Subterranean Termite winged reproductives or ‘swarmers’

Sorry it’s been so long guys! It’s my busy season and the time I make most of my money. I’m out controlling pests and finding cool things to document and get back to you on later. One of those things I found was a pocket of subterranean termite wind reproductives. They are the winged form of the termite. They look similar to the workers but they are black instead of an opaque color.

You can see how well they blend in with the mulch. I started seeing them as I was walking around the house and couldn’t quite figure out where they were coming from. But I did see hundreds of them scurrying around on the Mulch.

It took me a few minutes but I found the source! I happen to look up at the corner of the home and a section of the trim was pulled away from the wall. Water must’ve then getting in from being pulled away, creating the perfect environment for termite activity. Termites will eat any sort of wood but they love damp wood.

As I get closer and zoom in you’ll be able to make out the hundreds if not thousands of termite winged reproductive just hanging out and waiting to leave the care of their workers. When the temperatures rise into the 70s you can almost guarantee you’ll be getting calls for termites as people see these things leaving by the hundreds.

Here’s a few additional shots of the same corner to give you an idea of how many termites were waiting to leave. Now granted I got here late and they have been swarming and leaving this area for quite some time. So you may see 100 or so but 1000 or so may have already leave the nest.

Here’s a picture of one in my hand for reference.

Here’s a few pictures of the interior wall where the damage was found. They rip the wall apart and found termite mud tubes and active termites feeding on wood.

That’s all I got for now folks! I have a ton other material that I would love to post, when I find some extra time in between jobs. Things are starting to slow down a little bit but the weather is cool. Once the weather warms up again and we get a few thunderstorms I’ll be busy. Thanks for always supporting me! See you soon.