A flying termite nest, often referred to as a colony, is usually hidden in walls, foundations, or wooden structures. You might not see the nest itself but may notice flying termites, also known as alates, emerging from cracks or holes in wood.
A flying termite swarm near the home nest could indicate a large colony in the yard or some other nearby location. Residents who find multiple alates inside, notice their shed wings around doors and windows, or see them emerging from the house exterior may have an active infestation inside their home.
Winged swarming termites emerge from cracks in your walls and foundation in large numbers. They can also come out though holes in the soil in your yard. They emerge through swarm tubes made by worker termites. Unfortunately for them, not every termite survives to form a new colony.
Bug Zappers
Termites are attracted to light, so place a bug zapper in or near the outside of your home to attract and kill flying termites. This is effective when flying termites manage to get inside your home.
Look for pencil-thick to inch-wide tunnels on your home's foundation and crawl-space walls. These tubes shelter subterranean termites as they travel between their nest and food source. If you break open these tubes and see cream-colored insects, it's a clear sign of an active infestation.
Termite queens are found deep within the colony, usually protected by thick walls or deep underground. Since they can't move, getting a termite queen out of her breeding chambers is unlikely which means that a termite colony has to be destroyed to reach the queen termite.
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Seeing flying termites in your house could mean that a mature termite colony is present in or near your home. These termites are in their reproductive stage and are looking to establish new colonies, which could lead to significant structural damage if left unchecked.
Here is how to get rid of flying termites in-house naturally: Orange Oil: Termites hate this stuff. Mix some with water in a spray bottle and apply it to affected areas. The strong citrus scent repels termites, and the oil can even kill them on contact.
At certain times of the year, termite colonies produce “swarmers”, the winged, reproductive adults (Figure 1) that fly away to mate and form their own colonies. Swarming usually occurs during the daytime, frequently in spring (although colonies are active all year-round) and often after a nice rainstorm.
Attraction to Light
Some species of termites swarm late in the afternoon and early evening. Like most nocturnal insects, the pests will be drawn to light sources around the home, such as porch lamps, motion lights, and light reflected from inside. It is common to see swarms of alates around utility lights, as well.
If you're willing to put up with these insects crawling in your curtains and staining them with their excrement, this pest problem will go away on its own. Termites will not go away on their own. We bet you know why. While many pests need to find a food source inside your home in order to stay, termites do not.
A bug zapper attracts and electrocutes flying termites, offering a quick and effective extermination method.
If nothing else suits you, go and try the successful heat treatment to control termites at home. Just use hot air or increase the temperature of the infected area up to 120 degrees and maintain it for half an hour. This much heat for this much time will kill the termites instantly.
A flying termite nest, often referred to as a colony, is usually hidden in walls, foundations, or wooden structures.
Professional pest control services: Attempting to handle a flying termite infestation on your own can be challenging. The most effective way to fully eliminate these pests is with specialized, professional treatment for flying termites.
Maribou storks, yellow-rumped caciques, Egyptian geese, doves, spotted eagle owls, toto toucans, coucals and chickens will hunt and peck termites while they're on the ground. Other bird species will catch termites in the air as they swarm. This includes sparrows, black phoebes, swallows, swifts, starlings and weavers.
Why Do They Suddenly Appear? The sudden emergence of flying termites is typically associated with conducive breeding conditions, primarily dictated by the weather. These conditions include warm temperatures and high humidity, usually after rain.
Not only do rainstorms drive flying termites to mate during warm weather, moisture from rain also contributes to water damage in homes, thus attracting termites and other pests. In addition, rain can make getting rid of stubborn termite infestations even more difficult.
Essentially, termites definitely bite wood and do attack other insects, but they do not bite people. Although homeowners experiencing an infestation should not be concerned about receiving bites from termites, professional extermination methods should be sought and implemented to protect the structure of your home.
The process begins with a thorough inspection of the property by a trained exterminator. They will look for signs of termite activity, such as mud tubes on walls, damaged wood, discarded wings, and fecal pellets.
While termites look like really tiny ants, they are still visible to the human eye. However, it's not likely that an untrained professional will be able to determine the specific termite species in a chance encounter.