What are signs of subterranean termites?

Subterranean termite infestations have several tell-tale signs that you should keep an eye out for in your West Florida home or business.

1. On spring and summer mornings or evenings, usually after a shower, subterranean termites swarm, as part of their mating ritual. Female and male alates or males able to reproduce grow wings and swarm to find a mate. Often mistaken for flying ants, once the nuptial dance is finished, mated termites crawl into cracks in wood to start their own colonies and they lose their wings. These wings, if found indoors on window ledges or sills, can be signs of a subterranean infestation.
2. Subterranean termites live underground near the structures they infest and build mud tubes or tunnels they use to transport the wood they eat in your home to the multitudes of hungry mouths in their large colonies, below ground. These tunnels running up the walls of your home and nearby trees are a reliable indicator that you have subterranean termite activity in your home.
3. Signs of advanced subterranean termite activity in your home or business include noticeable sagging or buckling of walls and floors, blistering paint, and/or hollow-sounding surfaces that you can easily poke a hole through with a screwdriver. Because subterranean termites are drawn to moisture, bathroom fixtures can appear loose or even fall off walls caused by subterranean termites eating the paper in drywall construction materials. In kitchens, subterranean termites will eat the wood in the subflooring of a tile floor causing tiles to crack and floors to collapse or sag.

If you have spotted signs of subterranean termites in or around your West Florida home or business, do not delay in contacting your local termite expert, Pestwise. Damage caused by subterranean termites is very destructive and expensive to repair – the sooner this is addressed with subterranean termite baiting systems, the better.