Termites

ABOUT TERMITES

Silently and slowly, termites cause approximately $1.5 billion in damage to homes in Australia each year. That’s more than fire and storm damage. Combined. Busily boring holes and eating the wood deep within the structure of your buildings, termites can spend years causing extensive damage and you won’t even know.

 

Also called white ants, these animals are a colony-forming insect that lives in nest that can comprise more than 1 million individuals. They hate the open air and prefer to live entirely enclosed in pitch-black spaces. These are often tunnels they chew through solid wood. They aren’t fussy either. To a termite, the wooden frame of someone’s house is as good as a dead tree out in the bush.

 

Because individuals are almost never seen out in the open, the first sign that termites are at work in a home are the traces of their damage. Paying close attention for these signs can avoid costly repairs … or even demolition.

 

While most people think termites only cause damage to timber, their activities also affect electrical wiring. Many house fires are caused by short circuits due to termite activity.

Termite infestation is usually recognised by the damage they have already caused…by then, it can be too late.

Termites

(Isoptera)

Termites are quite small measuring between 4mm – 15mm long.

 

They are pale brown – white in colour.

They can sometimes be confused with ants.

 

Most termites are the workers, they have no eyes and are completely blind.

The thorax of the termite consists of 3 segments like most insects.

They have cylindrical abdomens, grey to black bodies with dark orange-brown banded stout legs and a white patch at the tip of the abdomen.

Dampwood Termites like to live in damp, dying wood or in houses with leaky plumbing that keeps the wood constantly wet.

 

Drywood Termites are usually found in dry wood as they do not require moisture or direct contact with soil.

 

Formosan Termites live in large underground colonies, they build mud nests inside the walls of a building. They can also live in boats or buildings.

 

Subterranean termites need contact with the soil to survive.

Termites prefer dark, humid environments because their bodies are very prone to drying out.

 

It is very rare to spot them out in the open. They will eat out the inside of timber often leaving no trace of their destruction from the outside.

 

Termites are responsible for large amounts of atmospheric methane production due to their digestive processes.

Termites go through 3 stages;

Egg –> Nymph –> Adult

 

It can take several months to go through these cycles.

 

A queen can lay between 1000 – 2000 eggs per day and can live up to 25 years in the right conditions.

Termites