What Types Of Termites Does An Exterminator Find In A Colony?
Termites arrange themselves in hives that are similar to a beehive. An exterminator recognizes that there are different castes of termites in a colony. The average colony contains Queens, Kings, workers, soldiers, and a cast called swarmers. Each of these types of termites has a different job in the colony. Currently, there are over 2500 known species of termites in the world.
The exterminator will look for the source of the termite infestation in the home. In order to do this they must find the nest which contains the Queens and Kings. The Queen's main job is to lay eggs she is the supreme mother of the colony. Once a swarm breaks up the King and Queen pair fly off to find a new place to set up housekeeping. They look for some type of wood, plenty of water, and shelter from the elements. After they lay their first broods, their wings fall off and they become flightless. The Queen and King can live to be 20 to 30 years old, and some have been known to live as long as 50 years. That is a lot of termite eggs in a lifetime. Termite Kings are more plentiful than the females. King's seem to do very little other than to supply the Queen with fertilization material.
The worker caste is the most interesting to the exterminator because these are the termites that do the greatest damage to homes. Worker termites spend all of their lives feeding on wood and digesting the cellulose into sugars, that is used as a primary energy source. Workers are probably the ones that will be most easily spotted by the exterminator because they are out in about gathering wood back and forth. The worker eats the wood, digests it, and then regurgitates it back into the mouths of soldiers, workers, Queens, Kings, and larvae. All worker termites do all day is to feed others. Workers also remove wastes from the hive. They maintain the nests, doing repairs with the fecal materials of others and assuring that the colony has adequate ventilation.
Soldiers are usually used to identify termite species because they show the greatest variation. Soldier termites do just put their name implies, they save the colony from invaders, such as an exterminator. These are usually the first termite that an exterminator will encounter because they are close to the entrance of the colony. Some soldiers are tiny workers that have grown in size.
Swarmers can be seen during rainy season, or in places where there is water. They fly and are the most visible sign that you have termites. It might not mean that you have significant termite damage, it could have come from a neighbor's house, but you have to know the location of the source to be safe. The swarmers are newly matured Males and females who are looking for a place to set up house. They fly around four while as a swarm, then pair off into couples. They are the first to arrive at a new site, so they mean that termites have just arrived and are not established. However they do indicate that there are colonies somewhere nearby and it is wise to take precautions to make sure that your place is not next.
About the Author
Chuck Stewart is a writer who frequently writes on the topic of using an exterminator to fix termite problems. For more information about exterminators go to
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