soil called shelter tubes or mud tubes. If your Connecticut home is being attacked by subterranean termites, and the worker termites aren't able to find wood-to-soil contact or a crack in your foundation, they may have to create shelter tubes to go from the soil to the wood of your home.

This can be a helpful warning sign. But don't get too excited. Once again, subterranean termites aren't likely to create shelter tubes where you can easily see them. They prefer to create them in locations that are humid or damp. This can work to conceal the evidence.

• Shelter tubes may be established on your foundation behind landscape vegetation.

• Shelter tubes may be on your foundation walls beneath your deck, porch, or patio.

• If your home has a crawlspace, shelter tubes could be on interior foundation walls.

• If your home has a cellar with a dirty floor, shelter tubes could be on your cellar walls.

Do routine inspections in concealed areas to uncover shelter tubes. One mud tube will look like a wiggly line of mud that is about the width of a pencil. If many mud tubes are created in one location, you may see a thick column that could be as large as three feet in diameter.

Often, mud tubes take on a pattern that looks like chain lightning, a river, or a tree branch. It starts as one line and splits into several more as the tubes are established from the soil to the wood.

The Best Way To Detect Termites In Connecticut

It can be very difficult to detect subterranean termites. If you want the best protection for your Connecticut property, it is best to have a licensed professional perform an annual inspection, install a bait system to monitor for termite activity, or apply a termiticide barrier, or all of the above. Reach out to American Pest Solutions to find the right solution for your specific needs and budget.