Long Island is home to billions – if not trillions – of eastern subterranean termites. These voracious pests feed on cellulose-based materials like wood, paper, and soil… including those in and around your home.
Termites are social creatures, living in colonies up to a million strong. These ultimate opportunists exploit even the tiniest cracks in your foundation (or miniscule gaps around wires) to access the wood inside your home or business. And they can do an astounding amount of damage!
Termites live mostly underground and inside wood structures. So, you won’t see them until their springtime swarms when termite alates breed and form new colonies. If you see a swarm within a few hundred feet of your home or business, there’s a good chance they are already inside and tunneling into beams, floors, walls, windows and more. It’s time to call an experienced termite exterminator before they reproduce and cause further destruction.
Identifying Termites on Long Island
Termites are often mistaken for flying ants and dismissed as harmless. Because termites can do a staggering amount of damage to your property, it’s important to know the differences in appearance and behavior between termites and flying ants.
To a degree, termites can resemble flying ants… but they have straight legs, bent antennae, and thick waists compared to ants which have bent legs, straight antennae, and a nipped waist. You may see flying ants at any time of the year during warm enough weather. But you will only encounter flying termites during a brief swarming window in springtime, and only in clear weather. Most termites are subterranean and will never be seen above ground.
Types of termites:
- Worker: Worker termites resemble grayish-white ants with thicker waists and straight antennae. You may never see one because they remain hidden in wood or in the ground – where they travel back and forth from the termite nest to find food for the colony.
- Soldier: A soldier termite resembles a worker termite but with a longer, armored head. Soldier termites use their powerful jaws to defend the colony. They also spend their entire lives inside of wood or underground.
- Queen: A queen termite is black or dark brown, with a thick waist and two pairs of iridescent wings of equal length. Queen termites create new colonies through swarming, and their only other role is to lay eggs.
- Swarmers: Swarmers are reproductive members of a termite colony. As colonies increase in size, a queen will allow nymphs to develop into alates. The alates leave the nest and swarm looking for new places to colonize. Similar to queen termites, the alates have two pairs of wings that are close to the same length.
Signs You May Have Termites
You may be unaware of an infestation until it’s too late. Termite damage isn’t always obvious, so here are signs that termites have invaded your property.
Integrated Pest Management with Skyway Pest
Skyway Pest Management’s termite treatment protocols use the principles of integrated pest management. We focus on the full ecosystem of your home or business, using the best and safest combination of methods to target termites and to prevent their return. We view our clients as partners in long term pest control, and our termite control methods are as environmentally friendly as possible to minimize risks to humans and domestic animals.
Contact Us Today
Call Skyway Pest Management today and let us be your termite exterminator. Our comprehensive One-Year Residential Contract includes termite services, and we also offer termite home or business inspections, and HUD/FHA certificates.
We stand behind our home inspections 100 percent. If we pass your property for termites, you will receive a one-year renewable warranty at no charge from the day that you close on your home.
Call us now at 631-204-8596