How To Identify And Treat Three Different Types Of Termites
Termites are a pest that can cause a lot of damage to your home if left untreated. That's why it's so important to identify the kind of termite that is in your home so that you can perform the correct treatment.
Subterranean Termites
The most commonly found termite in the United States is the subterranean termite. They live underground in the soil and will build mud tubes so that they can travel from the termite colony to a local source of food. You may see these mud tubes around your home before you even notice that you have a termite infestation, which will indicate that you have subterranean termites.
The best way to deal with subterranean termites is with a soil treatment. You can put a liquid pesticide around your home's foundation, which creates a barrier that will stop the termites from getting in. You can also use bait stations that will place bait underground as the termites travel to your home. They'll take the bait, bring it back to their colony, and eventually die.
Drywood Termites
What makes drywood termites different from subterranean termites is that they do not travel in those mud tubes. In fact, drywood termites are perfectly fine walking on top of the soil to reach your home. An easy way to identify drywood termites in your home is to look at the head of one of them. The soldier termites tend to have flattened heads with mandibles that are larger than their heads.
The trick to getting rid of drywood termites is to use a heat or fumigation treatment. Fumigation will require putting a tent around your entire home so that you can fill it with a gas that will kill off the termites. This works great at getting rid of termites that are in small cracks that you cannot reach and would normally be hard to find. Heat treatment will use high temperatures to kill termites in your home, and it can be targeted on areas where you know they are hiding.
Dampwood Termites
Dampwood termites tend to be found in regions where there is high humidity along the coast. They are attracted to moist wood as well, which makes it very easy for them to cause a lot of damage. The worker dampwood termites will have soft bodies that are pale in color, while the swarmer termites are dark brown or black.
You can treat dampwood termites by using a borate treatment on infested wood so that the termites will ingest it and die. You may even need to remove infested wood that has been damaged to remove a colony living within it.
Contact a local termite control company to learn more.