Types Of Termites : The Soil-feeding Termites To Bait Or Not To Bait
Termites, Which are also known as white ants, are a colony insect that primarily eat dead plant material but are most known for their like of wood. Only about ten percent of the types of termites are classified as pests and cause a lot of problems with buildings, crops, and forests. Amazingly enough not all of them are pests. In subtropical area and tropical areas termites are a very important part of the ecology.
The colonies termites live in range from several thousand to sometimes nearing tens of millions. Workers, soldiers, kings, queens and nymphs all live inside the average colony. Kings and queens are the reproductive termites and even though they are called by such royal names they are not necessarily the leaders of the colony. There might be multiple couples per colony. In the same way as ants the queens have very large abdomen and can have more then two thousand eggs a day. This abdomen hampers her mobility so she has worker termites always helping her.
We group types of termites according to what they eat and there are several different kinds of termite groups. These are subterranean termites, drywood termites, dampwood termites, grass eating termites and soil-feeding termites. he common house pest termites are drywood and subterranean termites and encompass all the types of termites. These we call the home wreckers and are most likely to cause damage to houses. All termites eat dead plant matter but some do not eat any kind the humans care about so really are harmless.
Since termites do their work hidden it is hard to tell when they are doing their damage until it is to late. Even crazier is the termites don’t stop at wood. Since they eat all cellulose they will eat your books and papers, carpets, fabrics and more. That’s right even our favorite pair of boxers. They also like to use soft comfortable things in their nests so watch out for your soft plastics and rubber.
Termites build tubes when they cant burrow the way they want to. This is what barriers work against termites because if you see of of these tubes form you can easily destroy it and kill the hive. The best way to defend against termites is to make sure that no wood and ground ever meet. Use a foundation taht is immune to all types of termites burrowing and keep an eye out for the tubes they use to travel across.
To avoid getting termites in your home, you should make sure that there are no timbers contacting the ground. Use a termite resistant foundation with barriers, but be aware that termites may bridge these. Inspect them regularly for shelter tubes. While poisoned soil barriers are available, they have undesirable side effects and should only be used if a physical method isn’t available. You can also treat susceptible timbers and use termite resistant woods. Paying close attention to the state of your home is the best way to avoid an infestation.
With some prevent defence you can make sure your house is safe from all types of termites. Good Luck
