Important Termite Facts
There are over 300 species of termites in Australia, about 30 of which cause extensive damage of any economic significance.
- Subterranean termites are by far the most common type of termite, and have been estimated to cause over 90% of all termite damage to both domestic and commercial buildings in Australia.
- The CSIRO reports that termites cause about $200 million worth of damage in Australia each year. And according to the industry, 1 in 5 Australian homes are attacked by termites.
Termites Are The Most Destructive Timber Attacking Pest
- Subterranean termites are found throughout Australia with the exception of Tasmania and are especially common throughout all of the coastal areas.
- While subterranean termites are often found in homes, they actually live in the soil, and return to the soil after feeding on a home.
- Subterranean termites require moisture to live and will always return to their colonies in the soil.
Wood damaged by subterranean termites isn’t easily noticed because the exterior surface must usually be removed to ascertain the damage.
However, they can be detected by tapping the wood every few inches with the handle of a screwdriver.
Damaged wood sounds hollow, and your screwdriver may even break through into the galleries.
The Subterranean Termite Colony
The subterranean termite colony is a highly coordinated system composed of: the Queen, King, the winged Reproductive (young kings and queens), Soldiers and the Workers.
- Subterranean termites need to maintain a high level of humidity and temperature (25 to 35c) in their central colony nest.
- They can build very large colonies.
Within a termite nest there are members of different castes, each with a different role to perform:
- Queen Termites
- King Termites
- Worker Termites
- Soldier Termites
- Reproductive Termites
- Drywood Termites
- Dampwood Termites
Queen Termites
- The Queen Termites main role is to become an egg-laying machine. Her body becomes hugely enlarged, producing more than 2,000 eggs a day.
- She may live more than 25 years.
- Secondary queens also produce eggs.
King Termites
- The King termite assists the queen in creating and attending to the colony during its initial formation.
- He will continue to mate throughout his life to help increase the colony size.
- The King and Queen live in a central chamber and are tended to by the workers.
Worker Termites
Worker termites make up the majority of the colony population.
- They are approximately 3 mm to 4 mm long, are creamy-white and soft bodied have no wings, are sterile and blind and work 24 hours a day.
- These termites are the type most often seen when active termite damage is discovered. Often they are found still eating on the wood.
- Their many responsibilities include tunneling, building, feeding and servicing the other termites (reproductive's and soldiers).
- Their main charge is providing food to the colony, they constantly forage in search of wood based food, traveling more than 75 metres from the colony.
- When worker termites find cellulose material, “food”, they leave a scent trail to lead all other worker termites in the colony to the food that they’ve found.
- Worker termites enter a home through tiny cracks in the foundation or slab or anywhere that soil contacts wood.
- If they can't find an easy entrance point near the ground, they will construct mud tunnels to access areas above ground.
You can also find them coming up the side of the house or in the basement.
Soldier Termites
The soldier's role is to protect the colony from predators, mostly ants.
- They commonly have an orange coloured armoured head are white and soft bodied.
- Their enlarged hardened head contains two large jaws, or mandibles, which are used as a weapon against predators.
These termites are much less common than the workers.
Reproductive Termites
Reproductive termites are shiny, dark brown to black in color and approximately 6mm to 12mm long.
- A mature colony will produce new reproductive termites called "swarmers" or "alates."
- Swarmers have eyes; are poor fliers but are swept along by the wind; they land, drop their wings; find a mate to become king and queen of a new termite colony.
- They are often seen when they swarm in spring and/or autumn on a warm humid day around dusk.
WARNING: If you witness a termite swarm in your home or find the small translucent wings, it is a sure DANGER sign that a large termite colony nest is close by. It is essential that you have your home inspected to determine the extent of the infestation, identify the species present in your home and treatment options.
NOTE: Termites have the ability to change from one caste type to another during their immature stages. This allows the colony to change the proportion of different caste members as the need arises.
Drywood Termites
Drywood termites are mostly found in the tropical areas of Australia
- The Drywood termite colony lives in undecayed wood with little moisture and does not have to maintain constant contact with the ground.
- Often Drywood termites can be found in roof rafters and in door and window frames. Unlike subterranean termites, Drywood termites do not build mud tubes into a structure and they do not bring mud into their wood tunnels.
- To identify Drywood termites you’ll see smooth tunnels in the wood unlike a tunnel with mud in it for subterranean termites. These tunnels will also have hard fecal pellets scattered in them, this looks like ground pepper.
It can take up to 2 years for evidence of Drywood termite activity to be present because they form large numbers of independent groups.
Dampwood Termites
Dampwood termites form small independent nests.
- They attack sick or dead trees, decaying stumps or mouldy timber on the ground. (They are seldom found in dry timbers).
- They often will attack homes located on moist soil, such as beach houses and forest cabins or even homes with leaky plumbing.
A mature colony has several thousand Dampwood termites.