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Alrighty, welcome back to CPL pest controls podcast channel. Today we are talking about termites. So Nobody enjoys the idea of their home being consumed by termites. So termites, just by definition, are a wood destroying insect. And out of the wood destroying insects that we have here, in the Houston area and Rio Grande Valley, termites are the most popular, along with carpenter ants. But today we are talking about termites. And so this time of year, we start to see termite activity activity blossoming in the real Randy Valley. So this is the time of year where we start to see what is called the swarming season, or as in Houston, the Houston area we don’t see the swarming season till about the springtime. But termites are far more active during the spring months, than any time of the year. And the reason for this is because this is the time of the year, when the king and the queen termites mate, so long, not long after mating, the king termites die. And at this time, the Queen termite seeks out a food source, a location within wood to start the colony. So if the Queen termite finds her way into your home, damage may not appear for a few years, which is the reason why you have to call CPL pest control, we use thermal infrared camera technology, to be able to determine termite infestations with 100% accuracy. Most companies, when you call them out, do not use such technology. And because they don’t use a set technology, they cannot pinpoint with that accuracy, if termites are present, and if they are present, where they are present. That is huge. And so what this thermal infrared camera does is it detects moisture in between the wall. And so the thermal infrared camera technology is Coopera. It’s cooperative evidence, if you will, with the termite inspection. So if there is an inclination that termites are present in a certain areas, we use that camera to verify Yes, they are in this area or no they are not in that area. And so that’s the reason why getting a termite inspection is very important to at least get it done once a year. So some sometimes signs of a termite infestation are noticed a few months after the Queen has established a colony, late summer and fall time, like we said, is the time in the Rio Grande Valley where we start to see the termites swarming in so a termite colony will establish themselves within a few short months. And the termites remained highly active in that same area for up to a year or longer. And so how long they remained in one area really depends on how much wood there is. In the springtime termites begin swarming, and the life cycle starts all over again. This is when termites begin migrating to other areas of your home. So when we think about termites, we have different classes of termites. We have the queen of course, we have workers, we have soldiers, and then we have the reproducers. The reproducers are the ones that we see swarming. Those do not consume wood. In fact, their only objective in this life is to expand the colony. They are migrating to other areas of your home with the intention of expanding the colony. So if you’re there, subterranean termites are expanding the colony in which they’re coming from. If they’re dry wood termites they’re looking to go and start a new colony somewhere in the home. And so termite colonies mature.
You know, over time, the most common signs of a termite infestation go unnoticed for a few years. But sometimes we’ll get lucky and find them swarming before we start seeing structural damage. So sometimes we can get away with just, you know, with very light cosmetic damage, detect the infestation and then just kind of go from there. So, next is what kind of signs are we looking for that help determine whether or not we have termites. So all types of termites feed on wooden structures, damaged wood is commonly found near windows and doors. And that is because the wood that is used in those areas is a little bit softer, which is something that termites prefer. And it’s also possible to have damaged floors of wooden floors have become a lot more popular in recent years. And that is something that we are seeing as we go into more and more new homes, that if there is a termite problem, a lot of the times there is also a problem with the wooden floors. And so each termite depending if we’re you know, if we’re dealing with a dry wood or subterranean or Formosan show different signs of damage. The three most common types of termite, like we said, are your dry wood, your subterranean, and your forumotion. dry wood termites create small piles of fecal pellets that resemble sawdust, these piles are found directly under the exit holes in walls and frames. So think of the dry wood termites is living inside of a piece of wood. And they have these little kickout holes and those little kick those, those little holes are the holes in which they kick out the small little piles of the fecal pellets. And so if you are seeing this in your home, if you’re seeing this in your attic, you are more than likely dealing with the dry wood termite. So subterranean termites, on the other hand, create mud tombs that are found on the outside of wood, subterranean slip in the ground and only come into wood for food. These are the more popular, if you will, of the classes of termites, they bring moisture into the woods, and they cause it a lot more damage than your dry woods. I often tell my clients that your dry woods are, you know, they’re going to consume wood. But if you’re going to have termites, it’s almost it’s almost as if you’d prefer to have the dry woods because they are the slowest consuming termite. So that’s just something to keep in mind. So do termites swarm in the fall, like we said, they are going to swarm in the fall in the Rio Grande Valley. And they’re more likely to swarm in the Houston area in the springtime. The reason for that is just the change in barometer pressure that we experienced in the Rio Grande Valley, versus what we experienced in Houston. And so those fluctuations are a huge contributor to all of that. But Termites can swarm anytime really during the year, it’s not unlikely for us to get a call, even in the summer months or dead in the winter months, get a call that termites are swarming. And that’s just because the colony sometimes when if they mature enough at a faster time and at a faster rate. There really does nothing to prohibit them from from swarming. So just some things to keep in mind. Like I said, you want to make sure that you get a free termite inspection from CPL, pest control, we are going to use the best in technology to examine your home and determine whether or not you have termites. If you do, what kind of termite Do you have? And what do we need to do to take care of the problem? If you have subterranean termites we have a method to get rid of those. If you have dry wood termites you do not need to attend give us a call to 816836737 If you live in the Houston area, if you live in the Rio Grande Valley, that’s 956-739-0259 Ask for Chris. Tell them that you listen to this podcast. Tell them that you listen to this termite podcast we have a special promotion. That’s just for you. And again, we look forward to helping you out in making sure that your home is termite free. We look forward to your phone call and hope you have enjoyed the rest of your day.
