Termites are wood destroying insect that your Broken Arrow pest control company can eliminate for you. Every year millions of dollars in damage are done by termites and other wood destroying insects in America. And the worst part is that these insects damage the buildings that we live in. For many people, their home is the their greatest investment. It’s important to protect this investment from parasites like termites. So in this article, let’s take a good hard look at termites, their lifecycle, and what you and your Broken Arrow pest control company can do to protect your home from them.
TERMITE SIGNS AND BROKEN ARROW PEST CONTROL
In order to know if you’re having an infestation of termites it is important to understand them, so you can know what the signs are when they attack. Here in Oklahoma, the predominant termite that we have is the Eastern subterranean termite. This termite, as its name implies, lives underground. Because they insects have problems with maintaining their moisture levels, they dry out very quickly in the open air. In order to stay alive, they must maintain in a humid environment, such as underground. So when they decide to come above ground to forage for food, they’ll need to build mud tubes from the colony up. This gives them the ability to bring the humid air above ground with them and allow them to go up and forage for food or bring it back if they need to.
MUD TUBES AND BROKEN ARROW PEST CONTROL
If you’re seeing mud tubes anywhere, then it’s time to contact your Broken Arrow pest control company for help. These mud tubes will often be seen on the side of the foundation until they can get high enough to get to the wood of your building. In some cases, these mud tubes will come up through a crack in the foundation, and find a way into the middle of a wall. Once inside a wall, it’s very difficult to identify them without destroying the wall itself. But when they come up inside a wall, they will build those mud tubes up the drywall and start to eat away at the drywall.
The cellulose in the paper, and the gypsum is very tasty to them. As they do this, they will start to create weak spots in the walls. Often you can feel where there are soft spots in the drywall once they’ve been eating on for a while. And in some cases, they will break through, and then have to fill in those holes with mud in order to keep their humid air in tact. This is another sign of a termite infestation. Contacted Broken Arrow pest control company for help with this.
TERMITE SWARMERS AND BROKEN ARROW PEST CONTROL
While the queen is tasked with laying all the eggs for the colony and maintaining the population, the entire colony itself also seeks to reproduce itself. It will use a special termite known as a swarmers in order to do this. These termites are winged termites that are built much hardier than the average termite. These insects can actually survive in the open air for quite some time. Once a year, usually in April, and May, the workers will build special tubes called swarming tubes to go up above ground and open up to the outside air. Then, during these months, these swarmers will leave the colony.
Swarmers are a secondary reproductives. They can be male or female and they will fly out and search for a swarm of other flying termites from other colonies. Once they find a swarm they’ll fly around in the swarm searching for a mate. Unfortunately this can be very dangerous because the swarms are easy pickings for most predators. Birds and bats make food of the swarmers constantly. In the end, usually only about 2% of the swarmers will actually live long enough to create their own colony.
Once the two find each other, they will fly to a spot where they can find a good place to build their new colony. They will lose their wings, dig out the royal chamber, and then mate. At this point, the male will now work as a worker, tending to the female as she lays eggs. Once the first eggs hatch, those nymphs or adolescent termites, will take over the job of workers. The king will die off having done everything he needs to do. Contact your Broken Arrow pest control company for help with termites.
CONTROLLING TERMITES
There are two predominant methods that are used to protect your home from termite invasion. The first one is liquid treatments. This is a treatment that endeavors to create a barrier all the way around your home. They do this by creating a wall of treated dirt around your foundation. This treated dirt will usually go about 4 feet down into the ground. The way that they do this is by digging a small trench all the way around your home.
Then they will pour pesticide down inside the trench that will drain down the side of your foundation to treat the dirt adjacent to it. Then they will re-fill the trench with pesticide treated dirt so that there’s complete control. There is nowhere where the termites can get into your home without going through the pesticide. If they find a place where there is cement going up against the house, they will also drill holes in the cement and pump pesticide underneath.The second method is by using termite bait stations. The stations are buried in the ground all the way around the house and they have special baits that the termites will eat from.
If you’re having an issue with termites or any other pests, then its time to call your Broken Arrow pest control company. Here at TermMax pest control, we’re the best in the business when it comes to dealing with termites or any other pests. We service the greater Tulsa area, including Broken Arrow, Sand Springs, Prattville, Sapulpa, Claremore, Catoosa, Coweta, Bixby, Jenks, Turley, Owasso, and so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!
