The Key To Effective Termite Control For Your Roseville Property

There are two kinds of termite control. One is restorative. The other is curative. When termites get inside your Roseville property, it is necessary to control and restore your property to a termite-free state. The restoration process will fix some of the damage but will not likely fix all the damage. A better termite control solution is to cure the source of a termite problem. What is the source? It is the ground around your home. That is where subterranean termites live and where active termites are found. You have many options to address termites at the source and cure a termite problem before termites get into your home. Join us today as we look at the challenges of detecting termites and what tricks work to counter these challenges. We'll also give you tips to remove factors that attract termites. Stick with us to the end to learn what to do if you find evidence of termite damage or signs of termites in your yard. If you already know you have a termite problem and are looking for professional termite pest control in Roseville, jump to our contact page and reach out to us for assistance. We're more than happy to help. 

You're Likely Never To See A Termite

It isn't easy to detect subterranean termites. Termite workers hide from view and swarmers only appear for a short time. Let's take a look at each of these kinds of termites, discuss what they are, and look at tricks to catch them in the act.

Termite Workers: These are the most abundant termites in a colony, and they are the termites that damage your property. All other termites get their food from the workers, so when considering how to detect termites, you must learn to overcome the challenges of locating workers.

• Worker termites avoid light. They hide from all light, even the light of the moon. You'll never see termite workers crawling around on wood in the day or night unless it is in a sheltered location, such as under a deck or in a crawlspace.
• Worker termites require moisture to stay hydrated. If they come out of hiding at night, they'll only do so in sheltered locations where there is humidity or damp soil. When inspecting your home for damage, you need to look near, or under, the surface of the ground.
• Worker termites don't crunch on the wood of your home. You won't hear them in structural timbers. But if you're lucky, you may hear soldier termites. Soldiers come up into wood tunnels to protect the workers from danger. When a threat is detected, the soldiers bang their heads on tunnel walls, creating a subtle rustling sound. If you know to listen for this sound, you might detect it.
• Worker termites feed on wood in your yard, but they won't do it openly. You can, however, uncover worker termites accidentally. You may pick up a branch and see pale bugs crawling on the bottom. When you see pale bugs, look closely. Worker termites look like fat ants. The reason for the fat appearance is that a termite doesn't have a pinched waist, like the waist of an ant. Termites appear to have two body parts instead of three distinct body parts.

In most cases, you won't see or hear soldier termites, but you can uncover them. When you do, take notice. Doing so can prevent extensive termite damage.

Swarmer Termites: These are reproductive termites that have developed wings. They are also referred to as alates, which just means, "having wings." But a swarmer doesn't always have wings. It emerges from the nest with long white wings but sheds them during the mating process. A swarm lasts less than an hour, so you may never see these winged termites on your property, but if you do, you should know how to identify them.

• A swarmer is black.
• A swarmer is only ⅜ of an inch long, which can seem surprisingly small if all you've ever seen are images of swarmers on the internet. 
• The body of a swarmer is much shorter than the wing length.
• The wings of a swarmer cover the thorax and abdomen and hang past the abdomen.
• Swarmer wings are a teardrop shape that is somewhat stretched.
• Swarmer wings stack on top of each other and do not have a cleft at the wing tips. Ant wings have a cleft.

It is hard to detect termites on your property. Therefore, it helps to know other warning signs that termites may provide, such as termite damage. While termite damage isn't a great warning sign (because your property is already damaged), you may not get another sign.