Termites: Understanding Termite Basics

Termites -- could anything be more nerve shattering than the discovery that you have termites infesting your home? That fright could be for a good reason, as termites often are present for one reason only, and that is to eat the available wood that constitutes the home.

Why is termite control so mysterious? Well, first of all the pests themselves usually are completely hidden from view during their normal activities, and come to light only when an inspection of the hidden areas is performed, or damage is broken into and discovered during remodeling. Sometimes their presence is discovered when hundreds of them suddenly swarm inside the home. Since the majority of termite species live in colonies in the ground it now is a mystery to you how to stop them.

Termites are insects. They also are social insects, meaning that they live in colonies where they communicate with each other, and cooperate in all the activities needed for the survival of the colony. The colony was started years ago by a Queen and King termite, that crawled or flew to that spot from some other colony, where they originated.

The Queen lays the eggs - possibly several thousand each day in some kinds of termites - and the workers gather the eggs, care for them, feed the new nymphs that come from the eggs, and take care of all the other functions - gathering food, enlarging the colony galleries, etc. There also is a caste of termites present called soldiers, and with their huge heads and long jaws they effec-tively protect the colony from enemies, such as ants.

Now, before we start to hate termites too badly, please understand their role in nature, and the importance of that role.

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